Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1902-05-03
CHARGES OF BRUTALITY.
Senator BeveridEe's Vigorous De-
Tense of American Soldiers in
the Philippines.

At the Indiana republican state
convention, Indianapolis, April %,
Senator Beveridge, chairman of the
convention, in lengthy address upon
the various political questions now
before the people touched upon the
subject of charges made against
American soldiers in the Philippines
of brutalities towards the natives In
defense of the soldiers the senator
said:
do they tell us of the brutality of Amer
lean soldiers? War has no record of mercy,
tenderness and care that compares with
the American treatment of prisoners in the
Philippines. Gems. Otis, Hughes and Mac
Arthur have testified to the care and KIND
ness of American officers and men to
Filipino prisoners. They are cared Tor even
as our own. l have seen wards of our own
hospitals turned over to Filipino SICK ana
wounded. American physicians attend
them, American nurses minister 10 them'
We are told of recommendation camps.
And what are they? Great tracts of fertile
land, not surrounded by fences and STOCK
AIDES, where the people may live ana work
in perfect liberty protected from murder
Gus deSperados' demands. Read the story
of American RECOMMENDATION in Marin
duque. The Filipinos there were fed with
food bought by American money WneH
those who terrorized them had been killed
or captured, Filipino physicians signed vol
untary statements that the peoples health
within those American lines was % per
cent better than it had been in their own
homes. And those people departed TO thelr
field, at last made peaceful, with reJolclnSS
on their lips that they had finally been res
cued from their own oppressors, and with
blessings on the American flag and the
American soldiers who had worked that
deliverance.
THE republican party stands by the
American soldier in the Philippines to-day
as 1t stood by the soldier of the ulon ~
years ago. stands by him now, and Will
stand by him until the last gray and hon
ored head bows to the. Conqueror of US all.
To those who now denounce American SOL
diers the American people will give the
same answer they gave to the de1amers
of the boys in blue in the old days: We
stand by the boys beneath the flag
'The boys beneath the flag! God bless
them everyone! And God defend them
from enemies at home and abroad, foes IN
the field and foes in the rear. Foes in the
field, the American soldier fights and con-
quers; foes in the rear he cannot reach.
Think of men rejoicing when American SOL
diers fall! Are there such men in America
to-day? Ask yourselves who would be
helped in the coming campaign by the news
of American disaster? American officers
will tell you that insurrecion has been
prolonged by American encouragement.
American soldiers are fighting for the
flags supremacy, for the republics ad-
vancing power; and there is no nobler cause
for which to battle and to die than to plant
American might and righteousness where
duty points the way.
This is no season for bitterness. 1t is
time for loyalty, love and brotherhood IN
all American hearts. Sections are no more;
they have passed away in the progress of
the great depublic. The twentieth century
opens with the mightiest people of history
marching onward to supremacy, with
Fraternity as their watchword. We Will
not denounce even the maligners of Amer
lean soldiers; pity them instead, for
they know not what they do. Our greatest
leaders Hottest words is our motto still:
Malice toward none, charity for all" 10y
atty to the flag! Upon the grave of every
American soldier, wherever he yielded up
his life, let the grateful tears of the nation
fall. And for the cause for which Amer
lean soldiers have given their blood let
the whole world know that the American
people are united. Let watching nations
learn that this new world power rising In
the west is not divided by classes, riven
by strife, weakened by faction. and that
those who stand against our advancing
banner must meet single, devoted united
people following after Let history record
that We are in fact, as well as name, the
people of the United States of America"