The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-04-22
THE DIFFERENCE CONDITIONS MAKE

A cablegram from Manila says that
army officers think the people IN the
United States do not understand condl-
lions of warfare in the Philippines, i'm
plying that if they did there would not
be such a general condemnation OF severe
methods as is now to be heard on all
sides.
That is the defense that is always made
by soldiers and settlers who are harsh 10
native peoples. ss 1t is the time -honored
excuse for every injustice done on the
frontier to the American Indians. Every
time person or paper in the east mas
criticized the conduct of cowboys and SOL
diers in killing Indians the answer has
been that the critic did not understand
the conditions.
Such an answer is an explanation, not a
defense. The conditions are different, but
they do not justify the crime, though
they may powerfully tend to make muir
derer of an ordinarily humane and tender
gentleman. Wherever the white races
have come into contact with the DARK
races there have always been deeds tnat
shock the people at home, though the act
ual perpetrators Of these horrors defend
them If our troops in the Philippines
| revenge outrage with outrage and deatn
with death they are doing only what has
! been done on the American frontier a
| hundred times-if not by soldiers certain
ly by civilian and volunteer Indian fight
ers The Seventh oTalry. fourteen years
afterwards thought 1T was justified III
"revenging' Clusters massacre by shoot
ing women and children in the hight al
Wounded Knee. When Colonel ChlVlns-
ton and his regiment of Colorado volun-
teers killed $500 men, women and chill
dren at Cherry Creek they doubtless
thought that the peculiar conditions or
the frontier justified them in putting ar
end to all friction with this particular
tribe. When the English bound Sepoys t(
lannon's mouths in India they though
thew we're justified. When Waller-sho
his treacherous scouts he thought he wa:
justified.
While it must be admitted that people
sitting quietly in their homes 5000 miles
from the scene of war have no license tt
4 make general criticisms, or attempt t.
say without full evidence whether par
ticular piece of severity was unjustifiabl
and barbarous rather than warlike, 1t l
we'll known that the white man, sur
rounded by foes and adverse physica
conditions in the distant tropics Is ap
to decline in moral vigor and to replac
tenderness Of feeling with callousness
Far away from the scrutiny of all OH
Gals except those who take the sam
:. view of conditions that he does, endoWe
) with absolute authority over his distrie
: and in command Of soldiers who hav
all of the white Americans characterize
contempt for the black races, it is n
,, wonder that now and then an officer ha
lapsed from the high standards require
of him.
The. trial Of General Jacob H. Snit
, will throw some interesting light on tn
: peculiar conditions Of warfare in TT
Philippines and how they affect officer
!, and soldiers. Here is a man known
i be kind and tender hearted and consit
5 crate. Yet he is charged with orderlr
5 Major Waller to kill all hostile native
2 over 10 years of age. If the charge
y proved it will in turn give proof of tf
: moral deterioration that. accompanlt
5 warfare in the Philippines. But while
Il is on trial General Smith is entitled
: the presumption of innocence, and h
ready critics on this side Of the Pacit
must remember that in the most civil
: ized warfare spies and deserters ar
: traitors are treated with, scant consl'
> Grafton and that the rule Of retallat1t
. is not unknown or undefended.