American fury in the Philippines. XIX / Panay

Letter of Mr. Nelson is in the Boston Herald of August 25, 1902

...There is probably no island in the archipelago where it was used
oftener and with better effect than in Panay.... When General Hughes
began his vigorous campaign, Panay was one of the worst of the
islands: to-day it is one of the best.... And there seems to be no
doubt that these conditions are due to the stern measures adopted to
crush out guerilla warfare and ladronism. There was talk of
promiscuous burning in connection with General Smith. Let me tell you
what it really means when you can see it. The Eighteenth Regulars
marched from Iloilo in the south to Capiz in the north of Panay, under
orders to burn every town from which they were attacked. The result
was they left a strip of land sixty miles wide from one end of the
island to the other, over which the traditional crow could not have
flown without provisions. That is what burning means, and no more.