The American Occupation of the Philippines 1898-1912 Part 31

Catbalogan, Samar, P. I., September 22, 1904.

His honor, the Judge of First Instance of this province, Catbalogan, Samar, P. I.

Sir:

I have the honor to bring to the knowledge of the court that last night between 12 and 1 o'clock, the accused person Ramon Boroce died in consequence of the disease of beriberi from which he has been suffering; which fact I have the honor to communicate to the court for its superior knowledge.

Very respectfully, Gonzalo Lucero,

Warden of the Provincial Jail.

Now a jail death-rate of only ten or twelve a month was not at all a bad record for an insurrection in a Philippine province. It would be rank demagoguery at this late date to be a party to anybody's getting excited about it. I was rather proud of it by comparison with the jail death-rate of the Albay insurrection of the year before, where 120 men had died in the jail in about six months. But it began to get on one's nerves to have to expect a billet-doux like the above on your desk at the opening of court each day, when the accused person had had no commitment trial and may have been wholly innocent. It all came back to the difference between war and peace, viz., that in war it is to be expected that many innocent persons will suffer, but that in peace only the guilty should suffer. Moreover, in war that admits it is war, your agents, your army, are better able to handle crowds of prisoners than native police and constabulary, and the percentage of innocent who suffer with the guilty in such war will be far less; whereas the contrary is true of war--waged by constabulary checked by courts--which pretends that a state of peace exists, i.e., which pretends there is no need for declaring martial law and calling on your army.

It was this Samar insurrection which convinced me that waging war with courts and constabulary in lieu of the recognized method was, in its net results, the cruelest kind of war, and that the civil government of the Philippines was a failure, in so far as regarded Mr. McKinley's original injunction to the Taft Commission; where, after alluding to the articles of capitulation of the city of Manila to our forces, which concluded with the words:

This city, its inhabitants * * * and its private property of all descriptions * * * are placed under the special safeguard of the faith and honor of the American Army,

he added:

As high and sacred an obligation rests upon the Government of the United States to give protection for property and life * * *

to all the people of the Philippine Islands. I charge this commission to labor for the full performance of this obligation, which concerns the honor and conscience of their country.

Commenting on this in his inaugural address as Governor of the Philippines, Governor Taft had said:

May we not be recreant to the charge, which he truly says, concerns the honor and conscience of our country.

No matter who was to blame, here we were in Samar, with the 14th Infantry three hours away in one direction at Calbayog, doing nothing, and the 18th Infantry five hours away in another direction, at Tacloban, doing nothing, and a reign of terror going on in Samar, with the peaceably inclined people of the lowlands and coast towns appealing to us for protection and not getting it, sometimes crouching in abject terror without knowing which way to fly, sometimes taking to the hills and joining the outlaws as a measure of self-preservation. 'Twas pitiful, wondrous pitiful! I then and there decided that we ought to get out of the Philippines as soon as any decent sort of a native government could be set up, and that our republic was not adapted to colonization. In his North American Review article above cited, in denying that the unwillingness of the Manila government to order out the army in Samar in the fall of 1904 had anything to do with the possible effect so doing might have had on the presidential election, then in progress in the United States, Governor Ide rebuked me with patronizing self-righteousness thus: "Was Judge Blount opposed to kindness?" He means in giving the Filipinos, under such circ.u.mstances, the "protection of civil government," instead of ordering out the army. No, but I was opposed to using a saw, in lieu of a lancet, in excising the ulcers of that body politic at that time. In protesting that there was "nothing sinister" about the failure to use the troops, Judge Ide cunningly wonders whether my att.i.tude was subsequently a.s.sumed after I left the Islands because of "proclivities as a Democrat," or whether it was merely due to "predilections in favor of military rule." Read Mr. McKinley's instructions to the Taft Commission, above quoted, that to protect life and property concerned the honor and conscience of their country, and consider if the Ide suggestion does not seem to hide its head and slink away in shame before the strong clear light of what was then a plain duty. As a matter of fact Judge Charles S. Lobinger, who is still with the Philippine judiciary, visited me en route to another point, during that Samar term of court, and he will recall, should he ever chance upon this book and this chapter, with what vehemence I said to him at the time, in effect, "Judge, we belong in the Western Hemisphere. We have no business out here permanently." If proclivities and predilections in favor of affording decent protection to the lives and property of defenceless people by properly garrisoning their towns const.i.tutes lack of kindness, then the Ide rebuke was well taken.

