Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-03-15
UNCLE SANS REGULARS.
What a Missionary Priest Says in Re-
gard to Them.

During six years stay in the
Philippine Islands | was acquainted
with a great many soldiers. Some of
these had served during the war and
had esta blished themselves in the is
land. Others were regular soldiers
stationed in the various encampments,
The greater part of the eX-soldiers
had been volunteers When the war
was over they entereds-sthe govern
ment service or settled down to plant
ing or trading. These were the men
knew most intimately, having been
quentlN, and indeed ordinarily, re-
cei7od with uafailing hospitality in
their houses during missionary jour
neys. Few of them were Catholics.
but the padrc was always welcome
among them. / used to say mass in
their hoaseS, and. thanks to their as
sistance, gather together the unbap-
tized people of their Christion laborers
for divine. service; and with their
boats or horses | passed from one
place 10 another, They were the hope
Of order in their neighborheod, and
were often ma6p unsalaried officials.
such as justices Of the peace. council
men, etc.
The fesular soldiers VINO are seen in
Manila come from their large encamp-
ments farther north. But the military
stations are chiefly in tine Moro coun-
try of Mindanao. and contain in two
instances about Il thousand men each.
| visited, in company with another
missionary. nearly all Of these posts,
4
est cordiaitX and respect by both Of
ficers and men. In more than one
camp as many as fifty men came to
confession IN one or two days stay,
and on certain sunday in the church
of Jolo there must have been a hum
bred soldiers at mass. Zamboanga, in
particular, the capital of the Moro
Mi1fdanoa, IS a central garrison town.
| had good opportunity of knowing
the moral condition of the place.
heard no native complaining of any
misdeed ON the part eff a soldier. At
the small town of Davao, at the ex-
tTem;ty of Mindaao, we had q com
pany of American soldiers for more
than year. and here my Impressions
of Zamhoanga were renewed. ] never
saw Il soldier under the influence Of
liquor although I heard of some who
were punished fer the offence
Before going out To the Philippine
Island was convinced, from stories
and pictures published, that the sold
iers had been guilty of grave abuses
during the campaign. and | was natur-
ally anxious to find out the truth. I
sought information from the ex-
soldiers themselves, from the natives,
from Spaniards, but all exculpated the
soldier. In fact. the complaint of the
native was against the Filipino insur-
gents. When ] was living with Bishop
Hendriek he mafle his pastoral vista
ton of Samar, not long after the much
talked of campaign through that
island To my query whether there
had been many mis-deeds on the part
of the soldiers, he quickly answered
that there had been very few. There
are dreadful deeds, of course, when
men unsheath the sword, but of dis
honorable acts, or unprovoked cruelty,
there was, as far as | know, very much
less than we are told. Personally I
have no reason to believe that any
direct and conscious act of sacrilege
was ever done by an American soldier
in the Philippine Islands. There was
some Volenee done to a few priests
very few-because they refused to re-
veal the whereabouts of their insur-
rectionist countrymen, but some of
these priests were, | think, Aglipayan
schismatics.
Ny acquaintance with the soldiers
in the Philippines raised very de-
cidedly my esteem of them. Barring
some remarkable exceptions, they
were somewhat indifferent to religion.
This, | believe, is the worst that can
be said about them. But as soldiers
they stand high, l am convinced,
among the soldiers of the world.-Am-
erica.