Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-12-02

une 10 time threatened with the Moham-
| tionary Filipinc.l the war has entirely
! ceased. Civil government has now been
| enjoy such rights to life. liberty and the
! pursuit of happiness as he has never be-
ipre known curing the recorded history OF
! the Islands. but the people. taken as
! whole, now enjoy measure OF self gov
| other orientaIs by any foreign power and
! greater than that enjoyed by any other
| save the Japanese alone. We have not
! gone too far in granting these rights OF
! liberty and self government but we nave
| certainly gone to the limit that IN the in
/ il was wise or just to go. TO hurry mat
| tiers. to 20 faster than we are now going.
would entail Sia nli on me people OF
! by the American people has indicated it
CIV of holding the Philippines The tri-
! umph OF arms. above all the triumph
! er than we had any right to expect. Too
much praise cannot be given to the army
| for what il has done in the Philippines
! both in warfare and from an administra-
| tive standpoint. in preparing the way for
| civil government, and similar credit be-
longs 10 the civil authorities for the way
! in which they have planted the seeds OF
| self government in the ground thus made
ready for them. The courage. the IN
| linching endurance. the high soldierly eff
cheney and the general kind hearteGness
and humanity OF our troops have been
! strikinSly manifested. There now remain
only some loo troops in the islands. All
| told. over 100000 have been sent there. OF
course there have been Individual in
| Stances or WrOngQOlnR among them. They
warrcd under fearful difficulties of eli
! mate and surroundings, and under the
! strain of the terrible provoca tons which
they contlnually received from their Ioe5
! occasional instances of cruel retaliation
| prevent such crueltieS. and finally these
| efforts have been completely successful
livery SIiort hSS iLlso Deeh Hhsiue 20 &c
| making all allowance for these misdeeds
It remains true that few indeed have been
| the Instances in which war has been
! waged by ~ civilized power against semi
civilized or barbarous forces where there
| tors in the Philippine Islands. on the
! other hand. the amount Of difficult. impor-
/ done is we'll nigh incalcuIable.
! Taking the work Of the army and the
! civil authorities together. it may be cues
! toned whether anywhere else in modern
! times the world has seen better exam
! pie of real constructive statesmanshiij
/ than our people have given in the Philip
| pine Islands. High praise should also be
! given those Filipinos - in the aggregate
| very uumerous-who have accepted the
new conditions ana Joined with our repre-;
| for the welfare OF the Islands.
Condition OF the Army
The army mas been reGIced 10 the mini
mum allowed by law 1t is very small for
the size Of the nation and most certainly
should be kept at the highest poiat of eff
! cheney The senior officers are given scant
chance under ordinary conditions to eS-
! ercise commands commensurate with Their
rank under circumstances which would nj
them 10 DO rhelr duty IN time or actual
war. A system Of maneuveTing our army
in bodies of some little size has been be
gun and should be steadily continued.
Without such maneuVers il is folly to eX-
pect that in the event of hostiiities with
could be handled to advantage Both our
officers and enlisted men are such thai
better material cen be found. But the
must be thoroughly trained. both indi
Viduals and in the mass. The narksman-
ship Of the men must receive special at
tention. In the circumstances OF modern !
warfare the man must act far more or /
his individual responsibility than [
ever before. and the high Individual efIi- |
cheney of the unit is of the utmost i'm
regiment 1t is now not the regiment. not !
vitlmai soldier Every effort must be made |
to develop every wor!tmanlike and sol |
dierly quality in both the officer and the |
enlisted man.
1 urgently call your attention to the |
need of passing bill providing for a gen.
eral stan and for the REORGANIZATION OF /
the supply departments on the lines of the /
bill proposed by the secretary of war last |
army from West Point they probably |
stand above their compeers in any other /
made rs training. by reward of merit. by |
scrutiny into their careers and capacity, |
eSceiience throughout their careers
The measure providing for the reoTgan-
curing the highest efficiency in the nation
al guard: which has already passed tho /
and action. 1t is of great importance thai /
the relation OF the national guard TO the 1
States should be defined and that in place /
of our present obsolete laws a practical /
Provision should be made to enable the |
secretary of war to keep cavalry and ar /
ance of duty. Such horses fetch but {. /
tribe when sold. and rather than TURF /
when thus disposed of it would be better /
to employ them at light work around the |
paiulessly TO death.
Naval Maneuvers
FOR Inc nrsS time I'm our history naval 4
rnaneuvers on n large scale are being held |
under the Immediate command of the ad- /
miral of the navy. Constantly increasing
attention is being paid to the gunnery OF |
the navy. but it is yet far from what it /
should be. l earnestly urge that the in
crease asked for by the secretary of the
navy in the appropriation for improving
the craftsmanship be granted In battle
the only shots that count are the shots
that hit. 1t is necessary to provide ample
funds for practice with the great guns in
time of peace. These funds must provide
but for allowances for prizes to encour-
age the gun crews, and especially the gun
pointers, and for perfectlng an intelligent
system under which alone 1t is possible 10
get good practice -
year additional fighting craft. We are a
tory and great in population u country.
moreover. which has an army diminutlVs
other first class power we have deliber-
ately made our own certain foreign poll
firl5t class navy. The isthTnian canal win
greatly increase the efficiency of our navy
If the navy is of sufficient size. but II We
have inadequate navy then the build
ing of the canal would be merely giving a
hostage to any power of superior strength
The Monroe doctrine should be treated as
the cardinal feature of American foreign
policy, but it would be worse than idle
to assert it unless we intended to back it
up, and IL can be backed up only by q
thoroughly good navy. good navy IS
not provocative of war. 1t is the surest
guaranty of peace.
Each Individual unit OF our navy should
be the most efficient of it's kind regards
both material and personnel that is to be
found in the world / call your special
attention to the need of providing for the
manning of the ships. Serious trouble
threatens us if we cannot do better than