These details are not related with Pickwickian gravity in order to acquaint the reader with my utterances as being important per se. But it is important to make clear to the reader, and he is ent.i.tled, in all frankness, to have it made clear by one who has now so long detained his attention on this great subject, to know just when "the light from heaven on the road to Damascus" broke upon this witness, and how and why he came to be in favor of Philippine independence, because the reasons which convinced him may seem good in the sight of the reader also. If the man who reads this book shall see that the man who wrote it was, in Samar in 1904, neither a Republican nor a Democrat, but simply an American in a far distant land, jealous of the honor of his country's flag in its capacity as a symbol of protection to those over whom it floated, then the work will not have been written in vain.

The presidentes or mayors of the various pueblos were in session at Catbalogan in semi-annual convention during the first few days of October, 1904, when the a.s.sistant Attorney-General, Mr. Harvey, visited Catbalogan. Mr. Harvey and the writer had taken a number of long walks together in the suburbs of Catbalogan, though Major Dade, commanding the Samar constabulary, an officer of the regular army, had warned us it was not safe outside of town. We had talked over the situation fully. Besides all its other aspects, there were a number of American women in Catbalogan, an American lawyer's wife, the wife of the superintendent of schools, her sister, and others. It was not at all likely that the Pulajans would enter Catbalogan, but there was always the possibility, not to be wholly ignored, that some such episode as that of March 23d, of the preceding year, at Surigao, already described, might be repeated. As hereinbefore noted, on August 9th, the Pulajans had done some killing and burning at Silanga, less than ten miles north of Catbalogan and likewise at Motiong, less than ten miles south of Catbalogan, on September 1st, and on the evening of September 2d, about 7:30, there had been a false alarm caused by some native of Catbalogan running down the main street yelling, "Pulajans! Pulajans!" All of which did not tend to make you feel that your American women were quite as entirely safe from harm as they ought to be.

In the course of one of our walks Mr. Harvey and I had stopped on the mountain side overlooking Catbalogan, to catch our breath and take in the view of the town below and the sea beyond. I said to him, because I knew his mind also was on the one great need of the hour: "Yes sir, if President Roosevelt were here, and could see this situation as we do, he would order out the army and protect these defenceless people, no matter which way the chips might fly." Mr. Harvey agreed with me. He promised to go back to Manila and tell the authorities there so. After we came back to town, we were advised that the convention of presidentes desired to have Mr. Harvey favor them with an address. He said, "What shall I tell them?" I said, "Tell them that if they will do their duty by the American Government, the American Government will do its duty by them." He spoke Spanish fluently, made a good speech, and told them in effect just that thing. Then he went back to Manila, and shortly afterward wrote me the two letters which follow:

Department of Justice, Philippine Islands, Office of the a.s.sistant Attorney-General for the Constabulary,

Manila, P. I., October 15, 1904.

My dear Judge: We arrived in Manila on Tuesday morning, the 11th instant, and I prepared my report and submitted it to the attorney-general on the 12th, in the meantime making a transcript of your summary and delivering a copy of same with other information to the attorney-general along with my report. After dictating the report and before delivering it I had a conversation with General Allen on the situation in Samar and told him what my recommendations would be. He agreed that rewards should be offered for the capture of Pablo Bulan, Antonio Anogar, and Pedro de la Cruz, but took issue on the other recommendations, and to my mind he takes a very extreme view; but I thought at the time and still think that he wanted to tone me down in my feelings in the matter. I think the real cause for his opposition is the effect that he fears an aggressive att.i.tude might have on the presidential election. In other words, whatever they do aggressively might be misconstrued and made use of as political capital.

At Governor Wright's request I got the report from the attorney-general before it was sent up and went over to the Malacanan, and the governor read the report and read most of the data that I submitted with the report, including your summary, and while he did not say much what he did say convinced me that there would be something doing if it were not on the eve of election, and in my opinion there will be things doing in Samar within thirty days.

