Evening star., 1940-05-05
Guyer's Plea Wins
Funds for Men Who
Conquered Igorotes
Congress Overrides Veto
To Fulfill Promise to
lnsurrection Volunteers
BY BLAIR BOLLES.

Government in fulfilling IAN obliga-
ton as sacred as anything the Gov
ernment ever made" His eloquence
carried his fellows back to a crisis
In the Republics military history
born Al years ago, when some OF our
manifest destiny" was being real
lied, and they applauded his words
by their votes, making H. R. 289 part
Of the country's law.
Mr.. Guyer was happy that the
House made possible the settlement
of what he called an obligation"
Representative Martin Smith, Demo-
crat, of Washington was ecstatic. It
was he who carried the brunt of the
fight for the obligation, whose exist
ence on April % the President
denied in a veto message. The
House overrode the veto of H. R.
289 by 272 to "a. Last Wednesday
the Senate followed suit, rs to 3.
So soon the survivors, widows and
descendants of $4,000 soldiers and
officers who fought against the
Igorotes in the Philippines each will
receive $500 or s400, promised to
them, they thought, before the
goth century's birth.
Aguinaldo Displeased.
The story begins with the dis
pleasure of Emilio Aguinaldo, half
Chinese, half -Tagalog, educated by
Jesuit priests, whose gospel was
Philippine independence. When the
tofa fn
Spain in 1898 over events in Cuba,
Aguinaldo envisioned the freedom
of his islands. The Treaty of Paris,
signed between the United States
and Spain December 10. 1898, melted
the Aguinaldo hopes. In that pact
Spain ceded the islands to her vic
torious enemy for $20,000,00O. His
disappointment at the substitution
of enforced allegiance to one distant
nation for another provoked him to
thoughts of massacre.
On February 4, 1899, Aguinaldo
and his followers began a revolt
against American authority in the
suburbs of Manila. The insurrection
spread, and Brig. Gen. Harrison Gray
Otis, in military command in the
area, wondered how to cope with
the problem. His force consisted
principally of volunteers, paid $13
a month, whose service would be
over as soon as the Senate approved
the Treaty of Paris. Congress took
a preparedness step March 2 by pass
ing a bill providing for extensions
of enlistment by six months.
War Department Concerned.
Four days later Gen. Otis re-
ceived this inquiry from the War
Department, on the other side Of
the world:
If we are not able to get you
sufiicient forces to replace volunteers
under your command before ex-
change Of ratification Of treaty. will
you be able to enlist your present
volunteer force?"
March 16, Gen. Otis cabled in
reply:
Believed after inquiry majority
volunteer organizations willing to re-
ton of treaty. provided that upon
enlist for six months from ratif1ca-
original discharge are paid travelling
allowances to places of muster in,
and that after expiration of second
enlistment they are transported to
those places by the United States"
The condition laid down by Gen.
Otis was accepted in Washington.
During the fight for the fulflllment
of the condition, it was repeatedly
pointed out that had the volunteers
refused to face Aguinaldo and the
insurrectionists by declining to con-
tinue their term of enlistment, they
would have received the travel al
lowances. The legalistic problem
which arose lay in the fact that
Gen. Otis had to use the $4,000 VOL
unteers so quickly that he never had
time for the clerical performance
Of mastering the volunteers out of
the one enlistment and mastering
them back in for the second enlist
ment. Later, 1t was argued this
clerical lapse cost the men their
money.
No One to Press Case.
At last in 1901, after most of the
volunteers had returned to the
United States, Aguinaldo was cap
tured. When President Mckinley
was shot, there was none in high
position to press the cause of these
Philippine veterans. The money
they expected on the strength of
Gen. Otis promise was not forth
coming For years the matter
lapsed.
While the war against Spain was
in progress, little boy named Mar
tin Smith was selling papers in
Chicago and cleaning up in pennies
from men and women who eagerly
read edition after edition on the
glorious doings of Schley and Dewey,
and on the Oregon and San Juan
Hill. Many years later Martin Smith
was living in Washington State,
member of Congress and an hon.
orayy member of John D. Roberts
Camp No. Z, Washington and Alaska
Unit, of the United Spanish War
Veterans.
The unfulfilled promise Of Gen.
Otis was brought to his attention.
He made inquiries, and found that
Russell A. Alger, McKinley's Secre-
tary of War, applauded the work
of the re-enlisted volunteers in these
words:
This is an exhibition of sturdy
patriotism which, it seems to me,
has never been fully appreciated.
-" The Nation, indeed, owes these
noble soldiers a debt which I trust
Congress will not fail to recognize
In some substantial way"
Got Medal But No Money.
Congress struck medal for these
men, but gave them no money. IN
1885 Representative Smith pressed
for bill satisfying Gen. Otis
promise, but the President vetoed
1t. The President vetoed it again in
1897. In his most recent, the third,
veto mesSaCe IN the Sllhiect Mr.