New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-05-01
THE CAMPAIGN IN S4nAP.

FINAL Judgment upon the campaign in Samar
or upon the plan of il must await fuller Informal
ton At this time, however, It seems fitting to
say that widespread and profound disappoint-
ment is felt at the failure of General Smith
promptly to repudate and to refute the astound-
ing charges which were made by some of his
subOrdinates. 1t was hoped that we should be
spared the pain OF knowing that a high officer
of the United States Army had given a formal
order worthy of Pappenhem or lilly. We all
know that war is hell"; that it sometimes in
wolves dreadful acts of retaliation, and that
commanding officers have at times found il ex-
pedient, perhaps necessary. taciuy 10 COndone
acts committed by their subordinates in excess
of the stated rules of conflict But that a gen
eral officer should deliberately issue a formal
order such that which General Smith is
charged with having issued in Samar-Iet it he
hoped it will for all time stand unique and soli-
tary upon our military annals.
The issuing of that order seems to be ad-
mtted by General Smith and his friends, and
to be defended by them upon the grounds
partly that II legitimate and necessary
and partly that 1t did not fully mean what it
said. We cannot regard either Of these grounds
as satisfactory. To devastate n country with
fire and sword. to make Il 'howliug wilder
ness" to slaughter its inhabitants indiscrimi-
nately, non-combatants as well as combatants
women as well as men, is not legitimate 1t is
not war. War is hell but 1t Is not that kind Of
hell. The Japanese did not do so in their war
with China, though they had dreadful provoca-
ton. Our troops did not do so in our Indian
wars, though the provocation there was incom-
parably greater than any that has been offered
in the Philippines. The British did not do so
in India, not even after the nameless horrors of
10, N.
would he to turn back by century and more
the hands upon the dial plate Of time
If such order was not legitimate neither
can cOncede that it was necessary. To say
that civilization must fight savagery with equal
savagery would he to declare civilization n fail
urc There is a strong and respectable belief
that civilization ought 10 be able to do some
thing better with ever the worst individual
criminal than simply to kill him. Certainly it
should 1t must, be able TO do something better
with a whole people than to eXternnate IT,
Burke did not know "the method of drawing up
an indictment against a whole people" Who
Shall venture to draw up against whole people
not merely an indictment, but death warrant?
We did not find it necessary to eXterminate the
Sioux or the Apaches Neither can we be- per
suaded that 1t was necessary for a civilized
nation Of nearly eighty millions TO extermnate
TO menace with determination a people OF
half a million. Strength can and must master
weakness by other means than humiliation.
The plea that the order did not mean what II
said is not satisfactory. The English language
Is not ambiguous. 1t Is pretty direct and ex-
plicit vehicle of expression. An order to kill
and burn" does not mean to spare life and prop
erty. An order to kill Everybody over ten
years" does not mean to spare women and chill
dren An order to make country "a bowling
Wilderness does not mean to leave ii habitable
by women and children under ten years of age
AS a matter of fact, the order was worse than
its terms for the killing Of all over ten years of
age meant surely that all under that age would
perish, too of starvation and neglect Herod
was more mercifuL He killed only the chill
dren, leaving the parents to live Under Gen
eral Smiths order the parents were to be killed
leaving the children to die. The exception of
those under ten years was not merciful.
1t may be that the order was effective. So
was the sacking of Magdeburg. 1t NAV be that
without General Smiths drastic measures the
war there would not be ended yet" though we
do not believe II. But even So 1t would have
been better to have year two more of civil
lied warfare than even n day or two of such n
campaign as this order prescribed We would
not anticipate the verdict of the court martial
at Manila or the ultimate disposition of the case
by the War Department and by the commander
in chief of the army and navy. But in the
name Of the American people and of the civil
lied world it must be hoped that never will SUI
preme sanction and approval be given 10 uni
versal slaughter as means OF warfare.
FLEEING