2i 8 Presidential Addresses 



shameful instances, as must happen in all wars, 

 where the soldiers forgot themselves, and retaliated 

 evil for evil. There were one hundred thousand of 

 our men in the Philippines, a hundred thousand hired 

 for a small sum a month apiece, put there under 

 conditions that strained their nerves to the breaking 

 point, and some of the hundred thousand did what 

 they ought not to have done. But out of a hundred 

 thousand men at home, have all been faultless? 

 Every effort has been made to detect such cases, 

 to punish the offenders, and to prevent any re 

 currence of the deed. It is a cruel injustice to the 

 gallant men who fought so well in the Philippines 

 not to recognize that these instances were excep 

 tional, and that the American troops who served in 

 the far-off tropic islands deserve praise the same in 

 kind that has always been given to those who have 

 well and valiantly fought for the honor of our com 

 mon flag and common country. The work of civil 

 administration has kept pace with the work of mili 

 tary administration, and when on July 4 last am 

 nesty and peace were declared throughout the isl 

 ands the civil government assumed the complete con 

 trol. Peace and order now prevail and a greater 

 measure of prosperity and of happiness than the 

 Filipinos have ever hitherto known in all their dark 

 and checkered history ; and each one of them has a 

 greater measure of liberty, a greater chance of hap 

 piness, and greater safety for his life and property 

 than he or his forefathers have ever before known. 

 Thus we have met each task that has confronted 



