CONCENTRATION CAMPS.

TO PROTECT PEACEFUL NATIVES FROM LADRONES-NO STARVATION-FED BY THE GOVERNMENT.

Concentration camps in the Philippines have been much discussed by the Democrats, and some information on this point was brought out in the investigation by the Philippines Committee of the Senate. General J. Franklin Bell gave the order for "reconcentration" in the provinces of Tayabas, Balangas, and Laguna. This is the order:

GENERAL BELL'S CONCENTRATION ORDER.

"To all Station Commanders:

"BATANGAS, December 8, 1901.

"In order to put an end to enforced contributions now levied by insurgents upon the inhabitants of sparsely settled and outlying barrios and districts by means of intimidation and assassination, commanding officers of all towns now existing in the provinces of Batangas and Laguna, including those at which no garrison is stationed at present, will immediately specify and establish plainly-marked limits surrounding each town bounding a zone within which it may be practicable with an average sized garrison, to exercise efficient supervision over and furnish protection to inhabitants (who desire to be peaceful) against the depredations of armed insurgents. These limits may include the barrios which exist sufficiently near the town to be given protection and supervision by the garrison, and should include some ground on which live stock could graze, but so situated that it can be patrolled and watched. All ungarrisoned towns will be garrisoned as soon as troops become available.

"Commanding officers will also see that orders are at once given and distributed to all the inhabitants within the jurisdiction of towns over which they exercise supervision, informing them of the danger of remaining outside of these limits, and that unless they move by December 25 from outlying barrios and districts with all their movable food supplies, including rice, palay, chickens, live stock, etc., to within the limits of the zone established at their own or nearest town, their property (found outside of said zone at said date) will become liable to confiscation or destruction. The people will be permitted to move houses from outlying districts should they desire to do so, or to construct temporary shelter for themselves on any vacant land without compensation to the owner,

and no owner will be permitted to deprive them of the privilege of doing so.

In the discretion of commanding officers the prices of necessities of existence may also be regulated in the interest of those thus seeking protection.

As soon as peaceful conditions have been reestablished in the brigade these persons will be encouraged to return to their homes and such assistance be rendered them as may be found practicable. J. F. BELL, Brigadier-General, Commanding.

COLONEL WAGNER'S REPORT ON CONCENTRATION.

Colonel Arthur L. Wagner was detailed by General Wheaton to inspect the concentration camps in the Department of Northern Luzon, and his report was made last March. It is as follows:

"HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF NORTH PHILIPPINES,

"Manila, P. I., March 22, 1902.

"SIR: I have the honor to report that, in accordance with your verbal orders, I proceeded on the 16th instant on the gunboat Napindan to Calamba, and thence overland to Santo Tomas and Tanauan, at which points I inspected the concentration camps of the natives. I inspected the camp at the former place on the 16th instant and the two camps at the latter town on the following day. On the 18th instant I returned to Manila.

“The camp or village at Santo Tomas contains about 8,000 people and covers a space about 2 miles long by 1 mile wide. The people are not unduly crowded, their houses are clean and comfortable, and the streets and grounds of the camp are well-policed and scrupulously neat. The houses are in every respect as good as those in the barrios evacuated by the natives, with the exception that in most instances they are smaller. There is, however, no uncomfortable crowding, as the native houses in this archipelago are a mere protection from sun and rain and are generally sufficiently open to allow a very free circulation of air. The people from the same barrios are quartered on the same streets, the communities being kept together and the people having the same neighbors they have been accustomed to at home.

"The health of the people in the camp at Santo Tomas was very good, sickness being practically nil. The camp is under the general charge of the medical officer at Santo Tomas, with a practicante as assistant in each barrio.

"There is sufficient food on hand to last until the 1st of May, and the reserve of palay in the church will probably provide subsistence for another month. There are plenty of pigs about the camp, though chickens are getting scarce. Many of the chickens in the barrios were not brought to the concentration camp, but were left behind, and have since become wild. Many of them will probably be available for food when the people get back to their barrios. The people will also be able to get fruits (principally bananas) in abundance, besides squashes and a species of bread fruit. The stock is allowed to graze within the dead line, and they evidently find good grazing in this space, as they seem to be in good condi

tion.

"Care is taken to provide against fire by having sections of bamboo, filled with water, resting in a rack at each end of each barrio, and in case of a long street at convenient points between. There are also sections of bamboo filled with water resting on the roofs of nearly all the houses, two sections of bamboo being tied together and slung across the ridge pole of the roof. Hooks on long poles are also provided for the rapid demolition of houses in case of fire. "The people in the camp at Santo Tomas had all been inspected and vaccinated.

"At Tanauan there are two camps, one, known as the north town, being approximately in the form of a square about one-third of a mile on each side. The south town covers a space about one-half of a mile long by one-third of a mile wide. There are 11 barrios in the former and 15 in the latter. In the two camps there are about 19,600 people, of which number 11,000 are in the south town and the rest in the other camp. In these camps, as in the one at Santo Tomas, each barrio is assigned to a street by itself, so that neighbors are not separated from each other.

