Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-06-30
No Eastern Gibraltar
to Defend the Islands.

tar to defend them. The populous and
rich islands of Iloilo. Cebu, Negroes, Panay
and Leyte would fall like a juicy plum
into the mailed fist of any conqueror.
There are not over 1900 American SOL
diers in the entire visayan group. and
there are no Notifications and no war
ships to protect several hundred miles Of
coast.
There are q few thousand troops on
the Island Of Mindanao and scattered
throughout the Sulu seas. but this force
is not even sufficient to keep the wild
Moro warriors in subsection, and here
again We have no Notifications and no
warships other than wheeling gunboat
here and there. A force sufficient to
really pacify Mindanao never has been
given its military commanders. We have
been in the islands over fifteen years.
and, while Luzon and the Visayan group
are peaceful. the Moro country is not
and never has been. One more tribes
always are in conflict with American
troops at some place in Mindanao.
Only seven years ago the battle OF
Mount Dajo was fought between Moros
and Americans, in which GOO Moros were
killed and the Americans suffered casual
ties of a hundred more in killed and
wounded. According to one authority of
military bent:
This was battle in which an out
law band that had been plundering and
numbering defenseless valley people for
years was finally driven by the American
troops to the top of Mount Dajo, which
is the crater of an extinct volcano. Amer
lean soldiers had to scale this mountain
in the face of a steady fire of Moro cam
non, rifles and shotguns. The ascent
was further impeded by pits lightly COW
cred with brush through which the SOL
diers fell and were .impaled upon sharp
and poisoned wooden spikes. Machine
guns We're lifted to the rim of the crater
- ~ ILL I'M
Moro women were dressed in pantaloons
and jackets like the Elen, with their hair
concealed beneath their turbans.
Every woman was fighting devil in
carnate and every boy welded a bolo.
One of the typical Moro tricks in this
fight was that of pretending to be dead
or sorely wounded. When a member of
the Hospital Corps or soldier in the line
with more heart than caution leaned
over to succor the fallen foe these Moros,
men and women. would reach up with
their bolos and with one sweep behead
their would-be benefactors. Under such
circumstances this battle became one Of
determination and at the end of two days
torious in the fight they had waged to
restore peace in that locality In order
that the native farmers at the foot of
that mountain might be sure Of protec-
ton.
And what was their reward? A BRAIN
less newspaper man wiring his account
of the battle to the United States con-
cluded: Wanton slaughter of women and
children by the American troops"
OF course. there are those who would
dissent from this characterization. But
the m | / a ry
Army's Thankless job men must have
in the Philippines. i hoia s tha, ia aes
army had a thankless job in the Philip
pines from first to last. In the early war
days it was confronted In all parts OF
the islands by wild and yenomous foe:
one who neither knew nor cared for the
rules of civilized warfare: one to whom
the Red Cross and the white flag were
merely signals for a redoubled hail of
lead and a fresh bolo rush. The fighting
these exiled boys were forced 10 face il
a hostile. death-breeding land was OF the
nasty, nerve-raSl1ng guerrilla order. II
consisted mostly of weary hikes through
swamps and Jungles on tie trail OF some +.
murderer and his band.
Sucn work could be done only by soaal !
Gate Currents. and the fighting. when t. did i
come, was hand to hand enG race To face, !
struggling through hitns: cogan N AIS. !
knee-deep in 2 Vie swamp Ear in the !
heart of trori-al jungle with the cdor 7
OF rotting fruit and carop fcngus. Many I
times detachment would reach Its goal !
only TO find that the enemy had slipped |;
through its fingers once more More than /.
once ire grim evidence OF mis- warm trail |
would be the bodies Of the American adj 1
vance guard from which the breath OF |
life had escaped after cruel and lingering /
torture: bodies that lay blistering in the /
sun, with hacked bits and jagged gaping !
wounds, while myriads of ants craw,ed /
over them to tell the story of q typical |
Filipino ambush. The soldiers would then |
push on with their scanty supplies and /
foul drinking water to the next post or
would try to make their way back to
their own command. AS they made their
weary way they were halted more than
once by enemies more dangerous than
their human foes-malaria fever, dysen-
terry and cholera.
Still, those not holding the soldiers view
uey suggest that the Filipinos fightingt