The evening times., 1898-11-21
and delightful at night,

ysSs, pleasant breezes and clear
s.lAVith cuba. Porto Rico. the Hawaiian
Islands and Guam ours, IT seems as IL
the question OF imperialism, IL it be so
called. is already decided. Then t1e
question of the retention OF the Philip
pines by the United States becomes sim
ply one of specific advantage or disad-
vantage There are arguments on both
sides; which side has the preponder-
ance? Admiral Dewey sat on the quar-
terdeck of his flagship the other day
and exclaimed:
I'VE have taken an empire here-an
empirei"
1t is absolutely true. The Philippine
Islands form an empire whose possibiii-
ties are beyond the bounds OF computa-
tion. The surface has not even been
scratched. and already their commerce
amounts to hundreds Of millions The
soil is fertile beyond anything America
knows. and 1T is suited 10 almost every
crop. The manager of the Manila branch
of the Chartered Bank OF India, Aus ra-
liza and China said 10 me the other day
that in all his experience in these
islands he had never seen a failure of
any crop. Whatever was sown ttat was
reaped.
Only the faintest suggestion of devel-
opment of the islands resources has
been made. 1t has been the policy of
the Spanish TO prevent development.
Robbery and personal gain were TIE
only objects OF the Spanish officials.
Take the single instance of the building
of the breakwater and the pier OF the
mouth of the Pasig River. Work has
been going on at ii for two-Score years or
more. There were several special taxes
devoted ostensibly to the constructio Of
the pier. and the fund was increased by
percentage of the import duties, wharf
age dues in the river. lighthouse tax and
other imposts. Yet the pier Is hardly
begun.
When Gen. Whittier TOOK over the pub
lie treasury and examined the books, the
first thing he found was proof that Wey-
Ter lined his pockets well when he was
captain general of the Philippines. When
he left the islands he stole 2.50o.0OO pesos
from the treasury He gave 100000 pesos
to the judge who had jurisdiction of such
cases and 400 G0G 10 the treasurer and
other officials who were in position TO
make trouble for him. That shows one
limit of Spanish theft. Here is another:
The manager of one of the largest Eng
Iish business houses in Manila desired TO
build an clubhouse in his yard. IL was
necessary to get a permit One almost
Spanish rule here He went 10 the gov
ernor of the city and had to give a bribe
of 100 pesos before the permit could be
issued That besides the fee for the per-
nit
No wonder the resources of the islands
are not fully known. What is known OF
them, however. is enough 10 amaze one
Hemp. sugar, cofee-almost nothing done
with them now Thousands OF acres of
untouched Fertile valleys, wooded and
shaded, protected against winds. where
the rainfall IS tremendous and even, a
paradise for coffee growers, and the op-
portunity for no one to say what for
tunes. In the islands TO the south there
are forests of teak. ebony and mahogany
that have never been touched In the
floors of the commonest buildings in and
| around Manila one sees teak boards two
feet wide and twenty-five feet long. Ma
hoSany is used as we use pine MindorO
is covered with such wood. and only the
fringe of MindorO has been touched,
These things are just a suggestion Of the
possibilities.
Labor is plentiful. sure and cheap. one
hires a man for eight pesos a month. and
fifteen pesos is price never heard of I'M
til the Americans came here and began to
bull the market.
lie OlItF sue OF the question mas It's
strong arguments, too. Some of the ISL
ands are inhabited by savages whom the
Spanish never conquered The natives we
have seen about Manila are the best of the
whole lot. They have had the advan-
tages of two centuries and more of asso-
citation with such civilization as the Span
iards possess. They have had more
chance Of education than their fellows of
the remote provinces. Yet not even the
best of them are capable of self-govern-
ment. Aguinaldo himself falls short of
comprehension of the requirements. posi-
bilities and dangers of the institutions he
seeks TO found. Two hundred years of
free government by Americans, with free
schools and all that that implies, will not
fit these people for citizenship as we know
and understand it. y successful govern
ment of these islands by Americans must
be by Il modification of the English colo
NAL system. and that involves radical
departure from all We know. The con-
quering of the islands from the natives
will be a difficult and arduous task in
some cases, but we should have plenty of
time to do ii as we pleased, and results
would amply compensate.
Statistics of the business and commerce
of the islands. and Of the custom house
and internal revenue here, which will
come later. will bear oft all these things,
This is but the bareSt outline a mere sug-
gestion of what can be done with the Phil
ipplnes 1t is a knowledge of these things
| that makes Admiral Dewey hope that the
I islands will be held by US II was a
| glimpse of these possibilities that made
Gen Merritt say that never while he
| lived, if he could help it. should the Span
iards or the Filipinos control the Philip