The Opelousas courier. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1852-1910, 1902-05-10
Washington, ID. C., News.
From our Regular Correspondent.

underestimates the Philippine
question, who fails to appreciate
that it is of paramount import
ance, who imagines that senators,
in ventilating and opposing the
Philippine policy of the admins
tration, are losing sight of the in
terests of oW1own people, is very
short-sighteA. He does not grasp
the true m5ort of the situation"
said Senator Clay, in reply to a
questionI put to him Saturday.
sis an undertaking which means
to the p&bple Of the Unit672SStates
an annu' expenditure of $8O,O00,-
0eQ, ap4 which means that expen-
dithdHFSS not for one year, but con-
tinuously, question of minor
Importance? And that is not the
most serious. phase of the situa-
ton. Reflect for moment upon
the effect of the war on our Amer
lean soldiers, officers and men. It
is brutalizing them, as is plainly
shown by the evidence which has
been given before the Philippines
committee. And why this cruelty?
Is it in accordance with the past
histories of our army? No! And
for good reason. In the civil war
men fought for the principles in
which they believed, the rights of
the sovereign states on the one
side, the preservation of the union
on the other. All were sincere.
All were fighting for their convic-
tions. Ministers, doctors, mer-
chants, farmers, the best men in
the country on both sides, made
up the rank and file of the armies.
To certain extent the same was
true in the Spanish war, when the
best of our young men enlisted to
uphold the flag and to free Cuba.
But whom have we in the Philip
pines? Men who have enlisted
for $13 per month. Men who
enlisted generally because other
means of gaining a livelihood
were barred to them. Stop and
think of the men you know who
have enlisted-not as volunteers
in the first fever of the war-but
as regulars, for the paltry pay of
private. What manner of men
are they? Is it any wonder that
their officers cannot restrain them
and that they practice cruelties
and avail themselves of methods
of torture? The Filipinos are
human beings, with hopes and as
pirations like our own. They
have seen the light as the Ameri-
can colonists saw it in 1775, and
now is it to be wrested from them
and are they to yield up their hope
Of liberty? 'Pacifed p Yes!
Temporarily, perhaps, at the
muzzle of American rifles, but let
those rifles be turned away and
their hopes and ambitions will re-
turn and they will renew the
struggle. We have killed their
men and sometimes their chill
dren, and even, perhaps, though
accidentally, their women. Will
they forgive us and accept our
rule? Never, except in the pres
ence of large armed forces. To
preserve peace in the Philippines
we must maintain an army of
from forty to fifty thousand men
in the islands for years to come,
perhaps forever; and this to con-
quer u people to whom liberty is
as dear as it is to US. Can the
Philippine question be said to be
one of minor importance?"
Appropos of the Philippine
question there has been adopted
by the Senate resolution calling
on the Secretary of War for a
statement of the expense to which
this country has been put in the
administration of the military af-
fairs of the islands. Secretary
Root has shown decided ten
dency to avoid making this report
during this session, and would
doubtless like to postpone the
statement until after the fall cam
paign. He has magnifed the diff
| fculties, and III the meantime has
refused to furnish even an ap-
Iproximation, which is all the dem
ocratic senator's, who fathered the
resolution, desire. To the $780,.
100000 paid as a purchase price
for the islands may be added the
| $55,47 ,695 expended for military
purposes for the first six months
from May to November, 1898, bu1
from that time ON no figures arr
Ito be had, and the most persisten
inquiry by senator's and correspon
dents has failed to secure an,
competent information. It is es
timated that the total cost up tt
November, 1899, was 800, 600, 900
but there all estimates fail, and
: the Secretary of War has his wa
, the country will not know unit
next December.
-eA@e-
: A SHOE THAT WILL WEAR ii
D the Hamilton Brown Shoe-it wi
!, give you satisfaction. Sold b
E. L. Sandoz,
SaIa a Oaut