The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-10-30
Looking Backward.

favor of Mr.. McKinley's Phil
ippine policy. about the weak
est and most senseless is the one
based upon the supposed inferior
character Of Aguinaldo. Even the
president of the United States actual
ly seems to think that by casting
doubt upon Agunaldo's personal integ-
rity, he demonstrates the right of the
United States to do just as it pleases
with the Filipino people.
With as much propriety it might have
been claimed Iy the English during the
revolutionary war that because Bene-
dict Arnold proved false-hearted
traitor. therefore the American people
We're unfit for self-government and We're
entitled to none of the natural, I'M
alienable rights of man.
AS the Standard has repeatedly point
ed out, the rights of the Filipinos can
not be determined by reference to the
personal character of their leader, and
the use Of such a plea shows the alb
sence of any real argument. But this
claim becomes the weaker and more
that it was never even thought of while
Aguinaldo was fighting the Spaniards.
Then he was General Aguinaldo," a
patriot born soldier and nat
ural leader CT men," But the moment
! he ventured to assert any rights for
the Filipinos against the United States.
he became an "upstart," rebel a
ssI, tt,,;t,o +,1y oIxr5
| and in mo sense the leader of the Fill
pinos.''
| We all of us know what is being
said about Aguinaldo now. What was
| said about him in the early days Of
! his operations in the Philippines may
have slipped the memory of great
many, but fortunately the official rec
ords have been preserved. On the 18th
day of May, 1898, Aguinaldo landed in
Luzon from the United States steamer
| McCulIoch, having gone at the express
request of Admiral Dewey to organize
the natives.
On June End, E. Spencer Pratt, United
States Consul General at Singapore,
wrote to Secretary Day as follows:
Sir: Now considering the en-
thusiastic manner General Aguinaldo
has been received by the natives and
the confidence with which he already
appears to have inspired Admiral Dew
ey, it will be admitted, I think, that I
did not overrate his Importance and that
l have materially assisted the cause
of the United States in the Philippines
in securing his cooperation. Why this
cooperation could not have been Sc
| cured to US during the months General
Aguinaldo remained awaiting events
in Hong Kong, and that he was allowed
to leave there without having been APP
preached in the interest of our govern
ment, / cannot understand. No close
observer of what had transpired in the
Philippines during the past four years
could have failed to recognize that
General Aguinaldo enjoyed above all
others the respect and confidence of
the Filipino insurgents, and the respect
alike of Spaniards and foreigners in the
islands, all of whom vouched for his
high sense of justice and honor.
Signed, E. SPENCER PRATT.
United States Consul General"
This was considerable time after
the alleged acceptance of bride by
Aguinaldo from the Spaniards. In the
short letter quoted, Consul General
Pratt speaks of the confidence with
which Aguinaldo appeared to have in
spired Dewey, of the respect and con-
fidence which he enjoyed at the hands
of all classes in the Philippines, and
he calls Aguinaldo general no less
than three times. All of this, of course,
does not prove that Aguinaldo is q
Washington, but it does at least tend
to prove that he is not an "upstart" OF
a nobody" In dealing with this ques-
ton nothing is to be gained by treat
ing the Filipino leader unfairly.