The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-04-29
Living Issues.
TIE CHARGES OF CRUELTY IN THE
PHILIPPINES.
Shocking Reports From samar That Demand
Investigated.

1nVeBE1BaLAOA
The trial by court martial of Major
Waller on a charge of having or
dered the shooting Of eleven or.
twelve insurgents in Samar without
trial has ended in Major Walters &C
quittal. The cable reports of this
trial have been fragmentary and
meager. 1t is TO be presumed that
the Secretary of War will sooner or
later make public such an account
of the circumstances resulting in the
trial and the whole conduct Of the
campaign in Samar as will make 1T
possible TO comment intelligently
thereupon. It should not be forgot
ten-although some of the newspa-
pers opposed TO the policy of the adj
ministration appear TO forget it
that the truth or untruth of charges
of cruelty against individual soldiers
or officers of our army has as little
TO do with the question of the Justice
or injustice of our taking possession
of the Philippines, asserting our
authority, and using military force
for that end, as the charges of
dRlous deficiencies in oommissary
and transportation had to do with
the Justice of the cause of our war
with Spain, or as the postal defalca-
tions of Nicely had to do with the
right or wrong of our policy in Cuba.
This promised, it may also be said
that the President, Secretary Root,
and the military commanders in the
Philippines have again and again
given orders that the rules of war
should be strictly observed, and that
individual cases of wrong. doing or
cruelty on the part of soldiers or
officers should lead to speedy trial
and punishment. It would require
indisputable evidence 80 convince
the people that this policy is not be
ing carried out the summary made
in our columns some time ago by
Mr.. George KEENAN, of Secretary
Roots special report on this subject
showed that within six months ten
officers and thirty-six soldiers were
in fact tried on such charges and
many were punished. The men en-
gagged in the expedition TO Samar
were no doubt laboring under IN,
usual stress in many ways; a great
number of their comrades had re-
Gently been slaughtered in an attack
made by surprise, and they we're
burning with feelings of revenge.
Major Walters expedition suffered
every conceivable hardship, and
some of the men were nearly or quite
insane from their suffering. No
doubt the court martial took these
facts into consideration. AS we IN
derstand 1t, Major Waller admitted
that the men in question were killed
without trial, but claimed that in
Egypt, in China, and in q own In
dian wars such military action had
often been approved by superior
authority and justified by martial
law under peculiar circumstances. 1t
must be said, however, that the IN
satisfactory cable accounts include
some statements 80 starting "a TO
demand positively further investiga
ton and explanation. Thus, it ap
pears that not only Major Waller,
but two other officers, Captain Por
ter and Lieutenant Halford, testified
that General Smith, in command Of
the Province, verbally gave orders
for wholesale killing and burning,
and even said, when asked where
the line should be drawn, with
children of ten years" This seems
Incredible, and General Smith has,
we understand, distinctly denied the
charge. But the matter must not
rest there. If the three officers
named are guilty of slandering their
superior officer, action must be taken ;
If it is conceivable that General
Smith uttered the orders attributed
TO him, his trial should be a matter
of course. To take another instance
of the necessity of clearing the pub
lilo mind, it may be said that a news
paper dispatch from the Philippines
(sent, if we remember, before the
trial began) asserted with siokening
detail that one of the Filipinos killed
was tortured in a peculiarly cruel
We have seen in the re
TO this charge, and we have little