“How long would it take a regiment of Filipinos to catch an American outlaw in the United States?  Impossible!”

Another army officer said:—­

“Catching Filipino outlaws with the Army is like catching a flea in a twenty-acre field with a traction engine.”

There is perhaps nothing so demoralizing to regular troops as employment on police duty which requires them to work singly or in small squads.  Discipline speedily goes to the dogs and instruction becomes impossible.

Successful prosecution of the work of chasing ladrones in the Philippines requires a thorough knowledge of local topography and of local native dialects.  Spanish is of use, but only in dealing with educated Filipinos.  A knowledge of the Filipino himself; of his habits of thought; of his attitude toward the white man; and toward the illustrado, or educated man, of his own race; ability to enter a town and speedily to determine the relative importance of its leading citizens, finally centring on the one man, always to be found, who runs it, whether he holds political office or not, and also to enlist the sympathy and cooeperation of its people; all of these things are essential to the successful handling of brigandage in the Philippines, whether such brigandage has, or lacks, political significance.

The following parallel will make clear some of the reasons why it was determined to use constabulary instead of American soldiers in policing the Philippines from the time the insurrection officially ended:—­

United States Army Philippine Constabulary

Soldier costs per annum $1400.  Soldier costs per annum $363.50. 
(Authority:  Adjutant General
Heistand in 1910.)

American soldiers come from Constabulary soldiers are
America. enlisted in the province
                                    where they are to serve.

Few American soldiers speak         All constabulary soldiers
the local dialects.                 speak local dialects.

Few American soldiers speak         All educated constabulary
any Spanish.                        soldiers speak Spanish.

American soldiers usually have Constabulary soldiers, native to

but a slight knowledge of local the country, know the geography geography and topography. and topography of their respective
                                    provinces.

Few American soldiers have had      The Filipino soldier certainly
enough contact with Filipinos       knows his own kind better than
to understand them.                 the American does.

The American soldier uses a The constabulary soldier is ration of certain fixed components rationed in cash and buys the imported over sea. (A ration is food of the country where he the day’s allowance of food for happens to be. one soldier.)