The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1899-09-13

tobacco. corn, rice and hemp are among
its many products. There grow without
cultivation in prolific abundance the
cocoanut, the mango, the banana anu
hundreds OF varieties of natures cholc-
est fruits. in their uplands and among
their hills can be grown also the fruits
of the temperate zone. Gold and other
minerals await the discoverer's pick,
and coal, that agent of civilization,
only awaits to be developed. mex
haustible forests of the most magnln-
cent hard woods cover and adorn thelr
hills and mountains. Rivers and their
estuaries give cheap and convenient
access to all parts of the archipelago.
They are inhabited by tribes of the Ma
lay race, semi-civilized, but debauched,
degraded bv the rule to which they
have been subjected. Superstitious and
credulous, they have engrafted upon
their national characteristics the les
sons taught for hundreds of years by
an oppresSor's treachery. For three
hundred years these islands were the
undisputed property of the. crown OF
Spain. During all that time when Eu-
ropean nations were jealousy seeking
u NutlI COiOlldl HOoSOooAOhS oAN
were eagerly appropriating to them
selves. even at the risk of conflict with
their neighbors, portions of Egypt, Al
rica, India, China and of almost the
whole known world no one ventured
to infringe upon the rights of Spain
in this archipelago, so firm and stable
was her title. Here she ruled with
out comment, and without observation,
until one May morning Dewey rent as
sunder the veil of concealment and
brought Saxon civilization to their
shores. Why did not Dewey sail away,
after destroying the Spanish fleet?
We believe that no mortal man can
answer why-but we believe also that
his long and lonely vigil in Manila bay,
as he looked anXiously towards his ma
tive land. was but to carry out the
destiny of the American nation. Every
happening since then seems to confirm
this belief. and there seems to have
been laid upon this country a duty In
regard to the Philippines impossible to
escape Had we allowed Spain to re-
tain possession of the Philippines We
would have stultified every profession
we had made in the interest of hui
manity. Had we deprived her of pos
session and then abandoned the islands
the archipelago would have become a
derelict in the sea of civilization. Ii
able to have produced a universal war,
Had we thus abandoned them Aguin-
aldo and his savage followers would
have destroyed property, would have
butchered Spaniards and all foreigners
alike, and there would have been uni
versal anarchy. 1t was generally un-
| derstood that the loot of Manila was
| TO be the pay of Aguinaldo's army
| We would have incurred the censure OF
every civilized nation and in addition
would have become involved in the
| gravest international questions of re-
! sponsibility for loss of lives and prop
| erty. The great mass of the people are
untitled, and do not care for national
self government, If for no other reason
than the lessons taught them by Spain
and while with them liberty is now {
name to conjure by, yet by nature ant
education they are untitled to admin
lister its principles, and left to them
selves would have become a prey t
ambitious and designing powers.
SOVEREIGNTY OF THE UNION.
"Spain's title was undisputed b!
treaty that title passed to us, unim
peachable and unimpeached. Whel
our army was assailed in the Island o.
Luzon the sovereignty of our UnioI
itself was attacked and our flag was in
suited before the world. The attacl
was not made by the united inhabit
ants of the archipelago, or of the Isl
and of Luzon-it was made by a small
part of the people of the latter islant
residing in the seven provinces imme
diately surrounding the city of Manila
and known as the Tagalos tribe. Thi
tribe is fierce and warlike, and is OIL
friendly terms with scarcely anv othe
tribe in the whole country, and If thu
peacefully inclined inhabitants of tn,
Island of LuZon itself could be re
lieved of their fear of this tribe the!
would have no sympathy whateve
with this war for so-called indepen
dence. Although a constitution ha
been prepared and published to tn
world, yet in reality the war is no
war for independence, but rather
| lOI Etil dSSl dllulAt4 Atlit as
himself, who has been hailed by senti
mental Americans as the apostle o
liberty for his people, lived in kingll
state and splendor-his people wer,
taxed to keep up this magnificence an,
it was kept up until he was compele,
to take flight from Malolos. His gen
eral and associates maintained tn,
same pomD and parade and it was thii
barbaric splendor which the United
States was expected to support for tn,
benefit of the Filipino leaders
"The fact is. the Filipino leaders
did not believe that they could estab
lish and uphold a permanent govern
ment themselves, for prior to the out
break, when attempts at cancellation
were being made, when asked whethei
they wished the American army ant
navy to be taken away and they lef
to themselves they invariably answered
mo-" but that they wished protector
ate This word ''protectorate" seems
to have charms for many people il
America who do not understand ii
significance in the Philippines. Ac
cording to the Philippine construction
it meant that they should have sol,
control of the government and tn,
revenues theTefrom; that the army ant
navy of the United States should ac
as a police force under their direction