13 men to the 1000! Something of a contrast to the English rate which Mr. Atkinson so gleefully quotes, of 43 for each 1000 men in India in 1896!

The 1902 report of the Surgeon General, which is just at hand, shows that, for the calendar year 1901, the rate of admission to sick report for these diseases in our own army at home was five higher than the corresponding rate in the Philippines-and we had to discharge only 26 men in the Philippines for these diseases out of an army of a mean strength of 59,526 men; while in the United States, here at home, we discharged 118 men out of a mean army of 26,515-that is, here among our troops stationed at home, we had to discharge for disability owing to these diseases 4.42 men in each 1000, and only .44 of a man to the 1000 in the Philippines -and, to sum it all up so that we may grasp the general result quickly, comprehensively, and conclusively, I add that the Surgeon General's reports show that, in the four years of the Philippine struggle, the average annual rate of admission to sick report for these diseases in our army in the Philippines has been 4 (four) men per thousand less than the average annual rate of admissions during the same period for the same diseases in our army here at

home! So that Mr. Atkinson's labored delusions fall to the ground of their own weight.

Let us hope Mr. Atkinson will learn that statistics of the English army in India do not apply to our American army in the Philippines!

I think these facts prove that Mr. Atkinson has overdrawn his picture, and that it was without reasonable excuse. He can find here and there statements of individual officers and men to comfort him a little, and statements from isolated posts that will please him, but nothing can disturb the general results that are established and the figures I have just given. As Mr. Atkinson was only prophesying and comparing, it cannot be proven that he misstated, but it is asserted that his comparisons were unfair, uncalled for, unwarranted, exaggerated and distorted, and so much so, that, considering the delicacy of the subject and the pride and anxiety of the families of these boys for their soldier sons, Mr. Atkinson has shown a marked lack of good taste, of gentlemanly conduct and of decent respect for the soldier.

Before leaving this branch of our discussion, I would like to ask Mr. Atkinson for any statistics he may be able to furnish of the prevalence of these dis

eases among men, without excepting anybody at all, engaged in Mr. Atkinson's business, that of fire insurance—if I may so ask without prying too far into his personal affairs. But, as he has seen fit to impute to the soldiers with so free a hand, it would seem only fair for me, in their behalf, to ask for any testimony Mr. Atkinson is willing to furnish.

BUT there was a dangerous side to the work of these Anti-Imperialists. Their work cost the lives of American soldiers. There is no reasonable doubt about that. Their work cost the lives of hundreds of American soldiers,-stabbed in the back as they stood out there on the firing line, by their own countrymen.

Soldiers were encouraged and urged to desert by the Anti-Imperialists; and it meant death to a soldier to desert in time of war. Letters went from this country to the leaders of the enemy urging them to hold out a little longer,—that is, to keep on shooting down our soldiers; for that's what urging an enemy to keep on a little longer means, if it means anything. Keep on shooting down our men and if you can only shoot enough of them, the people of

the United States will withdraw their troops, and then you can put Aguinaldo in power!" That, the Anti-Imperialists told you, would give the Filipinos their freedom.

The Philippine Commission told Mr. McKinley that if Aguinaldo were put in power and we withdrew our troops, it would be nothing but anarchy in those islands. The men who reported that were Mr. Schurman, Mr. Denby, Admiral Dewey, General Otis and Professor Worcester. They all spent many months there. Mr. Edward Atkinson, who runs a fire insurance business in Boston and turns out such statistics as we have examined in these pages, says in effect, that the men on this commission do not know what they are talking about!

All up and down this great country the AntiImperialists made speeches of sympathy for the men who were shooting at our own soldiers. It is said that money was collected here and dispatched to that enemy, and I am informed, and I believe it is true, much, if not substantially all of such funds were employed to buy guns, powder and bullets to be turned against American soldiers. These people sent their speeches of encouragement and good cheer to that enemy and these documents were pla