Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1899-11-10
What Shall We Do With the
Philippines.
BY JOHN SHERMAN

BY JOHN SHERMAN.
| am opposed to the idea of this
country holding the Philippines
and subjugating the natives. | do
not believe we have any business
in the islands. The Filipinos are
people superior to any other Ma
lay race. They have a literature
and tine~arts distinctive and almost
national in character; they are en-
inently capable of governing them.
selves, and they are splendid fight
ers. They have been misrepre-
sented to the American people.
Many of us have be N led to b.
lieve that Aguinaldo's followers
were a horde of unorganizcd say.
ages. That the contrary is true
has now been established to the
satisfaction of fair minded Amcri-
cans.
While the country was fired with
he expansion idea l was criticised
Tor my stand against policy of
conquest in the Philippines.
we have no right to cede the is
lands to another power, because
they do not belong to lis. I am
speaking now of our moral right to
do these things. We have not
even the right to claim the islands
by conquest, because we have not
conquered them. We drove the
Spaniards from the Philippines
Just as we did from Cuba, and
have no more right to claim one
than the other. And the Filipino,
aided us to overthrow and tumble
ove' SPANS Eastern empire.
Dewey can tell you how Aguinal
dos men fought by the side of ours
and helped us to win our victories
And now we send large army
there to subjugate tho natives
the rightful owners of the islands.
Already we have spent upward of
Sl6O,O00, ,OOO-and for whati
In the first place it would be i'm.
possible for us to govern the Fill
pinos according to our standards.
They have their own customs and
habits, their distinctive ethical
and civil laws, and have no synipa. @.
tines III common with the Anglo
Saxon. 1t will be impossible for
us to hold these people in subiec.
tion without large armies there
entalllng an enormous expenditure
OF money, far in excess of any com.
mercial profits we may hope to de-
rive from possession of the arcbi-
pelago. My idea is that we should
withdraw our troops, gradually or
at once, and turn the islands over
to the natives. Instead of send
ing soldiers let us send statesmen
to the Philippines, men who can
assist the islanders to establish n
substantial republican government
with which we can easily secure
trade treaties that will give us all
the privileges and profits of posses.
sion without the responsibilities
thereof 1t might be we'll for this
country to hold naval station in
the island of Luzon, but Aguinaldo
Is willing to give us that. He
would very willingly form a close,
friendly alliance with this country
and concede every reasonable priv
ilege we might ask for.
L cannot see why we shonld 90
to the opposite side of the world TO
acquire territory by conquest, with
the added danger Of involving
ourselves in the meshes of Europe,s
lust for Eastern land. | believe
public sentiment is undergoing a
rapid change, and that the Filipi-
nos are to be regarded as a people
entitled to all the rights of civil
lllzed nation. This country has
never before undertaken q job of
conquest. 1t is contrary to our ma.
tional principles and is destined to
prove disastrous. Conquest was
SPANS habit. Are we to begin it