The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-03-09
.FUNSTON'S VIEWS
CAPTOR OF AQUINALDO TALKS OF
PHILIPPINES.
BREEZY AND SPICY ADDRESS.
SAYS FILIPINO PATRIOTS ARE A
BAD LOT.


He Had Gen. Luna Killed simply
Because He Would Have Been Die
tatOr Instead of Myself'-Ameri-
can Soldiers Have Been Humane,
He DecIares--WOuId Like to See
Some of the American Pro-Filipi-
nos Hanged.
New York. March S.-Brig. Gen.
Frederick Funston was the guest Of
honor at a dinner given tonight at the
Lotus Club. More than 300 members
of the club were present.
Gen. Funston made speech in which
he said:
when Manila was surrendered to
Dewey and Merritt some thousands of
Spaniards were in the city In the
eyes of the world these people looked
to us for protection and to have turned
them over to the uncomfortable mob
known as Aguinaldo's army, would
have been the blacklist page of Amer
lean history; one that thousand years
of repentance and restitution would
not have satisfied"
Gen. Funston then told in minute de-
tail of the instances which led to the
warfare between the American army
and the insurgents and during the mar
rative told of the shooting of several
sentries by Filipino scouts who had
passed the lines. He said that on the
opening Of the battle between the army
and insurgents Maj. Metcalf of the
First Nebraska Regiment had come TO
his quarters, and said:
"The dance has begun"
What dancer" 1 asked. and Maj.
Metcalf replied
'Go out and hear"
l went out and heard the puttering
OF rife balls, and that was the begin
ming of the war over there"
Gen. Funston then said.
IAN sorts Of men get into the army.
K are good, bad and Indifferent.
but / believe that 80 per cent. of the
American soldiers are brave and
humane lot of men. The other per
cent. VINO have been writing letters
to newspapers have ornamented the
inside OF groghouse for longer time
than they have distinguished them
selves in the field.'
Deeds OF Heroism Related.
Gen. Funston then mentioned sew
eral instances of personal bravery on
the part of the men in the army which
resulted in their death, including those
OF Capt Godfrey and Sergt. O'Brien.
He was present when Sergt O'Brien
was shot. and said it was zone of those
wild moments that are worth ten years
of hundrum existence"
His listeners cheered the remark.
Gen. Funston said:
All of those men who have fallen
since December, 1900. have been VIC
TINS of lot of misinformed and mis-
guided people here in the United
States. It is perfectly proper for US
to have all sorts of opinions as to
what we should do with the Philippine
Islands, but, for heavens sake, let us
Keep them to ourselves until every
square inch OF that territory recog-
nizes the sovereignty OF the United
States"
Gen. Funston then gave many ex-
amples to show that the Filipino lead
ers were not true patriots. He mem
toned the Staying of Antonio Luna.
who was ordered slain by Aguinaldo.
Gen. Funston said that Aguinaldo had
told him in regard to Lunas death:
Il had him killed simply because he
would have been dictator instead of
myself"
VOhiO YOU itldBlue NFeOfRe WASH
inSton doing anything like that? asked
Gen. Funston.
Filipino Patriots n Bad Lot.
The general said there was not one
of the so-called Filipino patriots who
could not be convicted of murder If he
was tried by a jury. He declared that
there had never been a war in the
worlds history where the soldiers had
shown such humanity as had the
American troops in the Philippine Is
lands He then told of twenty-four
American soldiers who had Joined the
PHILIPPINES and who were afterwards
captured and executed as traitors and
then said:
There are many men in the United
States who did more with their mouths
and minds to aid the insurgents than
did these poor men with the Krag-Jor-
gensen rifles. l would rather see those
men hanged for treason than to see
one of our soldiers dead on the field of
battle"
The General then declared the ELI
pinos could not be classed with the Gu
bans, and he said that if the United
States troops should now leave the
Philippine Islands there could be half
a dozen different kinds of civil wars
there, and that the world would hold
the United States responsible for them
He said he talked with Aguinaldo on
their way back to Manila on the Vicks-
burg, and that Aguinaldo told him that
neither Dewey nor any one else had
promised him anything but that he and
his people had faith in the Americans