ff
6 Conservative.
A NAVAT , OJTICKU'S VIKW OF THK
AVAIL
Commander John D. Ford , fleet engi
neer of the Asiatic station , readied his
homo , No. 1522 West Lfinvalo street , on
Saturday morning before noon , after an
absence of a year and a half , most of
which period he spent on board the
cruiser Baltimore , in the Bay of Manila.
Commander Ford was the only Balti
more officer on board the Baltimore dur
ing the battle of Manila and since. His
return on the army transport Zelandia ,
having left Mnuila on Mny 9 , probably
completes his last voyage in the service
of his country and he expects to bo re
tired in a short time.
"When I left , " said Mr. Ford yester
day , "we held not quite so much ground
as was ours during the first part of Aug
ust last year , and our lines wore re
stricted to the suburbs of Manila. The
troops did push out into the country ,
but could not hold the ground they
made by raids and were obliged to fall
back. It is impossible to conquer the
people or to gain the islands without
more troops. If we send a great many
more soldiers out there and bend all our
energies to doing it , we can beat them
and take the islands. It would mean
great loss of life and considerable time ,
but it could be done. As it is now it is
all we can do to hold our own. The in
surgents are conntautly eucioachiug ,
and though , as I have said , raids are
made , the natives driven back , and the
line thrown out , wo can't hold the
ground because we have not enough
men.
"The line is always active , and there
is no relief. Men spend mouths in the
trenches , subjected to great mental and
physical strain and never knowing at
what moment they will be assailed.
The lines of the natives are often not a
block away from our own , and the rule
is when you see a head exposed to shoot
it. The natives are always on the de
fensive. They make no advances of
their own , but wait and shoot when
they can , do all the damage to us they
know how , and when we sally out they
> JI are driven back into places where it is
impossible to follow , so strong is their
number , so impregnable the country.
"The Filipinos pictured in the sensa
tional papers are not the men wo are
fighting. They are entirely distinct and
separate. The fellows we deal with out
there are not ignorant savages , fighting
with bows and arrows , but an intelli
gent , liberty-loving people , full of cour
age and determination. The idea that
the Filipino is an uncivilized being is a
mistaken one. Originally the natives of
those islands sprang from Japanese
stock , and are identically the same race ,
with a change of language and customs.
There was a time when the feudal sys
tem prevailed in Manila , but no vestige
now remains , and the savagery of the
people is found only in the very lowest
class of ' ' 'little '
'uegritos' or niggers ,
as the Filipinos are called.
"I have pictures taken there , which I
brought home , of native women who
would bo handsome anywhere , and of
good-looking , brainy men. They have
the intellect and the stamina to govern
themselves , and have done it for 800
years , although under the rule of Spain.
They were the clerks , the book-keepers ,
the assessors , and managed the entire
machinery of government. Their cour
age is undoubted , and they fight to the
death , having among them a superstition
that if you are killed you do not really
die , but in three days reappear some
where else.
1 'As for their condition now , as far as
I can see , they are stronger , more deter
mined , and more skilful in the art of war
than when the fighting out there started ,
and as the days go by they increase in
strength and knowledge , having nine or
eleven millions of people to draw from.
They are armed with Mausers the best
rifle in the world and are far better
marksmen than the Spaniards. At first
they shot high and missed , but now
they have caught on and aim low with
deadly effect. They have a good gov
ernment now , which they are operating
successfully , and preserve law and order.
They certainly don't think theirs is a
hopeless fight , and I don't think any
one else does who knows anything
about it.
"What they are fighting for now is
absolute and entire liberty. They don't
want us there or over them , and in the
course of time might wear out our
patience entirely. An excellent postal
and telegraph system is in existence ,
which we wish very much we could get
hold of. While they fight for entire
freedom , all they ask is a chance for
life , liberty and the pursuit of happiness ,
and they care not whether it be a repub
lic of their own , or some form devised
for them by the great United States of
North America. I see nothing promis
ing in the struggle now or any hope of
speedy success on our part , unless many
more troops are sent out.
"The problem can be solved , however ,
and I believe that if a proposal was
made to the natives to lay down their
arms upon the promise that the United
States would annex the islands , treat
them as Americans , and make their
country a territory of ours , the rebellion
if such it can be called , for we had no
claim on them would melt away like a
block of ice before the sun. A good ,
level-headed governor could be ap
pointed , and given full veto power ,
while the rest of the government could
be in the hands of the natives. They
could bo called together and elect their
own legislature and leaders , operate
their own politics , and manage their
own affairs. I believe firmly they would
accept this proposal and surrender , as
they realize the possibilities , in event
they establish a republic of their own , of
Germany coming along and talcing an
island here , France an island there , and
England three or four inlands every
where else. No proposals of this kind
have , however , been made to the Filip
inos. " Baltimore Sun.
MUSIC. The western part
of this country , in
cluding that in which wo live , may
properly bo called a musical desert , in
that outside the large cities one may
spend a lifetime without ever hearing
any music worthy the name. This is
not because the inhabitants are indiffer
ent to music ; on the contrary , it is the
desire and purpose of each one to have
it in his homo , as is shown by the
amount of money invested in private
musical instruments , which will in every
community aggregate an enormous
amount , in proportion to the outlay for
any other form of pleasure or education.
It is simply a case of arrested develop
ment ; wishing to hear music , we have
seen no other way to that end save to
teach our daughters the difficult art of
producing it with their fingers , usually
on the piano forte. Every house , nearly ,
therefore has its piano ; but from their
silent insides no anthem pealing startles
the passer-by with strange alarms ; not
once , we should say , in a mouth , on an
average. We invest several hundred
dollars in delicate apparatus , and we ex
pend a greater or less amount in em
ploying such instruction for our daugh
ters as we can obtain ; but the daugh
ters , alas , seldom or never arrive. The
reason is plain ; piano-playing is a pro
fession by itself , and requires not only
as much special education as any other
trade , but a very exhaustive and long-
continued physical training ; now we
have too many other uses for our daugh
ters to allow more than one in ten thous
and to become an expert pianist , and
none but an expert can get the proper
results from a piano.
We may yet hope to have our music ,
however , for the American inventor has
not overlooked this field , and mechanical
genius will yet enable the daughter to
relieve her shoulders of the burden of
mechanical performance ; thus skipping
at once the long and usually abortive
years of finger-training , and starting in
where the present system can only as
pire to end. This will make life much
easier for the friends and neighbors , and
it will be very good for the girl's health
besides. And it is all in the line of na
tural progress ; not so very long ago , the
daughter was expected to manufacture
the pictures with which wo adorned our
walls ; but now we find it cheaper to buy
pictures reproduced by mechanical pro
cesses ; we can have more pictures in
that way , and they are really very much
better pictures than the young ladies
used to make.
