Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1903-04-27
CHARGES ARE MADE PUBLIC.
Continued from First Page.

camps were, says Gen. Miles, con
sidered prisoners of war, but were
compelled to buy food from those
who held them, at a large profit
Gen. Miles characterizes this as I'M
precedented.s He speaks of the mag
nitude of the transaction, which in
volved 21,0OO,OOO pounds of rice and
other supplies at cost of $3O6.32O.
He says that IAN extraordinary feat
ure of this transaction is the action
which was disapproved by "a division
commander. who assumed command
and who turned the matter over to
the civil authorities and that it had
been carried on under an act of the
Philippine commission.
reply to the foregoing portion
of the. report has been prepared by
Judge Advocate General Davis in a
letter to the secretary of war. in
which he says: THE incidents which
are set forth in the enclosed special
report have been made the subject
of special Investigations; in some in
stances they have been conducted by
courts martial and their findings and
sentences have been duly promulga-
ted in orders; in others the Inquiries
have been entrusted to inspectors. or
to officers designated for that pur-
pose by the commanding general in
the Philippines. Where administra-
tive action has been called for. as a
result of such Investigations. it has
been taken by the proper military
commander, if the parties continued
within his jurisdiction; in other cases
the matter has been submitted TO the
department with view to n resort
to such punitive remedial orders as
were deemed appropriate. and these
representations have resulted in a
number of court martial trials. As
to some phases of these inquiries the
Investigations are not vet complete
and a reference of the papers to the
Philippine islands or officers who are
now serving in the United States has
been necessary. Whether the neces-
sity for any further administrative
action, in addition to that already
taken. will be disclosed as a result of
such investigation can only be deter
mined when inspection reports are
received at the department"
Gen. Davis Explains.
Gen. Davis explains that the inquir-
les are especially difficult because the
incidents complained of We're not
made known at7the time and officers
and soldiers of the volunteer army
have been named to be discharged.
He discusses at some length the dis
tribution of rice in the provinces of
Batangas and Cavite. which is a mat
ter that has been considered in the de-
partment. 1t is explained that in or
der to restore civil order and to pro-
vision the people in the concentration
camps it was determined by Gen. Bell
with the approval of the commanding
general that purchases of rice should
be made by the subsistence depart
ment, the latter to be reimbursed by
the military government. Upon this
point Gen. Davis says:
The measures resorted to were
dictated by military necessity; they
were undertaken with the approval of
the local military commander and
were calculated to meet an emergen-
cy of impending famine in such a way
as to relieve actual distress without
thC POBhisitiOiA tiAAN
without casting the burden of their
support upon the insular treasury
when public order had been restored
and the provinces reiegated to civil
control. As the distress increased af-
ter the military occupation had ter
minated and the demand for relief
continued without substantial abate-
ment the balance of profits accruing
from the sale of rice by the military
government was transferred to the
insular treasury and applied by the
civil government to the relief of the