The Tucson citizen., 1902-05-15
ROOTS APPROVAL OF SMITH

Roots approval OF all the oFueIs lHH"Vu
nv military commanders in the Philip
mines be justified? one of these or
ders, issued by General Jacob H.
smith. was to xiii all above ~ years
old and make Samar hoWling VIII
derness. Evidently Secretary koo1
and General Smith assumed that Fiji
pino boy that took up arms in deiehSo
of his country was ncorrigiblc; that
Il was useless to try TO reform n!n' ,
that nothing short Of death could cure
him Of his combativeness and his pro-
pensity to fight for the cause OF Fll-
nino independence. But, as Senator
Teller of Colorado said in the debate IN
the Senate on Tuesday, nobody n the
United States would think 1t an I'M
nardonahle crime for an American boy
of tender years to fight the battles OF
his country. III said Mr.. Teller In
this country 10-year-old boys should
enter the army to fight, they would i'e
almost uelutu ny lIiSit 'N''N"
men" According to a Manila dis
patch. one of the companies or the
Ninth Infantry has in its ranks Fill
pino boy. Nobody seems TO think 1t
is wrong for him to turn his weapon
against his own people. Pia My.
therefore. the youthful Filipino who
fights with us is a good boy"-if he
fights against us, he is bad boy"
Conceding that the Filipino boy who
is led astray by what he considers pa
triotic instinct is in need Of reform,
there may still be grave doubts wheth~
er General Smiths method of reform
alton. which is approved by the Roose-
welt administration. is sound and hui
name. as Secretary Root argues. There
are many little American boys who
are regarded as practically incorrIg-
ible. But we don't kill them. On
the contrary, we build Nand maintain
reformatory institutions for them.
The people OF Arizona are at present
engaged in erecting an institution OF
this kind at Benson. of which we Will
all be proud one OF these days. We
nut our youthful offenders in the care
of men who try to teach them what is
right. to train them to become self
supporting, to make them useful self
~. IT.
Our humanitarans tell us that this is
a duty which we owe TO mankind /,
nobler and more profitable under
taking. none which it Is under greater
obligations to perform. This is what
our economists. our statesmen and tho
pulpit assure us. and the fact that re-
formatory institutions may be found
In all parts Of the country proves that
the Amr rican people indorse tolls
method Of dealing with wayward boys
Is it possible that mistake has been
made. and that instead of bringing in
corrigihle youths under good mora
Influences and firm discipline, the
Smith plan, approved by Root, Of le-
forming or civilizng Filipino youths
'over 10" should be adopted?
II General Smith, with the approva
of the Roosevelt administration, has
found the best solution Of the prob.
lem, our reformatory institutions are
mere mockeries, expensive luxures
proftless "fads," which ought to be
abandoned Immediately What Is
the use OF devoting years of care to in
tractable boys, when a bullet would
render them incapable of doing evil?
That seems to be the logic OF the
Roosevelt administration approval
Of General Smiths order when we ap-
ply 1t to conditions in the United
States. If Smith and Root are right
then our humanitarians have made a
grievous blunder because of their ig-
norance OF human nature; the pulpit
has erred, and statesmen and econ
omists are the victims of delusion.
On the whole, however we are dis
posed to think, the enlightened and
humane American people will prefer
the reformatory to the firing squad
even for the wayward Filipino boy
They have more faith In moral sua-
sion and practical training for the re-
clamation Of bad boys than In the rife
and the bayonet. Killing as method
of reformation Is as old as the earth
II has been tried from the earliest pc
Rod In the worlds history. and has
proved a melancholy failure. Chris
tendon has no desire to revert to bar