Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1898-12-02
FRIDAY, DECEMBER ?, 1898.
HE PHlLIPPlNE QUESTION.

Under Spirit of the Press we publish a
second article from the Manchester On.
H. Mirror and Farmer, forcibly pre-
senting the difficulties and objections to
any permanent occupancy by the United
States of the Philippine Islands. The
following remarks upon the same sub
iect from ex-senator Edmunds are both
timely and forcible:
"An open door," said ex-senator George F.
Edmunds to a Philadelphia Ledger repre-
sentative, 'is Colonial Secretary Chamber
lain's expression, used in his speeches in
connection with the occupation of Manchuria
by the Russians. 1t means free trade, an
open port for everybody on equal terms.
That is what the open door meant and still
means to other nations. Our administration
according to newspaper report, in swapping
up that phrase, does not mean that, but other
nations viii suppose it does. l think what
the government means by it is TN, we are
going to give equal rights to all nations, sub
ject to the same tariff. port dues and narbor
dues in regar to commerce as exists in the
United States, or may exist from time to
time. 1t viii get into II muss about that in u
little while.
"If everybody is admitted on equal terms
with the Philippines, the British will contin
ne to have the bulk of the trade there until
we can help our shipping and exporting in
terests which are perfectly identical, each
for itself, of course, but each exists on ac-
count of the other, and cannot exist without
If we take the islands-which l hope in all
conscience we shall not, because against the
will of the people, that citizens swear so
much by-it would be a crime against them,
unless we are going to make proselytes of
them by force and arms, like the NIahome
dams The only advantage we should have
would be one which has good deal of force
If it is well carried out, and that is by en-
couraging our shipping interests, and by en-
couraging GU exporters and manufacturers
to establish agencies, which are much more
easily established, it must be admitted, under
the flag of a home power than under one
that is not.
"That is the only argument upon which the
acquisition of the Philippines, of those
islands which have any size or commerce,
can be advanced. | do not say 'mantained,'
for 1t cannot be maintained. There are some
considerations III favor of our taking the
islands, but the balance are enormously
against it. The expenditure of treasure to
take care of the island and the difficulty of
civil administration, and the tremendous at
tacks upon the health of our soldiers and
sailors as well as upon our civil officers far
outweigh any commercial advantages of any
kind that we could get ont Of the mere cir
cumstance that they are under our flag.
"When people say that the British have
done much In India, ii is true; they have
done it but it has taken POO years to accom-
plish it, and they govern there now by force,
and force alone. Their civilians and soldiers
have to be sent into the mountains which are,
some of them, near at hand, in order to keep
them alive at all. And that is precisely the
trouble in these tropical islands, that every
year or two, or three, our soldiers and our
civilians must leave these islands and go to
some cool, temperate zone to recuperate.
The idea OF shipping off, say TO n Chinese or
Japanese port, or into any foreign country,
few soldiers to spend three months to get
well, and then sending them back, and the
next summer shipping others that had not
gone before, thousands of miles and back
again in order to make our case similar to
the British case in India, would, to anybody
who has not political typhoid fever, be
considered preposterous.
"Regarding the enlistment of native troops,
as long as the natives are satisfied with their
officers, who must be white men, they might
do very well in fighting against such of their
neighbors and brothers as they were in
strained relations with before but they
could not be trusted to do anything more.
That is obvious enough in my opinion. The
Malays, under proper officers, would make
good, brave soldiers. The only drawback as
TO them is that they are innately treacherous