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 cooeperation 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.
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