The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1904-10-17
AstOunding!

millions: the twenty millions paid TO
Spain, plus six hundred and fifty mil
lions expended in consequence OF Ameri-
can possession of the islands. These
were Judge PARKER's words:
Viewing the question even from the standpoint
Of national sclhshncss. there is prospect that the
s2oooo0OO expended In the purchase OF the Islands
and the ss5o,oooOO said TO have been since dis.
bursed win ever come back TO us"
The man who of all men now living
is most competent to instruct Judge
PARKER concerning American relations
to the Philippines undertook that task
days ago at indianapolis Secretary TAFT
showed from the official figures of the
War Department that in addition to the
$4,000, 900 paid under the terms of the
Treaty of Paris the military and admin
istrative expenses on account of the
Philippines amounted to $3.50 600 900 up
to May of 1902; and that the present
yearly cost to the United States of main
tanning the courts in the islands, and Of
maintaining $4,000 troops there instead
of at home, does not exceed 5000 900,
the civil government being sef-sus-
tanning and drawing nothing from the
United States Treasury.
Thus it appears that Judge PARKER
either in absolute ignorance or on the
strength of specific misinformation, had
swollen the total by adding the stupen-
dous sum of four hundred and seventy
millions of dollars.
We observe with establishment that
when Judge PARKER returned to the
subject on Saturday at Rosemount he
neither corrected his original misstate-
ment nor attempted in any way to justify
the same. He simply ignored Secretary
TAFT'S exposure of the tremendous ex-
aggeration of figures in the address of
acceptance and repeated that exaggera-
ton in even more positive form than
before, with additions. Judge PARKER
said on Saturday:
After our utter defeat of the Spanlard the Re.
publican Administration paid TO the vain oppressor
OF the unconquered Filipino s2o0oo,oo0 for this
uncertain option this victims lands, tenements.
and heredltaments. In the attempt TO bolster tho
option we have wasted over $3.50. 600. 600 more Of
the peoples money and sacrificed over 100000
lives"
The stolidity and complacency Of this,
in the case of anybody but Judge PAR
KER, might fairly be described as bovine.
Where did he get his figures of alleged
expenditure? On what statistics does
he base his supplementary assertion
that over two hundred Thousand lives
have been sacrificed in the Philippines?
Consequences of the Yentai Battle.
What will be the immediate and pros
pective outcome of the fighting which,
since last Monday, has been going on
in the neighborhood of Yentai, uninter-
ruptedly and on a scale unprecedented
in modern times? Some results are
already obvious; others depend on cir
cumstanoes concerning which we are
at present uniformed.
AS regards the magnitude of the forces
at the disposal of the opposed COM
manders, We are justified in describing
them as unparalleled in verifiable his
tory. OF the battles respecting which
we have absolutely trustworthy data,
the greatest was that of Leipzig, in which
430 900 men are computed to have been
arrayed Although it is hard to under
stand how Gen. KURoPATKIN can have
been reinforced to the extent alleged,
he himself declared in his proclamation
that he had at last acquired preponder-
ancc in point of numbers, and concurrent
reports assert that on Monday, Oct. 10,
nc had under his command-including
reserves in and north of Mukden
upward of 100000 soldiers. Accounts
agree that Marshal OyAMA in the battle
Of Liaoyang controlled about go 600,
and that the losses then incurred have
since been made good. 1t follows that
the number of troops that have been on
the field, or that could have been brought
to it in the course of an action so
prolonged, falls little short OF half
million.
1t ia apparent that so vast body OF
combatants equipped with perfected
weapons, and supplied with artillery on
a commensurate scale, could not have
been engaged in desperate fighting for a
week without causing an awful sacrifice
of human life. II it be true that the
Russians had, up to Saturday, Oct. IS,
10000 killed and wounded, it is probable
that the Japanese lost at least two
thirds as many. The aggregate loss
would then be 10 per cent Of all the troops
actually employed or available. Dread
full rs this record is, it has been sur
passed in horror more than once in
modern times. In several battles the
total loss has exceeded 20 per cent.
There were actions during our civil war
which, in proportion to the number of
soldiers, were more destructive than
even the protracted fighting which has
taken place around Yentai There have
also been battles the immediate or early
result of which was the surrender Of one
Of the armies concerned Such was
the case in the last Franco-G German war
at Sedan, where the whole French army
under IMAGINATION, finding itself envel-
oped, had TO lay down its arms: and