The Evening Times

A LETTER FROM MANILA
A Soldier Writes of the Hardships of the Campaign.

BALTIMORE, Md., Oct. 12.—Mr. Frederick M. Kipp, 1605 Eastern Avenue, has received a letter from a Baltimorean who is a soldier in one of the regiments of infantry in the Philippines. The writer is not enthusiastic in regard to life there, nor is he complimentary in his remarks about the conduct of affairs from a military standpoint. The letter is in part as follows:

'We are stationed about forty-four miles from Manila, doing outpost duty until the rainy season ends. There is a town about eight miles north of us called Mexico, and it is reported that Aguinaldo is there, with 18,000 troops, waiting for us to attack him. I suppose we will gratify him after awhile, but, to my mind, there seems to be wanting a head which will be capable of properly directing military matters.

'Last week it rained so hard we had to do outpost duty in water up to our waists. It looks as though we will be compelled to get boats and move the troops in them as the only way to get to the enemy, as the rice fields are inundated with fully two feet of water. It is terribly hot here, especially after a rain, and then the earth emits a steam which is not pleasant to smell, and which has, no doubt, a great deal to do with keeping our sick list heavy. We have about 8,000 men in hospital sick from fever and dysentery.

'Men are dying like cattle, and from appearance it seems that the surgeons take but little interest in the sick. It makes no difference what may be a man's ailment, when the surgeon looks at him he prescribes thirty grains of quinine. It does no good to kick, because it frequently happens that if you do you will be tried by a court-martial and fined or imprisoned for insubordination.

'I think it would be a good idea for the Government to do away with Hospital Corps, for so far they have proved to be of but little use to the army.

'It is outrageous the way the men are being treated. Last week one of the men lost his temper over the treatment he had received from one of the surgeons and told him to go to a hotter place than Manila. He was tried and fined three months' pay and sentenced to serve three months in the guardhouse. Another private was fined $12 for having his belt off while he was on guard duty. A private by the name of Johnson, in Company F, who had only two weeks to serve, was tried by a military court and sentenced to one year in prison and dishonorable discharge because he overstayed his leave three days. The man also fought in Cuba.

'They are doing whatever they please with the soldiers out here, just because the poor devils are helpless and can't get away from the tyranny. We are all disgusted and sick from bad treatment and from starvation, resulting from eating rotten meat and hardtack.

'The only way we can do any more fighting with success is by the Government sending 100,000 men here. With that force we could clean up the insurgents in a couple of months. If they don't do it there will be fighting going on here for the next fifty years. There are not more than 10,000 troops here which are fit for duty.

'If Washington would only recall General Otis and send General Miles here there would be a great change in the hearts of the soldiers, for all the men of the regulars love General Miles, and they know he would see that they got proper treatment. We call him the bullfighter out here because of the way in which he fought embalmed beef.

'In active campaigning we have been getting up at 3 a. m. and marching and fighting until about 9 p. m., crossing rivers by rope, hand over hand, with all of our equipments on our shoulders, and if we lose any of them we are compelled to pay for everything lost. In crossing one of the rivers a few weeks ago I lost my belt, bayonet, haversack, and canteen. They sank to the bottom of the river. I tried to recover them, but was unable to do so, being completely played out. I had to pay for all of them. We call this treatment robbery on the part of the Government.

'For the last ten days we have been on half rations.'