I inclose herewith a copy of your summary, and also a copy of my report to the attorney-general. On the 18th instant I received your telegram to hold the completion of your summary until receipt of a letter mailed by you that day. I telegraphed you in reply that my report and your summary were placed in the hands of the attorney-general on the 12th instant. If there is any additional data in your letter mailed on the 13th I will submit it to the proper authorities.

For the lack of time, I will close, and write more next time.

Very truly yours, (Signed) Geo. R. Harvey, a.s.sistant Attorney-General.

Department of Justice, Philippine Islands, Office of the a.s.sistant Attorney-General, for the Constabulary,

Manila, P. I., October 19, 1904.

My dear Judge Blount: Since mailing my letter to you of last Sat.u.r.day I have found the copies of your summary on the situation in Samar and inclose two herewith, in accordance with my promise.

This week we have received some good news from Samar with reference to important captures and killings of Pulajans. I am not in touch with what is going on with reference to Samar, and can give you no information along that line. As I remember, the governor told me the other day when I was talking with him that one more company of scouts will be sent down right away.

I sincerely hope the situation is improving, and that you are getting along rapidly in disposing of the large docket before you. If there is not a very great improvement in the situation by the 9th of November, I think there will be a considerable movement of troops in Samar within thirty days. For the good of the government, I hope the situation will improve materially before that time. I would like to see them put the troops there right now. I am of the opinion that it would not affect the election a half-dozen votes, and it might save two or three or a half-dozen ma.s.sacres and the destruction of much property.

With best wishes for your success in your work, and with regards to Mr. Block, I am,

Very truly yours,

Geo. R. Harvey,

a.s.sistant Attorney-General, Philippines Constabulary.

To Hon. James H. Blount, Judge of First Instance, Catbalogan, Samar, P. I.

These two letters may be found at p. 2532, Congressional Record, February 25, 1908, where they were the subject of remark in the House of Representatives by Hon. Thomas W. Hardwick of Georgia, apropos of Governor Ide's North American Review article of December, 1907.

A few weeks after the presidential election I saw Mr. Harvey in Manila. We naturally talked about Samar and his two letters to me. The troops had then been ordered out. He referred to his conference with the Governor-General and stated, "Yes, he told me that was the reason," meaning that the reason for not ordering out the troops was the one a.s.signed in his (Harvey's) letter to me, viz., "Whatever we do aggressively might be misconstrued and made use of as political capital."

On October 18, 1904, there was received at Manila the following cablegram concerning the presidential campaign in the United States:

New York, 16th. Judge Parker, in addressing campaign clubs at Esopus the past week returned to the subject of the Philippines in the evident hope of making it a paramount issue of the campaign. He repeated his former declaration that the retention of the Philippines and the carrying out of the policy of the Republican Administration have cost six hundred and fifty millions of dollars and two hundred thousand lives. Secretary of War Taft, in addressing a ma.s.s meeting held in Baltimore, Sat.u.r.day night, ridiculed Judge Parker's statement and characterized his figures as alarmist.

Of course Judge Parker's figures were rather high--of which more anon. He was not going to miss anything in the way of a chance of "getting a rise" out of the Administration, by understatement. But some statement from the Philippines at once became a supremely important desideratum, to counterbalance Judge Parker's over-statement, some optimism to meet the Parker pessimism. Encouraged by the public interest aroused by the figures furnished him, and the consequent apparent uneasiness it created in "the enemy's camp," Judge Parker soon had the whole Philippine group of islands going to "the demnition bow-wows." On October 20th, Secretary of War Taft cabled Governor Wright, then Governor-General of the Islands, a long telegram, quoting Judge Parker as having used, among other language descriptive of the beat.i.tudes we had conferred on our little brown brother, the following: "The towns in many places in ruins, whole districts in the hands of ladrones." [443]

At that time the whole archipelago was absolutely quiet for the nonce, except Samar. Samar was the only island where Judge Parker's statement was true, and as to Samar, it was absolutely true. On October 23d Governor Wright wired Secretary of War Taft as follows: