Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-24

There Uncle Sam Is War; With Battle the Average Of Once Week


Moro campaigns. 1t was in 1901 and
1902 that Brig. Gen. Pershing, who now
commands in this part of the Philippines,
conducted the first successful campaign
among these irreconcilables. Gen. Per-
shing was then captain and the genius
which he showed in getting the viewpoint
OF these Mohammedan people and bringing
them into friendly relations with the new
form of government won him much
praise. the final acknowledgment of which
appeared in message which President
Roosevelt submitted to Congress. Later
Capt. Pershing was promoted from that
rank to the rank of .brfgader general.
thereby being summary hurdled over the
heads of various officers of higher rank in
accordance with the theory of President
Roosevelt that especial service deserves
especial reward. Now. after nine years
absence from the Philippines, Gen. Per-
shing has been returned to those islands
for the purpose of completing the work
of tranqulliZing the MoroS which he be-
gan at the time of his former service
The natives of Moroland should be
classified as Malays. They are superior
in intelligence and general ability TO most
of the peoples of the Philippines. They
have had a certain connection with the
outside world and a certain degree of
education prevails among them. Many of
them have followed piracy for centuries,
and that aVocation has a broadening eff
feet They. possess to very highly de-
veloped degree the intensity of character
which belongs to the Malay. Upon this
intelligence and intensity of character has
been engrafted the Mohammedan re-
ligiOn. The operation was not very
thorough. and only certain of the more
spectacular phases of that religion We're
grasped by these Moros. The point that
stood out most strongly in their accept
ance of Mohammedanism was that teach
ing which holds out the seventh heaven
to the individual who dies in the act of
Staying Christians. 1T is the fanaticism
of this religious Belief that has caused a
large part of the trouble in Moroland
Certain of these Moros find their way at
times to Mecca and return consumed with
a religious zeal. Very often they tor
ture themselves into a frenzy, find their
suddenly draw forth the long, razor edged
native knife and fall upon whatever
Americans present themselves. 1t usual
~ happens that four or five American
soldiers or citizens are killed before the
Moro is dispatched. Thus, ne dies she'd
ding Christian blood, which is the thing
he wanted to 60.
Pala, a religious zeaIot, thus crossed
over rom Jolo to British North Borneo a
short time ago. there ran amuck and kill
ed eighteen British subjects, later making
his escape and returning to Jolo, there
necessitating campaign on the part OF
the American troops which could come to
an end only with the determination of
Pala and his fanatical following.
The story of Datto Ali has a different
motif. A datto is big chief among the
Moros Ali lived in the Cotabato val
ley, in Mindanao, one of the richest re-
gions in all the Philippines. There he
had held undisputed sway throughout his
life. as had his fathers before him. He
was the hereditary datto, and all the
people willingly paid homage to him. He
was the poSsessoT of score of wives,
and taxes from all the reSions were levied
at his call When the Americans came
into Cotabato valley they had the au-
self to one wife. They went even further
than this, and asked Ali, the chief to
whom taxes had always been paid, to
pay taxes to the government Such
things were unthinkable. An idea of this
sort had never been presented in the en-
vironment in which Ali and his ances-
tors had always lived. From the stand
point of this datto it was an unprecer
denied outrage.
Ali went boldly to the governor and
demanded to know what was the inten-
ton of the American government with
relation to him. The governor could not
answer this question. Ali insisted on go
ing to Washington for his answer In
this he was discouraged. It was firmly
demanded of him that he pay his taxes
and that he give up his plural wives.
He took to the brush and furnished a
merry chapter in the story of war that
will some day be written with relation
to these Moros. In the end he was sur
prised by an American scouting party
and he and his sons were shot to pieces.
His father-in-law, Datto Piang. whose
sequent turn toward money making, sue