The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-05-17
OUR COLONIAL TROOPS
BY Frederic j. HaskIn. Director
THE TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
IMPORTATION BUREAU
Washington, ID. c.

OF our outlying possessions n time of
war has always been considered Il
-arious problem. Numerous by
-.Theses have been built upon the pos
~-oility of the seizure of the Philip
pines by Japan; the loss of Hawaii or
of Porto Rico. Alaska has never fig
ured extensively IN such prophecies,
altho occasionally it has been suggest
ed that the tremendous national re-
sources of this territory might be
desired by Japan. In this war, the
chief cause of anxiety is Hawaii, which
has long been coveted by Germany.
The war department is taking no
chances. 1t has ordered all United
States possessions to prepare.
Fortunately, one of the chief fea-
lures of the American colonial policy
has been the organizing of the natives
for home defense into a local n
stabulary or national guard, so that
the department has at its disposal
large body of colonial troops. This is
with the exception of Alaska. Alaska
has never had a home militia of any
kind, altho the need for one has been
great. With vast AREAS of interior
wildernesses affording excellent refuge
to the outlaw, crime has been hard to
check, and in some districts the main
tenance Of law and order has been i'm
possible. The mysterious disappear
ance of man or two along the I'M
great. With vast areas of interior
does not excite much comment. 1t
hapbens too often. Aside from mill
tary reason, Alaska needs constabu-
larry badly.
Very different from conditions in
Alaska are conditions in the Philip
pines, where a native constabulary
does nearly all police and military
duty, from the capturing of outlaw
insurrectionists to the settling of petty
family SquabbleS. The maintenance
of such a constabulary by the United
States government has been criticized
by some persons who think that the
work would be more efficiently done
by American troops, but the results
obtained seem to warrant the policy.
In speaking of this native -organiza-
ton, Mr.. Dean c. Worcester, long a
member of the Philippine commits
sion, says: Time and again single
officer and a handful of men have
taken chances that in almost any
other land would have won them the
Victoria Cross, the legion of honor, or
some similar decoration. Here their
only reward has been the sense of
duty well done"
The Philippine constabulary was
established in the days closely follow
ing the end of the Instruction when
the mountain Businesses of all the
provinces were filled with various fac
tons of political outlaws, when the
lowlands were filled with cholera, and
when most of the roads were but
trails over the hills and thru the
jungleS. Law and order and SANTA
tion had to be established, and it was
decided that the only way to do this
was thru military discipline. The gov
eminent could have used the Ameri-
can troops which put down the insur-
rection, but there were two obstacles
to this, each of which had to do with
the Filipino people themselves.
The country was still smarting from
the regime of the Guardia Civil, a mill
tary organization employed by the
Spanish which had kept the people
in an abject state of terror by its
cruelty and injustice, and it was not
in the mood for a similar organiZa-
ton of Americans. 1t regarded the
American soldier with suspicion. On
the other hand, the American soldier
was entirely out of sympathy with the
natives. In the guerilla warfare just
ended he had seen unSpeakable acts
of cruelty committed by the Filipino
warriors. One American, for example,
had been found buried up to his neck
in the ground, along which sugar had
been lavishly sprinkled in a long thin
trail to his mouth. Ants were reSpon-
sible for the rest.
Thus the government faced a prob
lem, which it finally solved by or
ganizing the Filipino himself into a
GOnSIdDul1TX,
direct him.
For diplomatic reasons the Fill
pino makes the best policeman of the
Philippines, and for economical rea-
sons also. An American soldier, if you
consider food and clothes in addition
to salary costs 81 400 a year; the
Filipino costs $363.50. This difference
is largely due to food. The average
meal of the American soldier, who eats
imported food which has been packed
. 1t hot
of the Filipino, who eats the native
food of the islands, without ice, costs
10.5 cents.
In times of peace, the Filipino con-
stabulary not only performs the police
duty of the islands, but assists in the
maintenance of quarantine; it assists
in collecting the internal revenue; it
fights fires; it eXterminateS locusts
which are one of the greatest pests
of the islands; and in volcanic erup-
tions. typhoons, and any other danger
il never has to be urged to do its part
In time of war, it will constitute a
valuable military asset for the de-
tense of these colonies.
In Hawaii, the national guard full
fills practically the same duties that
the Filipino constabulary does in the
Philippines. AS has been said, Hawaii
appears to be the chief concern of
the government in the present situa-
ton, and during the past year this
orga nization has been increased to five
times its former size. 1t now. includes
infantry, cavalry, coast artillery, en-
gineers, signal corps and hospital
corps. There is an armory at Homo
lulu. where the troops are drilled in
special war tactics, and since the re-
cent recruiting campaign other arm
cries and storehouses have been open
ed up in almost every village.
The Hawaiian is an enthusiast when
IL comes to soldering. He, too, ap-
preciates the gift of a new uniform
and good food, and shows it by be-
coming an expert marksman. In the
rifle competition held at State Camp,
near Jacksonville, Fla, in October,
1915, the national guard of Hawaii
finished in twenty-siXth place out of
forty-four contesting teams, and a
Honolulan by the name of Sergeant
ames Ho finished in twenty-sixth
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