The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1902-04-18
CLEANING AND m

of the army. They never consult him.
but ignore him completely. The army's
head is thereby abandoned, and the
condition Of affairs. he says are indeed
very bad since the president is not on
speaking terms with the military cap
tain. He is d victim Of constant.
studied neglect Gen. Schofield is now
the retired commander OF the army.
and he talks freely OF matters. Speak
ing of the bill before the committee on
military affairs Of the senate, he said
that he approves of the general staff
bill. saying that he had long since
como to the conclusion that there is
no room under our constitution for two
commanders, and that the president,
whom the constitution makes the SUI
preme commander, must act through
the secretary Of war. He added:
The very exalted individual office,
~so-called commanding general OF the
army disappear. There is no
room for ii in this government, no
matter who occupies it: it is not a
question of personality at all, or the
character Of the individual. so far as
this great question is concerned. He
ldo DC Ho OlIlC udIlOIlS HdNO7d
chief Of staff, not a commanding gen.
eral."
=. >. :.
Major Waller, under trial for exc
cutting Samar natives without trial
justifies his course and says they were
fends and richly deserved their fate.
diminishing the court that is trying
him, he said thu lin 1882 he was with
the British forces in Egypt, where
Arabs captured pickets of Bengal cav
airy, decapitatei the prisoners and
placed their heads on poles. After
wards all the arabs who were caught
were shot without trial. During the
campaign in China the Chinese mutt
lated the dead and tortured the wound
ed to death. Consequently when q
Boxer or a fanatic was captured he
vas executed immediately without re-
ference. No protest was made, and he
had every right to believe that his acts
were approved" Major Gardener, civil
governor of Tayabas Province, says
that the Officers and men of the army
do not tax the trouble to distinguish
between friendly and unfriendly ma
tives, the soldiers speak of (and fire.
quently to) the native as 'niggers,' and
Major Gardener says the Fflipinos
have begun to carr what contempt
lies in this epithet. In regard to the
culture and capacity of these 'niggers"
he says that they are morally and
mentally superior to the natives of the
Mexican Province of ~Tamaulipas and
to the Cuban OF the Province of Santa
Clara, whose inhabitants he we'll
knows" Major Waller in his defence,
said that prisoners captured in China
or by Europeans were summarily shot
when they were guilty of mutilating
the dead. He said: II for three weeks
was mmande of the Americans in
China, but the same acts occurred un-
der my successor who made no protest.
1 believe that 1 did right in Samar. I
am not a murderer"
Major Waller drew a graphic pic
ture of the frightful mutilations of
Americans who were killed in the
Balangiga massacre. They were dis
emboweled by the natives and their
bodies were stuffed with food and
Stones
1t is suggested hat the meat trust
be resisted. To do his effectually le1
every one refuse to buy for a month
or longer. any of their meats Live on
vegetables, eggs, chickens, fish, bread,
etc. 1t is said that this villainous meat
trust propose to continue indefinitely
their v~illainous attempt to rob the peo-
pie and punish their stomachs. The
plan suggested is practical and pru-
dent. Why not? 1t can be lone and
the robbers should be strongly met by
an absolute refusal TO buy any thing
they sell. The Philadelphia Record
says of this suggestion: "Othe nations
when threatened with a shortage of
any necessity Of life have invariably
stopped all expectations Of the scant
article; but we are ready to raise a
rumpuS and enter into a commercial
war When Germany or other country
excludes our meat, although exclusion
would increase the domestic supply
The Messenger has more than once
emphasized its admiration of the very
eloquent n able senator from Mis-
souri,, George G.. Vest, a native of Ken
lucky and now in his seventy-second
year. In a speech two or three days
g in the senate he rebuked some
northern sectional fellows who car
never find any great soldiers in tn
south. He told the north that ii should
remember that the south had pro.
duced great M patriotic leaders, anC
among them ne mentioned General.
Washington and Robert E. Lee.
II shall never cease t. feel kindly
he continued, toward the present oc
cupant Of the White house, Colone
Roosevelt, for what he has said, il
the broadest spirit of craftsmanship
and as a historian in regard to Rober
E. Lee, who, he says, was by far tn,
greatest general that ever came from