Secretary Root's Record:"Marked Severities" in Philippine Warfare Mr. Root First Denies That Cruelty Has Been Practised
Let us now proceed to consider what was done to investigate charges of torture or to prevent and
punish it. In this letter of February 17 he says that every report of cruelty and oppression brought
to the notice of the department "has been made the subject of prompt investigation," and
encloses "the records of thirteen such inquiries." He proceeds:
You will perceive that in substantially every case the report has proved to be either unfounded or
grossly exaggerated. The particular report which was called to the attention of the Senate last
week -- viz., that the "water cure" is the favorite torture of the American, and especially of the
Macabebe, scouts, to force the natives to give information, and that a soldier who was with
General Funston had stated that he helped to administer the water cure to one hundred and sixty
natives, all but twenty-six of whom died -- was already under investigation which is still in
progress.
I enclose a copy of a letter received from General Funston, dated Feb. 2, 1902, in which he
declares the statement to be "an atrocious lie, without the slightest foundation in fact," and a
letter from Lieutenant Batson, the commander of the Macabebe scouts, to the same effect.
He encloses the General Order No. 100 and says:
Among these rules you will find the following:
Rule 16. Military necessity does not admit of cruelty; that is, the infliction of suffering for the
sake of suffering or for revenge, nor for maiming or wounding, except in fight, nor of torture to
extort confessions....
Rule 56. A prisoner of war is subject to no punishment for being a public enemy. Nor is any
revenge wreaked on him by the intentional infliction of any suffering or disgrace by cruel
imprisonment, want of food, by mutilation, death, or any other barbarity.
He proceeds:
The Filipino troops have frequently fired upon our men from under protection of flags of truce,
tortured to death American prisoners who have fallen into their hands, buried alive both
Americans and friendly natives, and horribly mutilated the bodies of the American dead. That
the soldiers fighting against such an enemy, and with their own eyes witnessing such deeds,
should occasionally be regardless of these orders and retaliate by unjustifiable severities, is not
incredible.... That such occurrences have been sanctioned or permitted is not true. A constant and
effective pressure of prohibition, precept, and discipline, has been maintained against them. That
there has been any such practice is not true. The cases have been few and far between, scattered
infrequently over a great area of country along the course of three years of active conflict,
through thousands of engagements, and among many thousands of troops.... The war in the
Philippines has been conducted by the American Army with scrupulous regard for the rules of
civilized warfare, with careful and genuine consideration for the prisoner and the
non-combatant, with self-restraint, and with humanity never surpassed.
This letter was clearly written to deny that there was any truth in the charge that our army had
employed torture; and it took the ground, unequivocally, that cruelty and torture were forbidden
by the laws of war and the orders of our officers. While admitting that among thousands of
troops cases of cruelty might occur, it insisted that a constant pressure of "discipline" had been
exerted to prevent it. There was no attempt to justify cruelty, only a denial that it had been
practised, and for the very reason that it was forbidden by president Lincoln's General Order No.
100.
