The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-05-02
ANXIETY IN PHILIPPINES.
An Army Officers View of the Present
 Situation.

An Army Officers View of the Present Situation.
 A letter received in this city yester- day from an officer in the Philippines
 contained much information pertaining to conditions in the islands. Concern
 ing the Major Glenn court martial the
 writer says: "The case stirred up an
 immense amount of feeling out here,
 which was not confined to the army and
 navy, Gen. Davis in reviewing the case landed pretty heavy on the court, and the Manila American in turn landed pretty hard on tine general. The civil governor persuaded him to bring a libel suit against the American, and the case | has just been decided against the paper.
 They are now going to try Lieut.. Lee of 1 the 10th infantry down in Mindanao for killing some natives, but this trial was ordered before the Glenn case was finished. Since then am told on pretty
 good authority the powers that be have l decided not to try any more for what happened over here some time ago. We all draw sigh of relief and sim | cerely hope this is so.'',
 Concerning operations of the con- | stabulary the letter says: ".Ladronism
 over here is on the increase, and Gen.
 Allen, the head of the constabuary, now has the scouts temporarily under 1 him, and they are chasing the ladrones 1 within three miles of Manila. The con- | stabulary have been and are losing
 large numbers of guns, but no one
 seems to understand the situation. We do not know whether this is going to l lead to more real trouble or not, Mabini is back in Manila, and Aguinal-
 do is known to be plotting again. 1 Ricarte Is in Hong Kong, and they say that he is building up the junta again. | think that the impression seems to
 prevail among thinking people that we
 may look for a more or less serious out
 break about the beginning of the rainy
 season in 1904 Some of the natives openly declare that the constabulary will desert to a man when the proper. time comes. Conditions are not what i they might be over here, and think that something will have to turn up to save the government
 The writer also refers to the purchase of rice by the government. 'rhe civil people bought" he says, Several hun- i dred thousand pounds of rice and brought it in the last season. This was done because it was claimed that people
 were starving to death. Now this is
 not possible in a country like this, and
 l have been overland from Laog on the north to Batangas on the South, and I ! could find no one who could tell me of any cases os real suffering. The effect I of this policy has been to lead the na-
 tives not to hustle to look after their crops, and it is a question whether next year we will not have to import just
 twice as much government rice for
 them. Then, too, the government paid
 the highest prices on record for rice in
 China, and also the most outrageous
 charges for bringing it here, and, after
 all, they learned that they had bought
 much that was already worthless. There
 is another element that is causing some
 anxiety" the letter concludes, "and
 that Is the American itIlers hanging
 around all of the towns over here.
 These men were. many of them, left
 over by order of the division command
 CT because they have native common law wives, and now they have no work and cannot reenlist, so very naturally
 they resort to all sorts of petty thefts
 to get the very necessities of life. As yet they have not done much harm, but
 the future may develop from this very class the leaders for the next uprising" New York Times