The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1902-08-15
SAYS ARMY OFFICER
Thinks Fertilization is Com
plete and Army May Come
Home Cond INNS
Court M artiais.


newspaper in this city during the war
with Spain. captain Of Company l.,
Tenth Ohio regiment. and now treas
urer of Albay province, Philippine is
lands, in letter to a friend in this
city emphatically substanItiates the re
ports of the complete pacification OF
, the archipelago, and condemns TT,
wholesale court-martialing of army Of
7 ficers." With reference to conditions
H. the islands he writes:
EVERYTHING PEACEFUL.
Everything is peaceful and tranquil
in the islands. AS it looks now, with
in a year we might safely turn the
policing of the archipelago over to the
constabulary under American officers
and bring the army home In the
provinces from which the troops have
been withdrawn the situation is as
serene as In any county in the state
OF Ohio. Life and property is as Sc
assault az night or in the daytime.
Indeed, all the time l have been over
here-even the two years | spent
among the Moros, | have not gone
armed except when some military duty
required it. and | have never been in
suited or threatened, much less harm
ed. The Moros were well thrashed by
General Baldwin. They may have to
be dressed down occasionally. but 1t
will be job easy of execution. And,
besides, it is in the lake region only
where there need be fear of sporadic
Moro outbreaks. Even the other Mo-
ros call the lake Moros bad Moros In,
so far as their religion goes they are
not considered orthodox. They do not
recc gnize the authority of either the
sultan of Sulu or the sultan of Min
danao. They are ladrones pure and
simple and each tribe is on bad terms
with every other tribe. Soldiers viii
be needed in Mindanao and Jolo for
some years.
"samar has been well whipped and
brought to her senses. General Smith |
was carried down there on a wave |
of public sentiment and indignation |
which started in the United States and
rolled across the Pacific. At Manila lit |
received increased impetus and he did
no more than public sentiment seemed |
to demand. AS to his methods. it is |
easier now to say that he might have
adopted less harsh ones, than it was
at the time and on the spot to meas
ure how drastic they should be-"
FEELING OF THE MEN.
The above reference to the Samar
incident and the following criticism
OF the wholesale court-martialing
serves to indicate the feeling of the
men on the ground toward those who
are SO loudly criticising the metho,s
employed in securing lasting peace in
the Philippines. Continuing. Captain
Reynolds writes: The wholesale e
court -marialing of army officers must
be very fat guing to the fair-minded
people at home. 1t looks now as /.
the penalty for duty conscientiously
discharged is to be brought before
court martial and held up as a mon
ster butcher, or barbarian. car-
no believe that the American peop,e
approve of the nagging of army Off
Gers. The whole outrageous business
must have had it's origin in the fertile
mind of some bewhiskered or befud.
died legislator down at Washington.
The 'water-cnre' bugaboo simply makes
Americans in the islands smile-smile
at the serio-comic speeches which have
been delivered on the alleged atyccRy.
7 here was some water-curing engaged
in. but the mortality resulting there
from was nil There were worse prac-
tices than the water cure In our own
army In the civil war, and later, d.
rccted against enlisted soldiers-worsa
thar the means employed here, to ex-
tract truth from captives who wera
disposed to be unwilling witnesses
when information was sought. | do
not know what good the water cure
did in any one instance, but do know
that for commander to be able to
obtain information he seeks very often
saves lives. avoids surprises. ami
makes victory easy when otherwise
II might be difficult"
"The American governments has
every reason to be proud of its army
and its achievements in these islands;
no reason for apologies or censure
Patience. forbearance. and humanity
have characterized the operations
War Is a terrible and ugly proceeding
at best. 'Twere better that ~ were
quickly done sometimes, and this is the
view entertained by General Smith
and those who cent him to Samar at
the time, despite anything that may
have been said to the contrary since