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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (May 30, 1902)
The Commoner. May 30, 190a FACTS THAT STARE US IN THE FACE ! 3 n p f s A speech delivered in the house of representa tives by Hon. John W. Gaines of Tennessee should he read by every American citizen. Those who may not be successfully appealed to on moral grounds with relations to the Philippine question, may be persuaded to pause in the imperialistic path in the presence of the showing made by the gentleman from Tennessee. Tn the , conclusion of his speech, Mr. Gaines said: If we hold on to these islands perman ently, the fact stares us in the face that there must bo an endless chain of soldiers sent there and an endless chain brought back the sick and dead both and that this policy is inevit able, and the proof of the fact is that this Is what we are now doing, and the republicans are fixing to perpetuate conditions that neces sarily force us to face an endless chain of responsibilities and burdens on the lives of American sMdiers and upon the backs of. the taxpayers of this country. I want to know if we are to go into the business of breeding sons for the purpose of making soldiers for the army in the Phillp , pines? Are we to adopt a fixed or permanent policy of conquest, of colonization, of imperial ism, that necessitates sending our sons and fathers to the Philippine islands regularly, when they must come home sooner or later and perhaps drag out an existence the bal ance of their lives, broken in health and brok- . en in spirit, with all their natural chance of fortune blighted, pensioners, if you please, upon a charitable or uncharitable govern ment? ( This is the question that comes sharply before us. It will not down and will continue to confront us as long as the American sold iers are sent to that -island, oVen though xthelr--unfprtunate wives and beautiful daughters fallow them there, running the risk, as they do, of destroying their own lives to minister to fathers and brothers when stricken, and Anally, perchance, bring them back to their native land to live, or die if they must, about 'their own vine and fig tree. It is safe to say that any one who will care fully study the facts and figures presented by Mr. Gaines will conclude that he has correctly stated "he facts that stare us in the face." Mr. Gaines quoted from the Commissioner of Pensions to show that 6 per cent of our Civil jv"ar veterans filed .claims for pensions in the first seven years after -the close of that war, and that 20 per cent of the number of the soldiers .engaged in the Spanish war had, within three years, filed claims for pensions. The Coinmis sioner further stated that there will be representa tives on the pension roll at the beginning of the next century and ho submitted a table showing the examination of, by the medical officer of the United States army, a certain "crack regiment" (which was examined just before it was mustered lout, and that, too, after sixty days of recuperation fit Montauk, New York. This record showed that seventy per cent of the membership of this "crack -s regiment" were diseased when mustered out; and ;up to June SOth, 1901, 48 per cent of the' member Whip of this "crack regiment" had applied for pen- jiorA2. ' '' Mr. Gaines made many other interesting quo- v ftations. Henry F. Hoyt, major and chief surgeon, in & letter to the Philippine peace commission under (date of August 27th, 1899, declared that the white man could not successfully perform manual labor in the Philippine climate. He added that '.'small pox is prevalent everywhere in this latitude and longitude and is very fatal, especially to whites." i,'. Major Charles F. Mason, another surgeon, in his report to the surgeon general, declared that he did not believe that there was "any such thing as acclimatization of whito mon in tropical climates and that their health gradually deter iorated and that they became less fitted for active ' service." Major-General Greenleaf, in his report of May 16th, 1901, said that even seasoned soldiers could not stand tho Philippine climate, that "the most energetic and stalwart American, after a year's service hero, loses energy, strength, and ambition." The report of Major General Otis in tho year 1899 was quoted to show that out of one regiment of 873 officers and men, 60 per cent were in the hospital and of the remainder thero were not eight men in each company who had the strength to en . dure a one day's march. Tho chief surgeon of General MacArthur's division was quoted as reporting that in four regiments having an enlisted strength of 3,701, 1,003 were sick and wounded, leaving an effective force of 2,698 which, after deducting necessary details for special duties yields only 2,307 for the firing line, many of whom could not .march flv3 miles under prevailing conditions. This report also said, "Tho difficulties are progressive, and without any apparent fluctuations are growing worse from day to day." Mr. Gaines said that it was an outrage to permit white women of this country whom wo could control, to go to that island at all. Ho said thero is not a woman on tho island who has been there any length of time "who has a blush in her cheek, not a one has a rose in her face, not one who does not look jaded, pale, and