New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-09-01

HOW THE FORCE HAS FIrCTr-sTrD
SINCE DEWEY'S VICTORY

Washington. Aug 81 CspeciaD.-The force q,
regulars in the Philippines under orders rscsr+,,
issued. is TO be reduced in the next few vasLs
10 lo'VoV Officers and men. which is regarded
as the maximum hereafter needed in the arcbi
pelago and which. in all likelihood will be fur
tner reduced oy several thousand next winter
as the native constabUlary become more o.
hc1ent and the last scattered remnants Of
ladrones disappear altogether The strength 90
the military force which was exerted 10 raks
the Islands. to restore order and to establish
a condition of permanent peace and securtrv
that has now been assured, is instructfveIv ay
hiblted In a graphic statement prepared bv
Colonel Clarence Edwards. chief of the InsuIar
Bureau Of the War Department. In explaua-
ton Of the salient features of the diagram r. q.
to be remembered that three weeks after the
official news of Deweys smashing victory the
first military expedition. under General Thomas
Anderson. consisting Of lis officers and 23s3f
men, sailed from San Francisco on May 25 1898. 4
reached Manila Bay on June 80 and diseu,-l
barked the initial force of 2.491 on July l. Gem
eral Francis V Greene's force Of 15S officers
and 3,42S men landed seventeen days later, and
the arrival of Generals Merritt and MacArthur
with 181 officers and 1860 men on July D COM
pIeted the force that took Manila by assault
on August 10 General Otis arrived on August
y. with fOrty-tWO officers and 1,64O men, and
month later the first troops that could be spared
from possible call 10 Cuba and Porto Rico and
for the defence of the Atlantic seaboard began
10 come In and take charge of the heavy forti-
ficatiOns
Then for many weary months while discus
sion ragged at home and the insurgents grew
stronger every day. reinTorcements were slowl
in going forward in the absence Of a settled
policy in Congress, until the spring OF 1893.
when the advance to the north of Luzon began
and was pressed with varying success. until
legislation in Washington finally resulted I'M
raising twenty regiments OF volunteers. whicha
permitted the repatriation of the National;
and afS rho TaT
months from about 81 900 electives in September
10 more than 10000 by the first of the year 1900
By March General Otis was able to report that;
the Filipino government and it's organized forces
were effectually dispersed, and then began the
proper distribution of the garrisOns TO protect
the UeaceabIy and industriou5Iy inclined natives
I'm cuItivating their fields and resuming their
ordinary vocations under American protection.
The drop in the strength curve early in July
was caused by the Boxer crisis in China, but
at the end of 1900 maximum strength OF
nearly 600 reached, when the total force
of the army home and in the islands was
Of 010 1t at this time that five hundred
distinct stations in the Philippines were main
tanned and the establishment of municipal and
provisional governments advanced with Such
success under military guardianship that the
first OF 1901 saw the beginning OF the end OF
the martial regime and the rapid and perna-
nent withdrawal of troops This reduction or
force was continued -uninterruptediy and with
singular uniformity for more than Two anu q
half wears until, July 4 last. Wheh OlllN
% 900 were left guard against eXtefnal a.
well as internal questionerS as to TIE Stabiiity
of American sovereignty. the nliliIaIS soS "a
r1Ant was wholly abolished, and the civil al
roinistratfon was made as supreme as II is IN
Porto Rico or any Of the Territories contiguous
to the States of the Union