The record-union., 1898-08-26

calm belief, that the brOadened scope
of our influence among the nations OF
earth by reason of retention, will COM
pensate for all the cost and difficulty
we may encounter in the task of hold
ing and shaping these Oriental islands.
We believe that irresistible destiny
pushes us ON to such retention, and
that the increased dexpenditure of public
funds, inseparable from that policy, will
be compensated by the beneficent re-
suits not only to ourselves in teaching
us how to govern at home better, by
governing well abroad, but to our new
wards
We are unwilling to confess the in
capacity of the American to govern
colonies. Our intellectual and political
character forbid that we should dis
trust our ability to do SO. No ext
gency has arisen in our history as yet
that we have not successfully met
What reason have we to fear that
there ever will arise conditions we will
not be capable of handling? The war
under which the present condition of
things came about was assuredly not
an "imperia1istic'' war. It had it's ORR
gin in the loftiest of human senti-
ments; it's prompting came from the
heart advised wisely by the head
How, then, can it be said that 1t Is
"imperia1ism,p to consider how we
should manage and control the pos
sessions which came to us as the le-
gitimate forfeits Of the enemy? VIII
we be less "imperialistic" if we return
these islands to the cruel, incapable
and debasing domination of Spain?
Imperialism, conquest and colonial
system had no place in our thought OF
the war at its outbreak. 1t was not
greed in any sense that prompted us;
it cannot be charged as an after
thought, since the possessions came un-
der our flag by act Of war justified be-
fore all the world. The only fear, then,
which we should entertain, and that
the possible danger that we may lose
our heads in the new atmosphere into
which we project American importance.
But on the other hand, responsibility
is going to steady us. We are not
manifesting any disposition whatever
to make these possessions the stamp
ing grounds for gross and sordid poll
ticians. The thought Of the people is
that we should have a colonial SER
vice which will not be subject to par
tisan manipulation. We are to develop
men fit for administering trust in our
colonies, and this will be begun by es-
tablishing quasi school of colonial SER
vice with high standards Of fitness and
capacity.
It is conceded that our system would
be Of benefit to the peoples Of the island
territories, but doubt is expressed as
to their free and cordial acceptance of
that system. That will not be imme-
diate. No one expects the leopard to at
once change his spots. Growth and
slow progression will be the order, and
they will bring these people closer to
our beneficence year by year, until
there will be complete or practically
complete and joyful acquiescence in the
new order Of things social and political
Men never yet have refused to be lifted
up. History gives US no instance of
peoples rejecting betterments when
once they were made Intellectually able
to comprehend them.
We believe these island people in the
Orient can be lifted up, not swiftly nor
Immediately, but slowly and surely, and
that as they are convicted of the truth
that we come as friends, not as foes,
to aid and kindly serve, rather than to
oppress and enslave, that they will
awaken to new conceptions Of the pur-
poses Of life, and that their eyes will
open to the possibilities Of religious and
civil liberty. Superior efficient civili-
zation has never yet failed to impress
itself successfully upon an inferior CIV
| ilization, except where the former went
with the torch and the sword. rather
than the plow and the school book.