de ,...biliated and sick." He saw a great number, of American women in Japan and hundreds of thorn were hurrying to get out of the island to the United States looking pale and withered. Mr. Gaines also quoted from a letter written by an army officer, which letter fully sustained tho claim that the climatic conditions were not such as could be-endured by white men. Mr. Gaines quoted from tho surgeon-general's report to show the death rate among troops serv ing in the United States per 1,000 of strength from disease was, in 1899, 6.56, and in 1900 4.83. The death rate per 1,000 of strength among troops serving in the Philippines from disease was, In 1899 15.30 and in 1900, 20.26. Mr. Gaines said, "Just so long as we send out men to the Philippine islands and keep them there any length of time, as a rule just so long will we continue to bring back dead mon or men so utter ly disabled that when they return to their homes they will begin to apply for pensions tho minute they strike the land, if not before." He quoted from a visitor to the camp at San Francisco who said that they had two burial days per week. They burled on an average per week from sixteen to sixty soldiers there and the burial grounds had then been recently enlarged by the purchase of an adjoining farm for burying pur poses. Mr. Gaines said that when he sailed from Manila, aboard the Sheridan, about 1,500 soldiers were on the same vessel. Four hundred and fifty of these were sick with the list dally increasing, several of whom died. Thero were on board this vessel 21 Insane and he had heard of other cases since he had left there. Mr. Gaines took up the report made by the assistant surgeon-general in which ho said, "It Is gratifying to report a steady decrease in deaths." The assistant surgeon-general added, however, "This seems to be mainly due to the failing off of tho number of those killed in action and dying of wounds, but tho figures showing deaths from disease givo a decrease in somo important particu lars and tho list Is maintained of former rates in all others except dysentery." Mr. Gaines also quoted from the assistant surgeon-general's report to show that about 4,000 invalid troops were sent home during nine months in 1900. Mr. Gaines also quoted a prominent phy sician in Manila as saying that more than 30 per cent of tho children of the city of Manila died an nually. Ho quoted from tho assistant surgeon general to show an annual death rato In the popu lation of Manila excluding the officers of the army and the navy of 42.54 per 1,000. Mr. Gaines said that almost without exception the military mon in tho Philippines say that for years and even after wo have restored peace, we must police tho Philippine islands with a huge navy to keep off other nations and be ready in case of war with from thirty to fifty thousand land force to act in concert with tho navy. Aro the American people "paying too much for their whistle?" JJJ Roosevelt on Unwilling Citizens. Among the books written by Theodore Rooso-, velt none aro more interesting than that entitled "Life Work of Thomas H. Benton." On. page 235 of this book will bo found this: , Not only the Columbia, but also tho Rod river of the north and the Saskatchewan and Frazer as well, should lie wholly within, our. limits, less for our Own sake than for the sake of tho men who dwell along their banks; , Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba would, as states of the American union, hold posl , tlons Incomparably more Important, grander i and more dignified than they can ever hope , to reach either as independent communities or as provincial dependencies of a foreign power that regards them with a kind of toler ance akin to contemptuous indifference. 'Of course, no one would wish to see these or any other settled communities now added to our domain by force; we want no unwilling citi zens to enter our union. The time to have taken these lands was before settlers came into them. European nations war for the possession of thickly settled districts, which, if conquered, will for centuries remain alien and hostile to the conquerors. We, wiser in our generation, have seized the waste solitudes that lay near us, tho limitless forests and never ending .plains, and tho valleys of the great, lonely rivers, and have thrust our own sons into them to take possession, and a score of years after each conquest wo see the con quered land teeming with a people that is om with ourselves. On this point tho Kansas City platform says:, "We are not opposed to territorial expansion when it takes in desirable territory which can be erected into states In the union, and whose people are willing and fit to become American citizens. Wc favor trade expansion by every peaceful and leg itimate means. But wo aro unalterably opposed to seizing or purchasing distant islands to be gov erned outside the constitution, and whose people can never become citizens," Now, if it was true as Author Roosevelt said that no one would wish to see these or any other settled communities now added to our do main by force, if it was true as Author Roosevelt said, "Wo want no unwilling citizens to entor our union," why then does not President Roose yelt act upon the well settled principles which Mr. . Roosevelt, the author, indorsed in his "Life of Benton?"