The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1902-06-05
Delivers Memorial Address at
Arlington and Upholds
PHILIPPINE Army.
CONDEMNS ACTS OF CRUELTY
Says War is Conducted Humanely. and
Atrocities by Natives Do Not Ex-
cuse Retaliation.

ally observed mere To-Day tndH
ever before. President RooSe-
welt delivered an Grafton at Ar
lington, where the principal SER
vices of the day were held.
After the invocation and the
rendition of several numbers by
the band and choir. E. B. Hay
read ssLincoln's Gettysburg adj
dress. President Roosevelt fol-
lowed. His remarks were given
the closest attention, and he was
frequently interrupted by bursts
of applause.
President Roosevelt said in
part;
You whom l address today
and your comrades who wore the
blue beside you in the perilous
years during which strong, sad,
patient Lincoln bore the crush
ing load of national leadership
performed the one feat the fail
ure to perform would have meant
destruction to everything which
makes the name of America a
symbol of hope among the ma
tions of mankind. You did the
greatest and most necessary task
which has ever fallen to the lot
of any men on this western hem
isphere.
Just at this time the army of
the United States, led by men
who served among you in the
great war, is carrying to COM
pletion a small but peculiarly
trying and difficult war in which
is involved not only the honor of
the flag, but the triumph of civil
Taxation over forces which stand
for the black chaos of savagery
and barbarism. The task has
not been as difficult or as impor-
tant as yours, but the men in the
uniform of the United States who
have for the last three years pa
tiently and uncomplainingly
championed the American cause
in the Philippine islands are
your younger brothers, your
sons. They have shown them
selves not unworthy of You, and
they are entitled to the support
of all mer who are proud of what
you did.
These younger comrades of
yours have fought under terrible
difficulties, and have received
terrible provocation from a very
cruel and treacherous enemy.
Under the strain of these pro.
vocations, l deeply deplore to
say that some among them have
so far forgotten themselves as to
counsel and commit, in retalla-
ton, acts of cruelty. The fact
that for every guilty act commit
ted by our troops 100 acts of far
greater atrocity have been COM
mitted by the hostile natives up
on the peaceable and law abiding
natives who are friendly to US,
cannot be held to excuse any
wrongdoer on our side. Determ-
ined and answering effort must
be made, and is being made, to
find out every instance of bar
barity on the part of our troops,
to punish those guilty of it, and
to take, if possible, even stronger
measures than have already been
taken to minimize or prevent the
occurrence of all such instances
in the future.
But keep in mind that these
crueltles in the Philippines have
been wholly exceptional, and have
been shamelessly exaggerated.
The fact really is that our
warfare in the Philippines has
been carried on with singular
humanity. For every act of
cruelty by our men there have
been innumerable acts of for
bearance, magranimity. and gen.
erous kindness. These are the
qualities which have character
lied the war as whole. The
cruelties have been waoly excep-
tional on our part.
peace and freedom-are there
two better objects for which a
soldier can fight? Well these are
precisely the objects for which
our soldiers are fighting in the !