62 Presidential Addresses 



and all harshness beyond what is called for by need. 

 Our enemies in the Philippines have not merely vio 

 lated every rule of war, but have made of these vio 

 lations their only method of carrying on the war. 

 Think over that ! It is not a rhetorical statement 

 it is a bald statement of contemporary history. 

 They have been able to prolong the war at all only 

 by recourse to acts each one of which put them 

 beyond the pale of civilized warfare. We would 

 have been justified by Abraham Lincoln's rules of 

 war in infinitely greater severity than has been 

 shown. 



The fact really is that our warfare in the Philip 

 pines has been carried on with singular humanity. 

 For every act of cruelty by our men there have been 

 innumerable acts of forbearance, magnanimity, and 

 generous kindness. These are the qualities which 

 have characterized the war as a whole. The cruel 

 ties on our part have been wholly exceptional. 



The guilty are to be punished; but in punishing 

 them, let those who sit at ease at home, who walk 

 delicately and live in the soft places of the earth, 

 remember also to do them common justice. Let 

 not the effortless and the untempted rail overmuch 

 at strong men who with blood and sweat face years 

 of toil and days of agony, and at need lay down 

 their lives in remote tropic jungles to bring the 

 light of civilization into the world's dark places. 

 The warfare that has extended the boundaries of 

 civilization at the expense of barbarism and savag 

 ery has been for centuries one of the most potent 



