Vol. 61

MAR 3 1009

CAMBRIDGE, MASS

Two important adThe Philippine Campaign vances have been made the past week in the military occupation of the Philippines by the United States. The first was the action of the island of Negros, through a commission sent to Manila, accepting our sovereignty over that island. Negros is one of the largest islands in the Visayas group, and has about 350,000 population. Its capital is Bacolot, and there are several other towns of some consequence on the coast. The present action is due to the coast residents, it is probable, rather than to the more savage inhabitants of the inland mountain regions. Negros, after the withdrawal of Spanish forces from the island, had established a provisional government of its own, but it refused to accept the leadership of Aguinaldo. The second step is the taking at least nominal possession of the island of Cebu by a United States vessel. This is another island of the Visayas group and one of considerable size, though smaller than Negros, and its chief town, Cebu, is the third largest in the Philippine Islands. The gunboat Petrel landed fifty sailors early last week, and there was no armed opposition to the occupation of the city of Cebu. Despatches from Manila received here Monday, however, say: "The authorities made no forcible resistance to our occupation, they being practically without means of defense. The only fear now is that they will burn the town before the troops arrive." The less encouraging features of the campaign for the week have been the attempt to burn the city of Manila which took place on the evening of Washington's Birthday, the burning on Saturday of the village of Mariquina, seven miles from Manila, and the fact that, in one instance at least, a body of the enemy successfully broke

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through our lines. The incendiary attempt of the native sympathizers with Aguinaldo in Manila produced a serious destruction of property and a heavy money loss, but the energy of the troops prevented the fire from spreading throughout the city. There seems to have been a concerted action between the incendiaries and the insurgent troops outside the city, who, accord ing to General Otis's despatch, succeeded in entering the outskirts of Manila and were then driven back with loss. There has been skirmishing but no serious fighting beyond Caloocan and at other parts of our line.

The Situation

The military situation seems to be, briefly, that our troops can with ease drive back any force of insurgents which opposes them in the field, but that if our lines are extended to a distance of many miles from Manila there is danger that separate bands of insurgents may get between the city and the outlying wings of the army. This is probably what General Otis had in mind when he cabled to the commander of reinforcements which had reached Ceylon that haste should be made, as the situation was "critical." Admiral Dewey's despatch urging that the Oregon, now at Honolulu, should be sent with haste on account of "political reasons," has puzzled the Government at Washington and the press. It may mean either that the presence of the Oregon is desired by Admiral Dewey in order to strengthen our force on the coast and impress those natives now hesitating whether to accept our rule or to follow Aguinaldo, or it may possibly mean that the presence of the Oregon would reassure the foreign governments (Germany especially) as to the safety of the lives and property of their citizens now in Manila. All agree

that Admiral Dewey's message, whatever it may mean, was founded on a wise view of affairs, as the country has implicit confidence in Admiral Dewey. It is equally true that the message is not a source of alarm as to immediate danger, and General Otis's despatches to Washington indicate full confidence in the ability of our commanders to extend our military rule steadily. The latest reports are that 8,000 of the insurgents have offered to surrender, but that General Otis will not treat with them as a military force and only demands that they lay down their arms and disperse.

Washington's Birthday

Addresses

The present crisis lent unusual interest to the addresses delivered last week in commemoration of Washington. It was noteworthy that President Low, of Columbia, the orator of the day at Philadelphia, and President Adams, of Wisconsin University, the most thoughtful of the speakers at Chicago, both placed the moral emphasis of their addresses upon the supreme need of a reform in the civil service, created by our possession of the Spanish islands. President Adams did not advocate that this possession should be made permanent, but he strenuously insisted that it would prove a curse both to the islands and to ourselves unless our civil service was made thoroughly pure. President Low's address was an eloquent defense of President McKinley's Administration. The President, he declared, had no alternative except to pursue the policy he had taken. Our position toward the Philippines, he urged, was not like that of France toward America. are bound, he said, to consider the capacity of the natives for self-government. To declare that we cannot govern the Philippines without being untrue to our ideal of government "of the people, by the people, and for the people," was to claim that self-governing democracy, by its very nature, is incapable of serving other peoples except by its own example. Mr. Low declared that he did not think so meanly of democracy. He did not question that we should give to the Filipinos free schools and free speech, freedom to worship God according to their own conscience, and equality before the

