Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-04-17
rhe Crowding out OF Gen. MiIes.

80 DttduSS III the unpleasant rcla-
tiOns that exist between the general
and the war department.. These I'M
pleasant relations. while they may
have existed before. were not consid-
cred SERIOUS, until Gen. Miles said that
our military operati ons in some dis
tricts of the Philippines had been
conducted with marked severity"
and quoted from official reports to
Justify his criticism. AT once Sec
Rotary Root rebuked the general with
brutal severity and President Roose-
welt was so indignant that he has
had il in" for Miles ever since and
while he has thus far been restrained
with difficulty from infiicting punish
ment. has, it. appears. at last decided
to force Miles out of active service.
Gen. Miles offense is that he gave
thet sanction of his high authority 10
truths that the administration was
endeavoring to conceal. These re-
ports which were suppressed by Sec
rotary Root. together with the testi-
mony given i'm the Waller court mar
tial. more than Justify Gen. Miles
moderate language.
Maj. Waller. who. late bulletin
from Manila says. has been acquit-
ted of committing the cruelties
without authority from higher
sources. admitted that he was guilty
of all the acts charged against him.
but testified. and was ustained by
three of his subordinates. who swore
that they heard the order. that Gen.
Smith told him (Waller) To kill and
burn" to take mo prisoners" to kill
I L l.
Samar bowling Wilderness
How well these bloody instructions
were followed has been brought out
in testimony before the senate com
mittee. There has simply been
carnival of slaughter on the islands,"
says Senator Patterson: the army
has either demanded submission or
has given no quarter"
\ fitting climax TO that testimony
Is Mai. Walters declaration in his adj
dress on his own behalf before the
court in Manila that was trying him.
Il shot them he says of his helpless
Filipino captives. II thought then
that l was right. and ] believe so
now.
The terrible charge is made by the
acting governor of Batangas, Luzon.
that 100000 inhabitants of that prov
ince have persisted by war. disease or
starvation since the American con-
quest. Further confirmation comes
in the suppressed report of Ma. Gard !
ener. a graduate of West Point and |
for thirty years an officer of the !
regular army. who served with dis
tinction in Cuba. now civil governor
of a LuzOn province.
The course now being pursued,
he writes. lis. in my Judgment. sowing
the seeds of "a perpetual revolution
against us hereafter" He instances
the extensive burning of the bar
rios" the ''torturing of natives by
the so-caIled water-cure and other
methods i'm order 10 obtain informa-
ton" and the harsh treatment of
natives generally" as responsible for
the change of a once favorable senti- |
ment toward us to a deep hatred"
An order of Gen. Smith. dated Feb.
-. is given out by the war depart
ment to show the success of his
methods of qualification" He says:
From the reports received of late
from every quarter of the island of
Samar the brigade commander is
constrained to the belief that active
opposition to our occupation of the
island has erumbled away"
"CrumbIed away One may well
believe il. the Springfield Register
says. under a policy of kill and
burn But does il not recall the
words of President Mckinley to con
gress i'm describing the strenuous
Spanish policy in Cuba: 'The only
peace it could beget was that of the
wilderness and the grave
The Register says further. and well. |
too:
In addition to all this comes the
united protest of the American edi- |
tors i'm Manila against, the arrest of
two of their number under the arbi-
trary .sedition law, by virtue of
which freedom of the press is there
denied and destroyed. The refusal of
Gen. Miles to accept and indorse the |
administrations Philippine policy by |
silent acquiescence in the suppression
of the truth is to be punished with
the highest penalty the president can
infiict. which is retirement from ac-
tive service This will prevent the
general from having access TO any |
future official reports from the Phil
ippines; and will also forbid his visit
ing those islands for the purpose of
making an official investigation of the
conditions there. which he has declar-
ed he intends to do.
IF congress has not wholly abdi-
Gated in favor of executive power
and military rule it will take cog
nizance of this enforced retirement
OF Gen. Miles. and insist on turning
the full light of publicity upon the
wretched adventure in Imperialism
into which the nation has been led i'm
the Philippines"