ortunity to report such frauds. If he wrote to the
department commander to report anything without the permission of his
immediate commander he would be court martialed. And of course an
officer guilty of such conduct was not generous enough to permit a
private to report his conduct to a superior officer, and thus the
privates were ill treated by some unscrupulous officers.

The hardships of the service were greatly increased or diminished
according to the honesty and unrightness of the officers in command. A
private is only a tool in the hands of his officers, and can be managed
just as they please as long as the private remains in the service. I
always thought it better to obey all orders, agreeable or disagreeable,
and serve out my time of enlistment and get a good discharge, and then
be free and independent. I enlisted merely to get the experience of army
life, and to know just what the service really is. I found out to my
satisfaction all about the army that I cared to know. The army is all
right when its officers are all right. But many of them fall far short
of the standard--officers who will not give a private justice as he
should.

A few soldiers deserted the army. I cannot blame a man much for it. Some
had good cause. But to desert the army in the Philippines and attempt to
get away from the islands is almost impossible. Any one leaving there
must have a passport to present when they attempt to go on board any
vessel, and then if the passports are not properly executed they cannot
go on board.

I know of a few soldiers trying to get away, but the farthest point they
reached was Hong Kong. They would be caught very easily.

The one who reached Hong Kong was apprehended by English officers and
returned to Manila and delivered to the American authorities.

One man who enlisted in Manila was discovered to be a spy for the
Filipinos, securing all the information possible for the advantage of
the Filipinos, and conveying it to them at every opportunity. This spy
had gone with a company to which he was assigned, to Bungio for duty.
While at Bungio he induced two other soldiers to desert their company
and go with him to the Filipinos, promising each a commission in the
Filipino army. He was an officer in the Filipino army, and a very
dangerous man, resorting to all kinds of schemes and treachery to
accomplish his purposes. Having pursuaded two soldiers to go with him
they seized a small Morro boat, and with their