Upon the outbreak of trouble troops were hurried to Samar, and by December, 1904, according to Blount himself, there were some 1800 native soldiers on the island who were left free for active operations in the field by the garrisoning of various coast towns with sixteen companies of United States infantry. If the nature of the feuds between the Samar lowlanders and highlanders had then been better understood, the ensuing troubles, which were more or less continuous for nearly two years, might perhaps have been avoided. As soon as it became evident that the situation was such as to demand the use of the army it was employed to supplement the operations of the constabulary. About the time that trouble ended in Samar it began in Leyte. There was no real connection between the disorders in the two islands. No leader on either island is known to have communicated with any leader on the other; no fanatical follower ever left Samar for Leyte or Leyte for Samar so far as we are informed. For convenience of administration the two islands were grouped in a single command after the army was requested to take over the handling of the disturbances there, in coöperation with the constabulary. The trouble ended in 1907 and both islands have remained quiet ever since. The same causes would again produce the same results now or at any time in the future, and they would be then, as in the past, the outcome of the oppression of the weak by the strong and without other political significance. Under a good government they should never recur. Many circumstances which did not exist in 1902 and 1904 made it feasible to use the army in Samar and Leyte during 1905 and 1906. The high officers who had exercised such sweeping powers during the insurrection had meanwhile given way to other commanders. Indeed, a practically new Philippine army had come into existence. The policy of the insular government as to the treatment of individual Filipinos had been recognized and indorsed by Americans generally, but many of the objections to the use of the troops, including the heavy expense involved, still existed and I affirm without fear of successful contradiction that had it been possible to place in Samar and Leyte a number of constabulary soldiers equal to that of the scouts and American troops actually employed, disorder would have been terminated much more quickly and at very greatly less cost.