Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 66, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 April 1899 — CURRENT COMMENT [ARTICLE]

CURRENT COMMENT

Because of the almost complete absence of anything like a pitched battle against the Filipino insurgents there is a tendency to lose track of the total casualties in the American army at Manila. According to the official records thus far received at Washington the losses since the outbreak of the Aguinaldo rebellion on Feb. 4 have been 157 men and officers killed and 856 wounded. This is considerably over one-half the total number of casualties in the Spanish war. Apparently there is still a good deal of fighting ahead for Gen. Otis and his troops, and it is not impossible that by the time Aguinaldo is captured the fatalities of the Filipino war will be nearly or quite equal to those of the Spanish war. But the terrible mortality from disease was the worst feature of the Cuban campaign, and this is happily absent in the Philippines. The April crop report issued by the Department of Agriculture gives a discouraging outlook for winter wheat. Its condition is reported as 77—that is, 23 below standard and 7 points below the condition reported at this time last year, which was 84. The crop last year was about the average for the last ten years. So that the crop this year will be 11 per cent below the average. The cause of the poor condition is not attributed to the heavy snows nor to the intense Aid of the winter, but the frequent sudden and severe changes in the temperature. The condition of live stock throughout the country, with the exception of hogs, shows that it suffered even more than the wheat from the terrible winter. England is almost dependent upon the United States for her food supply. During the last calendar year our exports to the United Kingdom were: Wheat >67,495,442 Wheat flour. 40,774,024 Bacon 34,333,973 Cattle 31,668,909 Corn 28,379418 Dressed beef. 22,562,155 Hams 15,215,209 Lard 13,866,718 Pork 4,025,464 Cheese 2,139,905 Canned beef 2,055,368 Salted and pickled beef 1,249,507 Butter 1,125,391 Sheep 883,825 Hogs 7,387 There were 398 colored commissioned officers and 9,761 colored privates and non-commissioned officers serving among the volunteers during the Spanish war. The Ninth and Tenth cavalry and the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth infantry of the regular army are composed of colored men under white officers, aggregating about 4,500. It is impossible to ascertain, even approximately, how many colored meh are serving in the navy, because they are not designated, but they must have numbered from 500 to 750 when the navy was at its full war strength.