The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-05-27
is SUICIDE hAA|A
Statistics Would Seem to
Show it to be True
PHILIPPINES BAD PLACE
CiviIizing Malay Races Not
Grand Success

is growing apace, and the ratio does not
seem to be lowerde as our occupation
becomes permanent, as was confidently
prophesied would be the case in more
than one responsible quarter. The death
roll kept in the Adjutant Generals office
now numbers close to FIVE thousand off,
GERS and men who have fallen since the
land occupation of the islands began.
The deaths by violence and rayages
| of disease among the officials and the
employees of the civil government have
also been very great. They should be
taken into consideration. but there aree,
believe, up to the present, no reliable
data available for this purpose. This is a
big price to pay If our Philippine adven-
| ture is to go into history as a political
blunder, but large as it is, it is not too
great a sacrifice to make if thereby we
| are comforting the blessings of civilization
upon those sullen Malay races who by
the fortune of war have come under our
| guardianship.
! Whatever the campaigns in the Philli-
pines may have been, whether they are
of war or peace, a peace which some
would have Us believe has never been
disturbed. except locally. by a few pro-
4
taking the lesson of these statistics, which
are certainly free from any suspicion of
any exaggeration; whether in open bat
| tie or in the dark jungle fight, by the
| hand Of the secret, soft shod assassin
| Or by the Asiatic pests of the black and
yellow death whose approach is still more
| than the casualties we sustained in the
war with Spain. in the Mexican war, or in
| the second war for our independence at
| sea in 1872. and perhaps they have been
| greater than the casualties incurred in
| all our little wars taken in the aggregate
| The purpose of this present article is
not to glorify those who have achieved
| death on the battlefield under the flag
! or TO insist upon TIE fact that it is in
cumbent upon US at home to see that so
much blood be not shed in vain: that we
! be not defrauded of that for which We
have paid so heavy price or leave our
| soldiers there upon their jungle battle
| field until the only worthy memorial of
| their deeds has been erected upon a Sc
cure foundation. And that memorial
take to be the establishment of law and
order and the spread of civilization
| through that part of the world where
we found inveterate anarchy and rapine,
| and where some districts, despite our
costly work of the last two years, they
| persist.
| In these paragraphs. however, I shall
| endeavor to throw some light upon the
causes of A large, and. as il seems an
| increasing fraction of our losses. which
are so often from a sentiment of charity
! | hold mistaken. passed over in silence.
l mean that sad list of officers and men
who are entered in the statistics as hav-
! ing died by their own hands
The popular explanation of this entry
of vital statistics, which was formerly
so rare in the United States army, is that
| the great number of suicides so succinct-
| Iy chronicled is caused by alcoholism
resulting in physical and mental depres-
sion, and finally the end of all things in
| an act of despair. This is far from being
the truth. and many who have fallen
| physically, by their own hands have as
n matter of fact met their death in the
! line of duty as truly as thse who have
! fallen advancing upon the enemy at the
head of their men.
/ would not bemistaken in this matter
! 1 do not deny for q moment the ravages
| of alcoholism among the Americans
| whether soldiers or civilians. in the Phi
| lippines. | am indeed one of those who
| believe that if the conquest Of the tropics
is to be accomplished by men of our race
! whisky should be left behind in the tenn
| perate zone. or, better STILL the work
should be done by total abstainers. One
of the many costly decisions we have
suffered from the Malay islands is to the
effect that whisky. when taken IN con-
nection with quinine-a very little qui-
nine and a good deal of whisIy-is a
! panacea which renders the drinker quite
! immune to tropical fevers and malaria.
This may be true-there some authori-
! ~ for it-though in visiting at least a
hundred army posts throughout the is
| lands l came upon 70 fact to strengthen
this theory. but many quite to the con-
/ trary. Conceding, however. for the mo-
ment that whisky and QUiuine combat
malaria. it IS certain that whisky renders
the frame Of thedrinker more susceptible
to other diseases. mental as we'll as physi-
cal. in comparison with which calaria,
bad as it is. is p mere bagatelle.
And American whisky. with al due re-
spect for the authors who have praised
f. in our histories rs an excellent. per-
I e
is certainly the least desirable Of hot
waters for tropical consumption. The
resulting misery which I have seen had
1 almost made me a teetotaler, and it has
( made me n temperance man IN mild.
( impersonal way.
We will follow the soldier who has
taken his daily nip. quite frequently re-
/ pcated. and Who as long Is he vas sta
toned in Nontant or Texas never felt
better iu his life" He goes To the Phi
I lippines and Keeps on nippins. There ne
/ VIII generally drink more than less. be-
/ cause he has very little 10 co or is under
/ the severe mcrtal and physical strain
I imposed by duty in flying column o.
frontier work in an isolated pueblo.
To fortify himself ne drinks mora rather
than less. and you can get whisky every
where IN the Islands Towns and ga7ri-
sons which cannot get letters or news
/ papers more than once every six weeks.
| or perhaps once every three months. get
! whisky as though L came ike the gen
tie dcw-from heaven Nv friend Win
/ dy' Sherman. the delight Of the Twenty
/ first infantry. bur in no wise related %
the distinguished Ohio family II that
name except in 50 far sS the respectful
! appreciation Of ou- national bavera &c
I. makes all men kin. seeing nv as;cnish-
r1ent At the Tow 81 whisky IN his v5cini-
". told me that !; was .'pipeG-- from shs
,s,rivafe sEitler's stores in Manila 20 every
army post in the Philippines. through the
agency q that rroSt ssrviceabie q plants.
/ the hollow bauheo
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