The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-05-31
JOURNAL COURIER. SATURDAY. MAYs1

Just at this moment the army of th'
 United States, led by men who served
 among you in the great war, is carry
 ing to completion a small but peculiarly
 trying and difficult war in which IS in
 volved not only the honor of the nag
 but the triumph of civilization oVel
 forces which stand for the black chaos
 of savagery and barbarism. The task
 has not been as difficult or as important
 as yours, but oh, my comrades the
 men in the uniform of the Unlteu
 Staes, who have for the last three
 years patiently and uncomplalnlnRiy
 championed the3 American cause Ill the
 Philippine Islands, are your youilsei
 brothers, your sons. They have shoWn
 themselves not unworthy of you, ana
 they are entitled to the support Of all men who are proud of what you dld'
 These younger comrades Of yours have fought under terrible difficulties and have received terrible provocation from a very cruel and very treachefous enemy. Under the strain or these provocations I deeply deplore to say
 that some among them have so far for-
 gotten themselves as to counsel ana | commit, in retaliation, acts Of cruelty'
 The fact that for every guilty act com
 mitted by one of our troops a hundred | acts of far greater atrocity nave peen committed by the hostile natives upon
 our troops, or upon the peaceable ana | law abiding natives who are friendly to
 us, cannot be held to excuse any wrong
 doer on our side Determined and un-
 swerving effort must be made, and is l la tn find D11f instance
 of barbarity on the part of our troops,
 to punish those guilty of 1t, and to take. if possible even stronger meas ures than have already been taken to
 minimize or prevent the occurrence Of all such instances in the future.
 1 From time to time there occur in our country, to the deep and lasting shame of our people, lynchings carried on un- l der circumstances of inhuman cruelty and barbarity-a cruelty lnhnltely worse than any that has ever been committed by our troops in the Philip pines: worse to the victims and Tar more brutalizing to those guilty Of It.
 Then men who fail to condemn these lynchings, and yet clamor about what has been done in the Philippines, are
 indeed guilty of neglecting the beam III
 their own eye while taunt1ng the1r
 brother about the mote in his. Under
 stand me. These lynchings afford us no excuse for failure to stop cruelty in the
 Philippines Every effort Is being made and will be made to minimize the chances of cruelty occurring.
 But keep in mind that these cruelties in the Philippines have been wholly exceptional and have been shamelessly exaggerated. We deeply and bitterly regret that any such cruelties should have been committed. no matter how rarely no matter under what provoca- tion, by American troops. But they af- ford far less justification for general condemnation of our army than these lynchings afford for the condemnation of the communities In which they have taken place. In each case 1t is well to condemn the deed and it is well also to | refrain from including both guilty and | innocent in the same sweeping con demnation.
 In every community there are people | who commit acts of well-nigh incon- horror and baseness If we | fix our eyes only upon these individuals and upon their acts, and Tiff we forget | the far more numerous citizens of up- right and honest life and blind our selves to their countless deeds of wis dom and justice and philanthropy, it is easy enough to condemn the commun- ity. There is not city in this land which we could not thus condemn if we fixed our eyes purely upon it's police record and refused to look a what it had accomplished for decency and jus tice and charity. Yet this is exactly the attitude which has been taken by too many men with reference to our army In the Philippines; and it is an attitude both absurd and cruelty unjust,
 The rules of warfare which have been promulgated by the War Depart nent and accepted as the basis of con- iuct by our troops in the field are the rules laid down by Abraham Lincoln when you, my hearers, were fighting for he Union. These rules provide, of ,ourse, for the just severity necessary | n war The most destructive of all 'orms of cruelty would be to show weakness where sternness is demanded ,y iron need. But all cruelty is forbid len, and all harshness beyond what is | ,alled for by need. Our enemies in the have not merely violated | very rule of war, but have made of hese violations their only method of ! on the war. We should have ,een justified by Abraham Lincoln's ules of war in infinitely greater sever ty than has been shown. The fact eally is that our warfare in the Philip lines has been carried on with singular For every act of cruelty by ur men there have been innumerable cts of forbearance, magnanimity and l generous kindness. These are the l ualities which have characterized the { var as a whole, The cruelties have been ( wholly exceptional on our part. ( The guilty are to be punished but in C them, let those who sit at ase at home, who walk delicately and l I ve in the soft places of the earth, re- c lember also to do them common jus ! 2 ice Let not the effortless and the un- | 7mpted rail over-much at strong men .. i ,ho with blood and sweat face years | r f toll and days and nights of agony, t nd at need lay down their lives in re- l ? lote tropic jungles to bring the light n f civilization into the worlds dark l V faces. The warfare that has extended o le boundaries of civilization at the ex- f nnSe of barbariSm and Sayagery has q