Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-07-28
The Famous Samar Order.

In the case of Samar and the now IA
| nous order there to burn everything and
kill all over ten the Secretary of War
asserts that owing to the good sense and
| self-restraint of General Smiths subrodi-
| mates and their regard for the laws of war
his Incorporate and unjustifiable in
| structions were not followed We are not
| aware that any reliable statistics on this
| head are generally accessible; but the evil
| dence is that Samar, with it's population OF
! 2ooooo Christian being, was not exempt
| from the results usual in cases where war
| pestienceFa and famine combine in the work
| OF destruction. Fire and the sword there
| had full sway.
Language such as that just quoted open
| ~ used by commanding officers, can have
| but one effect. To all interiors and subord.-
mates 1t is an incentive at once direct and
| powerful to the systematic commission of
acts OF the character revealed in the printed
| evidence OF the Senate Philippine commit
| tee To pretend otherwise is in our judg-
| ment, merely to add cant and hypocrisy to
| cruelty. In the case under considera ton
b hue tcoumTts-martial subsequently convened
| napitually. as well naturally, recorded
| nEulngs of which those in the Smith and
| waller cases were typical. A reprimand
| mas been the not unusual punishment deem
| ed adequate for the killing in cold blood of
| natives by officers, whether those killed
| We're at the time prisoners or only suspects.
| it, indeed, even that
At first. also, the charges of the infic-
! tion OF torture by the so-called water cure
| met with an indignant denial One general.
| recently promoted for the capture or kill
| ing OF those whose bread and salt he starry
| ing, had just begged and eaten even went
| 70 the lenSth OF recording his belief that in
| no case had the water cure ever been adj
mlnistered by an American. When the ac-
tual notoriety of the practice thus denied
was proven, evidence of utter deroraUza
tlon is found in the testimony given before
sympathetic courts-martial by officers. an
paleItiy inclined to be humorous, to the
enect mat before administering to others a
torlure not unknown to those familiar Wit,
the processes Of the medieval inouis;tio,,
lhey had first had it tried on themselves As
soapplled, they had found it productive of mo
LILY. a9us el1ects; In certain cases even they
alieged, 1t had proved most beneficial 70 the
health. With a state of damoraI;..+;
such as evidence of this character implies IN
S 9oon witness and tribunal, it is not easy to
in7n,,d dr. seriously or with patience The
-pu'eiiee OF the mockery is manifest
Effort to Shift Responsibility.
"here in other cases inquiry revealed
'he systematic use of torture by subord,-
iia'es' the officer in responsible command
IS pronounced free from blame, on the
ground mat his praiseworthy absorption in
o''iei uuties OF his position was SO complete
that such trivial incidents failed IN a++r,o.
ms iotce. such finding is certainly sug
sestiVe; 1t Is also reminiscent of Dreyfns
incidents; but in France as here Tho
honoI OF the army was alleged to he as
s t Much' indeed has in these connec-
tIohS Deen heard of the honor of the army,
french and American. May we he hermit
tea 10 suggest that the good name of the
a onlted states now, as of France then. is
aiso ehtltled to some degree of considera-
case we do not speak
flnally, every severity known to a state
OF War-practices which have excited the
special Reproduction of the American neonle
when repOrtel feat oF+
IN Cuba under the Spanish regime or in
South Africa during the Boer war-haye
been of undisputed and frequent occurrence
in the Philippines. From the early begin
nlng OF operations there it has been the
general practice, if not actually the order
to Kill those wounded in conflict and in this
matter the depth of the general demorali-
cation reached can, perhaps, best be studded
In the statement of an officer high in COM
mand, when confronted with statistics nm
deniably showing that the killed of the
enemy in all engagements with us largely
outnumbered the wounded and the prison
ers combined; that this unprecedented re-
sult-admitting of but one explanation-Was
due to the fact that our soldiers were so
trained as markSmen that they almost in
variably struck vital points; and more
over, that the Fiipinos, even in panic flight.
made practice of carrying off their
wounded with them. Such evidence graveIy
given is not only proof conclusive of utter
military decentralization, but, we submit it
is with difficulty distinguished from what is
usually known as audacious mendacity.
Concerning Concentration Camps.
I'm like manner as respects concentration
camps. These as feature in recent Span
ish and South African operations, excited
i'll us as a people the deepest indignation,
combined with the most profound sympathy
for those thus numerically dealt with
When resorted to by our officials in the
Pb1ipniOaS
a species of recreation grounds, into which
the inhabitants of large districts rejoiced
to be drawn and from which they departed
with sorrow. Reports to which We can, on
the other hand, refer in a responsible army
journal give of them accounts not essen
TALLY different from the accounts received
of similar camps established elsewhere. BY
one army officer they have been likened to
suburbs of hell Meanwhile the most per-
sistent effort on our part has failed to OBJ
tain from the War Department or any
other source any statistics Of disease or
mortality in those camps. The published
statistics relating to the British camps in
South Africa of a similar nature were, on
the contrary precise and periodical. Such
being the case, the reports of our medical
inspectors on the concentration camps in
the Philippines are contrary to reason and
opposed to all human experience AS sucn
we hold them to be little less than an insult
to the intelligence Of those to whom they
were addressed.
You have given public assurance that the
Secretary Is more DESTROYS than yourself
even, if that be possible, to probe to the
bottom every responsible allegation of out
rage and torture, to the end that nothing
be concealed and no man be for any reason
favored or shielded. The draft on our Gre
dulity thus presented is large, but we ac-
cept your assurance Meanwhile, permit |
us to point out that such very sweeping |
and somewhat uncalled for commendation |
and approval, SO far as we are advised al |
together unprecedented in character, COM |
ing directly and in the midst of active ope- |
rations from the fountain head Of military |
authority, is scarcely calculated to keep |
a moral check over the acts of an improper |
character by subordinates.' 1t is charitable |
to assume that the pressure of official busi- |
ness at the time of the communication re- !
ferred to was such that the Secretary failed |
to recall what correspondents had Drought !
to his notice or fully to advise himself as |
to what the files Of his department might |
have to disclose.
such are certain Of the conclusions |
reached by US from as careful a study as it
has been in our power to make Of facts thus
far procurab Bile. We have endeavored to sup
plement and perfect the evidence, but our
efforts to that end have encountered con-
structive embarrassments We presented