[4 March

law. At the Detroit celebration Secretary Alger declared that the Stars and Stripes have never been taken down from where they have been planted but once, and they never will be again. Governor Pingree, who was a guest at the same meeting, spoke of the dangers to the Republican party from the fact that it is no longer distinctively the party of the common people, but has drawn to itself the wealthy classes which a generation ago opposed it, and is in danger of accepting their leadership. Mr. Bryan's address, which was the feature of the principal celebration at Washington, laid its emphasis upon the supremacy of conscience over "manifest destiny' as a guide in political action. "Manifest destiny," he said, "is not a matter of chance, but a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved. The hour of temptation has come; but temptations do not destroy, they merely test the strength of the individuals and nations. They are stumblingblocks or stepping-stones according to the use made of them."

The Military Court

The army court formed to investigate General of Inquiry Miles's charge as to the beef furnished the soldiers in Cuba and Porto Rico listened last week to the testimony of many officers, including General Miles and General Eagan; this week the court is visiting Chicago to see the methods of the contractors who furnished refrigerated and canned beef. General Miles confirmed the accuracy of the reports of his testimony before the President's Commission, supported by the reports of many officers. He declined, however, to admit the correctness of newspaper interviews. He disclaimed any intention of charging fraud in the sentence "under pretense of experiment," applied by him to the furnishing of refrigerated beef, admitting that the phrase was open to misconstruction, and that he should have said "theory" instead of "pretense." As to the "embalmed" or "processed beef, it is now clear that Dr. Daly's report, on which General Miles partly relied, referred to an experiment with which the Government and army had nothing to do, except as the meat was allowed to be put on transports, not to be eaten, but to be

observed. But General Miles intimated that he would later offer evidence about the treatment of refrigerated beef. A mass of testimony was presented by General Kent, Major Jackson, LieutenantColonel Van Horn, Lieutenant-Colonel Humphrey, and others to the effect that the canned beef was unpalatable, tasteless, repulsive in appearance, without nutritious qualities, and was rejected by the men. Some evidence to the contrary was adduced, but the preponderance of the oral proof, added to the sixty or more officers' reports filed by General Miles, indicates to the lay mind that most of this canned beef was worse than useless as a ration. On the other hand, there was a good deal of evidence indicating that the refrigerated beef was generally good when not issued from cold storage too long before being used, and there was a fair division of opinion as to whether beef on the hoof could have been used to advantage in Porto Rico, as General Miles asserts. General Eagan laid stress on the intention of the Commissary Department that the canned beef should be used only as a travel or emergency ration when fresh beef could not be had, to be eaten with condiments and vegetables, if obtainable, not out of the can. He admitted that the effect of heat was to make the meat repulsive to the eye.

The determination of Congress: The Army the Democratic SenaReorganization Bill tors to prevent the passage of any army reorganization bill at this session of Congress, rather than accept the permanent establishment of a standing army of 98,000 men, led the Administration Senators to accept the compromise offered by Senator Cockrell on behalf of his party associates. This compromise is substantially that proposed by Mr. Bryan at the time of his resignation from the army. It is that the regular army shall be continued for two years upon the basis of 65,000 men, and that the President shall be authorized to enlist 35,000 more for ser vice in Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philip pines, so long as he may deem their services to be required. Senator Cock rell's original proposal that the provincial force should be composed exclusively of natives of the Spanish islands, officered

by Americans, was modified so as to allow the President to exercise his discretion regarding the nativity as well as the number of this special force. While the compromise looked like a Democratic victory, the most effective criticism of the original bill came from a Republican Senator, Mr. Proctor, of Vermont—first Secretary of War under President Harrison's Administration. The defect of the Committee bill, said Senator Proctor, was that it perpetuated the corps of staff officers upon the basis that is the source of the most serious evils from which our armies are now suffering. Vacancies in this corps, he said, are filled exclusively by promotion; and as the appointments are all made at the foot of the list, even less care is used than if they were made to the higher and more responsible places. The common method of appointment he described as follows:

