The times., 1898-12-18
The Future of the philippines.


The people of this country regard Ad-
miral Dewey as the most conspicuous
figure among our fighting men of the war
with Spain. In his mastery attack on
the Spanish ships. which he planned at
Hongkong, he demonstrated not only
degree of personal indifference to danger
that places him by the SIDE of the IA
nous brave of history, but all the quail
ties of great naval commander He
was fortunate in being beyond the reach
of interference by the Board of Strategy,
in which the views of the most com e.
tent expert were ignored by an untrain-
ed civilian. Later, in many ways he re-
vealed the best characteristics of a lcng
headed diplomat. 1t was not merely his
familiarity with the usages of the world,
but also his original conception of his i'm
mediate duties in peculiar crisis where
there were no precedents to guide him,
that won for him a measure of popular
and official confidence such as no man in
his generation enjoys. He stands alone.
because there is no room to doub. or dis
pute his possession of a prompt and ac-
curate judgment based on habits of c.ose
observation. Therefore anything that
Admiral Dewey says, directly and with
conviction, is accepted as conclusive.
IL is this that makes his message as to
his ability to hold the Philippines against
all possible foreign foes peculiarly CRATE
ful. 1t is timely. One of the contentious
of the un-American few is that the own
ership of these islands opens the door to
foreign entanglements from which we
have been happily free. The affirmation
of Admiral Dewey shows that it is still
entirely in our power to remain at peace,
as We choose which was the only merit
of the old doctrine of provincialism If an
enemy cannot wrest from us these islands
We are not to be drawn into wars unless
we like. The only danger was that the
temptation to stir up domestic revolt and
capture the Philippines might appeal TO
a foreign power. What Dewey says the
world can believe, and our possession will
remain unchallenged. Against foreign
foes We need incur no more expense, even
in time of war. to hold our own than we
have to bear now.
Not less gratifying and of more imme-
diate concern and also fatal to the hopes
of the un-American few who will die of
disappointment if the Filipinos do not re-
bel, is the assurance that the people are
we'll disposed toward American adminis-
tration. There is practical proof that we
have nothing to fear in the fact that
while they talk of insubordination the
insurgents are really giving up the Span
ish prisoners in their hands. An ambi-
tous few, who are selfish and hope to he
bought off, preach independence of Amer
lea, but the great body of the people of
all classes will welcome our rule The
Presidents proclamation, we may infer
from the message of Admiral Dewey. will
remove the last traces of fear and iIl-will
so carefully fostered by the Spaniards
and perhaps by grasping capitalists who
could hope to buy from a strictly local
government, or achieve by bribery. priv
ileSes which they could not hope to OH
tain from the Americans without a proper
payment into the treasury of the gov
ernment.
Still another encouraging thing is Ad
miral Dewey's promotion of the scheme
unteers will remain in the Philippines
after their discharge from the army. to
enter into business. They are young men
of strong constitution; they are now vir-
tually acclimated. and they are full of
enterprise and ambition. They can draw
unlimited capital from this country.
where SO many millions seek investment
that the rate of interest has reached an
unprecedentedly low point, as indicated in
the recent reduction by the savings
banks. These are the young men of all
others-men who love their country so
well as to offer their lives for tito in
infuse the spirit of Americanism into the
colonial life. The natural resources of
the Islands are unparalleled and untouch-
ed by modern methods. Other thousands
from the American States will join these
young men. and in twenty years the Phil
ippines will be full century ahead of