time to time, such statements, both verbal and written, and more
especially some of those which have recently appeared in a book
entitled "The American Occupation of the Philippines, 1898-1912,"
by James H. Blount, who signs himself "Officer of the United States
Volunteers in the Philippines, 1899-1901; United States District
Judge in the Philippines, 1901-1905."

Judge Blount has indulged so freely in obvious hyperbole, and has made
so very evident the bitter personal animosities which inspire many
of his statements, that it has been a genuine surprise to his former
associates and acquaintances that his book has been taken seriously.

It should be sufficiently evident to any unprejudiced reader that in
writing it he has played the part of the special pleader rather than
that of the historian. He has used government records freely, and as
is usually the case when a special pleader quotes from such records,
the nature of the matter which he has omitted is worthy of more than
passing attention. I shall hope to be able to fill some of the gaps
that he has left in the documentary history of the events which he
discusses and by so doing, very materially to change its purport.

As public documents have been so misused, and as a new administration
is bestowing on Filipinos political offices, and giving them
opportunities, for which they are as yet utterly unprepared, thus
endangering the results of years of hard, patient, self-sacrificing
work performed by experienced and competent men, it becomes necessary
to strike home by revealing unpleasant facts which are of record
but have not heretofore been disclosed because of the injury to
reputations and the wounding of feelings which would result from their
publication. In doing this I feel that I am only discharging a duty to