And State Papers 629 



ilized or barbarous forces where there has been so 

 little wrongdoing by the victors as in the Philip- 

 pine Islands. On the other hand, the amount of 

 difficult, important, and beneficent work which has 

 been done is wellnigh incalculable. 



Taking the work of the army and the civil au- 

 thorities together, it may be questioned whether 

 anywhere else in modern times the world has seen 

 a better example of real constructive statesmanship 

 than our people have given in the Philippine Islands. 

 High praise should also be given those Filipinos, 

 in the aggregate very numerous, who have accepted 

 the new conditions and joined with our representa- 

 tives to work with hearty good-will for the welfare 

 of the islands. 



The army has been reduced to the minimum al- 

 lowed by law. It is very small for the size of the 

 nation, and most certainly should be kept at the 

 highest point of efficiency. The senior officers are 

 given scant chance under ordinary conditions to ex- 

 ercise commands commensurate with their rank, un- 

 der circumstances which would fit them to do their 

 duty in the time of actual war. A system of ma- 

 noeuvring our army in bodies of some little size has 

 been begun and should be steadily continued. With- 

 out such manoeuvres it is folly to expect that in the 

 event of hostilities with any serious foe even a 

 small army corps could be handled to advantage. 

 Both our officers and enlisted men are such that we 

 can take hearty pride in them. No better material 

 can be found. But they must be thoroughly trained, 



