The Weiser signal. [volume] (Weiser, Idaho) 1890-1904, 1902-05-21
PLACING THE BLAME.


appears to hinge principally upon the
question of responsibility. On the
one hand, it is held that the soldiers
had no authority for the acts in
question, and that the ''atrocities,
therefore, have no relation to our
general Philippine policy. On the
other hand, it is argued that the au-
thorities in Washington could not
have been ignorant of what the troops
were doing; that they actually did
know, from the Gardener and other
reports, what was going on, and that
their passive acquiescence in the
matter makes the Administration
equally responsible with Major
Waller, General Smith, and the rest.
The Atlanta Constitution says of
General Smith
"All his deviltry was not done, we
imagine, on his own motion. If it
was, others have since become his
accessories after the fact by conceal
ing and practically coudoning his
criminal career. 1t can not be de-
MED that Secretary Root had all
these records of blood, confagration,
torture, and waste before him months
before the Senate, at the instance of
General Miles, dragged them from
him. And il the Secretary had
them 1t is also certain that the Presi-
dent knew all about them-knew the
full truth, even while he was rebuk-
ing other generals and threatening
them with Disgrace for etiquettical
indiscretions!
"What shall be said of and done
to these officials who have made
themselves coparceners with the
Jake Smith campaign of torture and
murder? What boots their present
hot haste to try and acquit him?
Do they think American people will
stand for such mummery? If they
do, then the gods have blinded them
fatally to future that means their
certain defeat and disgrace.
The Army and Navy Journal
thinks that General Smiths severe
measures were necessary, and regards
the clamor about them as ''absurd
and unreasonable. But at the
same time it holds the President and
Secretary of War equally responsible
with the general who is under criti-
cism. 1t says:
"It is amazing to find Journals of
known loyalty to the Administration
at Washington-like the Philadelphia
Press, for example-engaged in
jealous but misdirected efforts to
exempt the President and the War
Depastment from the responsibility
for General Smiths conduct of the
campaign in Samar. The Press says
that General Smiths order was not
approved by our Government or
known to it. Now what are the
facts? General Smiths orders in
the province of Samar and General
Bells in the province of Batangas
were submitted to Major General
Chaffee. He approved them and
submitted copies of them to the War
Department at Washington, where
not word was said against them or
against the operations conducted in
accordance with them until it was
discovered that it had been necessary
to use harsher means than syringes
loaded with cologne water TO put
down the insurrection. The order
was not approved by our Govern
ment, says the editor of The Press,
but the Washington correspondent
of The Press, in direct contradiction
OF his chief, says that, as everybody
familiar with army routine knows
must have been the case, copies Of
all orders issued by General Smith
we're forwarded by General Chaffee
to the War Department and there is
no record of any disapproval. Not
only was there no disapproval, but
upon the surrender of Malvar, the
insurgent commander in Batangas,
the Secretary of War, by direction of
the President, cabled to General
Chaffee and General Chaffee trans
mitted to General Bell the hearty
congratulations of the Government
upon the conclusion of his brilliant
and arduous campaign. We believe,
moreover, that the same deserved
recognition would have been ex-
tended to General Smith but for the
absurd and unreasonable clamor
which has been raised against him.
30 far as the responsibility for the
conduct of the campaign in Samar,
Batangas, and other provinces is
concerned, General Chaffee. General
Smith, General Bell, and every man