The Burdens of World Power 11to introduce education and health programs, to stimulate the
economy, revise the legal system and provide local law and
order. Throughout his governorship the genial, sympathetic
former Federal Judge from Ohio sought to cultivate the friend
ship and loyalty of the Filipinos, particularly those "as ortho
dox in matters of [economic and legal] importance as we
are."^21 Still the Army had to take to the bush after the
remaining insurgents, and its general attitude toward the Civil
Governor is preserved in a popular marching song:
I'm only a common soldier man in the blasted Philippines.
They say I've got Brown Brothers here, but I dunno what it means.
I like the word Fraternity, but I still draw the line.
He may be a brother of Big Bill Taft, but he ain't no brother of mine.
Damn, damn, damn the insurrecto
Pock marked, khakiac ladrone.
Underneath the starry flag
Civilize 'em with a Krag
And return us to our own beloved homes.
The administration, sensitive to the criticism of American
policy articulated as condemnation of the Army, attempted to
scotch the atrocity charges and vindicate the policy. In public
speeches and in his annual reports, Elihu Root repeated his
message: the American soldiers were as innocent and humane
as one could expect under the circumstances, and, in any
case, America's civilizing mission was noble enough to push
forward at the going cost.^22
All this verbiage may have been a tonic for the Army's
nerves, but its officers did not forget that they would have to
answer for what were portrayed to American readers as
atrocities. In February, 1906, at Bud Dajo, Sulu, a punitive
column of soldiers, sailors, and Philippine constabulary at
tacked and killed six hundred renegade Moros, men, women,
and children. The Moros would not surrender; the women
fought along side the warriors, and both used children for
shields. Ninety-four of the assaulting force of four hundred
were casualties. Yet in the United States the Washington Post
and the New York World described the fight as a massacre