Two affairs last week in the Philippines may well have caused Secretary of War Weeks to reflect upon his island charge : 1) On the 25th anniversary of the proclamation of the "Philippine Republic" Emilio Aguinaldo motored peaceably side by side with Governor General Wood to Malolos, a town about 30 miles north of Manila. General Wood made a speech declaring that the Filipinos' desire for independence was "natural and creditable" and that "all should coöperate in establishing conditions precedent to independence." Aguinaldo, in full agreement, unveiled a monument commemorating the founding of the erstwhile republic.
2) On the same day, about 500 miles to the south, on the northeast tip of the second largest island of the Archipelago, Mindanao, a lieutenant and twelve men of the Philippine Constabulary were cut off from their base, the town of Placer, by "Colorums," fanatics. On the following day Colonel Bowers with another detachment landed on Bucas Island, adjoining this coast, and, under cover of machine-gun fire from the gunboat Sacramento, burned a town held by 600 Colorums. General Wood's yacht Apo was proceeding to the same region with reinforcements; for the Colorums in repeated attacks had killed some score of the constabulary — although the fanatics themselves lost about four times that number.