The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1898-08-12
What's to Be Done with the Phil
ippineS?

ing asked by the same class OF states
men ~ who are ready to revile the
Cubans and Aguinaldo and his faithful
followers, who, without arms and NUM-
tons of war have for the sake of liberty
taken their lives in their hands and
fought the bloodthirsty Spaniards for gen
erations and who knew that capture
meant death by being shot without a
trial.
The plain common sense answer to
this question is, give to the people what
they have so heroicly fought for, freedom !
Insure to them the enjoyment of the
fruits of their own toll This fundamental
principal in government will make friends
aud allies of the widest people on earth.
Freedom to enjoy the fruits of their own
labor is the key note of popular, demo-
cratic or republican form of government.
These words have one and the same mean
ing, and that meaning the enjoyment of
the fruits of their toll by the toilers.
With this hope before them like star of
Bethlehem the people of Cuba, of Porto
Rico, of the Ladrone and the Philippine
Islands, run to meet and welcome the
American troops with vivas. To the ends
of the earth and the islands of the sea the
inhabitants seem to have heard of the
great American republic, and that its
name meant freedom to the down trod-
den, and that the coming of its conquer
ing armies meant, not conquest and SUBJ
jugation, but freedom and breaking the
chains of the oppressed.
To talk of letting any of these people
go back into the hands of their oppressors
and the oppressors of their ancestors for
generations, would be as heartless, as
cruel and criminal as the strong man
kicking from him a drowning child. To
insure the friendship and support of all of
those new peoples is but to insure them
liberty and the enjoyment of what their
hands produce That is their hope and
the answer why they hail and hoist the
American flag. They will need no stand
ing army to hold them in subsection,
merely police army to insure order and
keep the turbulent from infringing on the
rights of others. These people of a
strange language and strange blood want
to come and enjoy safety under the ma
tional flag
The mission of this nation is RESPONSE
bility which it cannot shirk and last.
That mission is to spread light and liberty
where ever fate or fortune plants its flag.
The liberty Of the citizen and not the ser
vitude of the subject is the dividing line
which separates the policy which must
mark the course of the United States dis
tinct from that of all other governments
on the face Of the earth. This is the in
which the lowly of all lands
place upon our institutions. Hence their
running to meet the approach of our in
vading armies i'll place of fleeing from
them. We owe it to those people to in
struct them in their blind ignorance,
which is the heritage of centuries of op-
preston by the Spaniard, to bear with
them till they learn that order and obed-
fence to law is essential to their liberty
and future material prosperity. When
they are assured that they shall enjoy the
fruits of their own labor government will
be scarcely more than form. Not to
bind but to loosen is the mission of this
government where ever her flag floats.
This is the belief Of the worlds down
trodden and the strength of this nation
which has so surprised the monarchies of
the old world.
This Spanish war has imposed new re-
sponsibilities on the American people,
who personate the nation, which but
few had before contemplated
and many now draw back from. The
and aristocracy, the mobiles"
Of the Old World are waiting and watch
ing with no little concern to see what the
effect of the spread of American institu.
tons will have upon the world, now they
have, i'll spite Of us, burst from the mar
row bounds we have striven so hard to
confne them within. And they fear the
spread of the spirit of American liberty
among other peoples as torch applied to
material.
To set the people free, to instruct them
N the ways of self government, to make
hem realize they have a right to enjoy
he fruits of their own labor is the task
imposed upon us. 1t seems very simple
one, and the people are all too anxious to
earn. They are looking to the United
States as their protector from tyranny, and
lot on them as conqueror, but a wiser
md stronger brother. If this nation is
rue to itself in being true to the new peo-
oles, the difficulty will be in future not
n extending the bounds of empire but in |
preventing other peoples from extending
hem by striving for admission.
When other peoples and races, whose |
yes are all fixed upon us, realize that it |
5 not our mission to ensiave and rob |
hem as the British and continental ma.
ions have done, there is likely to be such |
turning over amongst old nations as the
world has never witnessed. The renotest |
'orners of the earth are now linked TO. |
sether by the winged mercury of the sky.
What transpires today that is worth
showing is known by all nations tomor-
ow. The fires of freedom which the
Western republic lights among the Ma
avs Ill the Philippines will be a beacon
which all Asia will see In truth tl,a,, o-a