Two Wars.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XL, Issue 7090, 26 August 1901, Page 4

Two Wars.

■i The terminatiotfbf American hostiiitie|,^ngthe .Philippine^h^s- .drawn attpton.|to:).lhe'fanalogy;;:thatvexists between thatwar.and the operations of Great Britain m^Sduth^Africa.: In jeach ca^e; what was:expected tp prove prf e|,sy;^ope^!'c§nq'iLfesi;'!haS; re-" siillM'iff^^ruggle :%ha? 'ha^^een bostly in life and property, and .prolonged beyond ,all;anticipation.:s.^T;he ;ebstytbi»the United States*. Govern-' jment,was;yerjiHeaA?y,..rea_chihg;for: ,a-: .time>£4isoo,Qoo'^month',:; a .considjerably 'higher" rateUin ;proportion to' [numb'ersrthan has^been/; required by X|^^rtai^^ltt%6thHtheatr^s of h^^h^ifliti^^egenieratedi; after a jti^iSj yhto^fh^iplur.' and'\irreg*ular •t^otics.pfjg^erin'ajfighting",:& thffvtwo.: countries uwere:eminently suited;:;... Tie Filipino, like the Boer,, is lacking in organisation and disjCipline,; and consequently has failed to;' fully profit :by; the'advantages of his' position. In tenacity of purpose the Boer excels theiother which accounts for the prolongation of -his struggle against the. British.; While 70,000 Americans effectually subdued in two years the 9,000,000 inhabitants of the scattered and mountainous Philippine. Islands, 250,000 British and colonial troops were; arrayed against the Boer armies, which could never have* exceeded' 60,000 men, and even yet the task is not completed. In many respects the British task has been much the heavier, notwithstanding :the fact that the number of the enemy has been so -much smaller. The Boers of the Transvaal and Orange.; Free State were a more homogeneous people than the inhabitants of the Philippines, and, what was even more to the point, they were guided by a better-defined policy,- for the of which they had firmly 'united their small but formidable forces. The number and variety of the' tribes of the Philippines, their tribal differences, and their lack of intercourse, constituted, a source of weakness -which the Americans speedily turned to their own advant-" age. The' Boers, on the other hand, had sprung from a common stock, and had year by year drawn more closely together into a firmly welded communitjf not the least, important factor to this end being: the' knowledge that, numerically weak them-: selves, they-were surrounded by a number of, hostile tribes,, who required very little inducement to assume an aggressive attitude. The loss sustained by the American troops in the Philippines has apparently been less than that of the British in South' Africa, 300 'skirmishes ,by one command having cost the .United, States less than 200 killed and wounded. ....■•■•