Plenty of Food.-"There is food enough in the camps at Tanauan to last until the 31st of March-perhaps until the middle of April. The rich people have plenty of rice, which they will be compelled to sell as soon as the rice of the poor people is exhausted. It is believed that this reserve rice will be sufficient for the people until the 30th of April. Pigs and chickens are still to be seen around the camps, the former in considerable numbers, though the latter are said to have become rather scarce. The people are allowed to take their cattle out every day beyond the dead line to graze, and they are also allowed to gather forage and bring it in.

"Each barrio has an outpost marked with a flag, on the dead line. Each outpost consists of four natives, and is relieved every twentyfour hours. The outposts have orders in case they see any natives trying to go beyond the line to turn them back, and there is a saddled pony at each outpost to give warning in case anyone gets

beyond the line. While natives beyond the dead line are liable to be shot, such a measure is never resorted to if it is possible to arrest them and turn them back to the camp. No cases of shooting people passing the dead line have yet been reported, and, as nearly as I can ascertain, none have occurred. In the church and inclosure at Tanauan there are 127 female prisoners, all of whom are legitimate prisoners of war, who could be tried by military commission under the provisions of General Orders No. 100, for their work as spies, collectors, etc. Forty women with children are provided with separate quarters, having been given the best available house for this purpose in town. Any woman becoming ill is released on parole. In the guardhouse there are 270 military prisoners, who are fed on the Government ration allowed prisoners, and who are probably getting better food than they ever before had in the course of their entire existence.

Schools in Camp.—“There is a school in each barrio, where instruction is given by native teachers acting under the general supervision of the teacher at Tanauan. These children look as happy and contented as any school children in the United States. As we rode through the village they were given a recess to meet us, and called out cheerily, smilingly, and in good English, the salutation 'Good morning,' which had been taught them.

"I was unable to find among these people anywhere any evidences of misery or neglect. The hombres or common people are perfectly contented and have no desire to leave. They have scarcely more power of intelligent initiative than the same number of cattle; they are accustomed to doing what they are told, whether the order comes from Spaniard, American, or one of the gentes finas of their own race; they accept the present conditions without complaint, and I am informed that it will be a matter of considerable difficulty to break up these barrios when the time comes to do so. It is gratifying to know that such hardships as exist fall upon the wealthy classes, and that it can no longer be said of the insurrection that it is a rich man's war' and 'a poor man's fight.'"

Caste is strongly marked among the Tagalos, and the upper-class aristocrats do not fancy their enforced association with the democratic herd. As far as possible, however, neighbors are kept together and the caste spirit is shocked just enough to excite amusement rather than pity in the mind of an American. The rich people have lost heavily, because they have not been able to harvest their orange crop and can not give their personal attention to their estates. They undoubtedly yearn earnestly for peace, and for the first time they are trying to bring it about. They deserve but little sympathy in their unhappiness, for it is they who have sustained the war, and it is but just that the pinch of the concentration should

be felt by them. It should be repeated with emphasis that the distress incident to war falls in this case not upon the poor, but upon the rich, who have been perfectly willing to oppose the Americans so long as the hardships and dangers fell almost exclusively upon the hombres, while the distinction and position of "patriot" leaders were monopolized by themselves.

Not Like Weyler.-The term "concentration" has doubtless become odious to the people of the United States, because of the course pursued in Cuba under the administration of Weyler. There is, however, one very important difference between the Spanish system of concentration and that used at these camps, namely, that while many of the Cuban reconcentrados were starved, in these camps all are well fed. I was unable to find in any of these great camps any evidence in the slightest degree of the want, misery, and squalor that are so evident in our best managed and presumably humane Indian agencies within the limits of the United States, where the policy of concentration has long been carried out by our Government in opposition to the wishes of the Indians, who preferred to run wild and conduct war at their own pleasure.

The effect of this system has been to produce practically a condition of peace in the provinces to which it has been applied. The insurgent leaders who are still out have scarcely any followers, being in small parties and in concealment, living in caves, hiding by day, prowling by night, and claiming to be the titled representatives of a government. It is said that they are largely sustained by the hope of material financial assistance from the junta of Hongkong, and there is no doubt that they are morally supported and strongly sustained by the public expressions of sympathy made by certain prominent persons in the United States.

In conclusion, so long as it is impossible to adopt the Sermon on the Mount as a guiding treatise on the art of war a certain degree of misery will be inseparable from a condition of war; but as far as the concentration camps are concerned, misery is reduced to a minimum, and the management, of the military authorities has been so beneficent that I believe that the common people in the camps are actually more happy and comfortable than they were in their own villages.

Very respectfully,

ARTHUR L. WAGNER,

Colonel, Adjutant-General's Department, Adjutant-General.

Maj. LOYD WHEATON, U. S. A.,

Commanding Department of North Philippines, Manila, P. I.