There is a vacancy, or is to be one, of a captaincy in the Quartermaster's Department. The scramble for the place commences months before the vacancy actually occurs. There are about six hundred first lieutenants in the line of the army; one hundred or more of them are applicants for the place. There are hundreds of others just as well fitted, who are not applicants, either because they have no influ ential political friends or because, from a sense of honor and propriety, they will not seek pre ferment. The applicants file briefs giving their record, with letters from military officers, personal and political friends. These briefs are often printed pamphlets of many pages. The wives, mothers, and sisters of the appli cants in personal interviews appeal to the President and the Secretary. This scramble to get out of the fighting branch of the army is at least unseemly. Of course but little con sideration is given to most of these applica tions. Senator A or Representative B has a relative or a constituent with powerful influ ence behind him. He demands the appointment and gets it.

It is perhaps needless to point out that Generals Eagan and Corbin have come to the front as officers of the staff. The reorganization which Senator Proctor demanded was one under which officers of the line should serve for temporary periods on the staff, after the manner employed in the English army and also in the American navy. Secretary Proctor's determined opposition to the Committee bill, combined with the desire of the Administration Senators to avoid a special session of Congress, helped to oring about the prompt. acceptance of the Democratic compromise.

On Monday the compromise bill passed the Senate by a vote of 55 to 13, with some amendments, the most important being that on July 1, 1901, the army shall be reduced to 27,000 men-its number before the beginning of the war with Spain.

The Railways and the Mails

At the hearing last week before the Post-Office Committee, Mr. Finley Acker, a Philadelphia merchant, presented forcibly the reasons which had led the National Board of Trade to demand a heavy reduction in the payments now made to the railroads for carrying the mails. Some of Mr. Acker's arguments are already familiar to our readers; but one of them was entirely novel. He showed the Committee, by means of photographs of the various cars used, that the special postal cars for which the Government pays a rental of $6,250 a year apiece are apparently identical in structure and equipment with the postal compartments in the combination cars for which no rental is paid. Yet the Government is spending over $3,000,000 a year in rental for these special cars, in addition to the regular rate for hauling the mail they contain. This abuse is one which must be speedily rectified. It has now been many years since Secretary Vilas pointed out that the annual rental paid for these postal cars is more than their original cost. Even if some rental be justifiable, the rate is surely preposterous. These postal cars, as any one can see by examining them, cost no more to construct than the tourists' cars made by the Pullman Company, yet the Pullman Company receives less than $2,000 a year from each of these tourist cars, out of which sum it has to pay the wages of a porter and part of the wages of a conductor. The net returns to the Pullman Company from one of these cars are much less than one-third what the Government pays the railroads as rental for a postal

merely the fares collected from a few pas sengers, some of whom ride upon passes. The Government, therefore, is paying the railroads about three times as much for hauling a postal car as the Pullman Company and its patrons pay for hauling a Pullman. We have previously shown that the Government pays the railroads over three times as much per ton mile as do the express companies, though its hauls are longer and should be performed at a lower rate. All along the line, apparently, the Government pays for carrying the mails about three times as much as private corporations pay for similar services.

Negro Disfranchisement

North Carolina, if its Legislature reflects public sentiment, will follow the example of South Carolina, Mississippi, and Louisiana by the adoption of a constitutional amendment disfranchising the bulk of its negro voters. The measure proposed is substantially that adopted in Louisiana establishing educational and property qualifications, but stipulating that they shall not apply to families which enjoyed the suffrage prior to the adoption of the Fifteenth Amendment. In a Senate of fifty members only six voted against it, and in a lower House of one hundred and twenty members only twenty-seven voted against it. In the House at least the vote did not follow strictly party lines, as six Democrats voted against the measure, while three Populists and one Republican voted in its favor. In Louisiana the Constitutional Convention which drafted this provision for the disfranchisement of the blacks had the power to put it into effect without consulting the voters. In North Carolina, however, the voters must pass upon the amendment. If the white voters were a unit, the amendment would be adopted by a majority of more than two to one-for the white voters at the last census numbered 233.000 and the blacks only 109,000. But this very preponderance of whites in North Carolina has not only lessened the fear of "negro domination," but has caused many of the white voters to believe that even-handed justice to men of both races is a safer remedy for admitted evils than the repression of the blacks. The white population in the mountain districts is largely Republican in politics, and if it votes solidly