Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1899-09-28

of development and of public works
should be entered upon, and the Fill.
pinos be taught that though civilized
government has many irksome re-
straints. it pays on the whole to have it
established When that point of under
standing had been reached the Ameri
cans would be able to give the Filipinos
such an amount of local autonomy as
they might think desirable.
We shall, of course, be told by pessi-
unsteady inclined Americans that our
Philippine programme is all very fine,
but it would break down because it is
not possible to find an American with
the experience necessary for q success.
full governor-gen The kind of man
required, we shall be told, does not
exist, and cannot be created. To which
we beg leave to reply that the kind of
man required does exist, though now
in the raw, and that his development
will afford no great difficulty. We do
not know whether Col. Roosevelt can
be spared from Albany, but if the
governor of the State of New York
could be given the appointment of
governor general of the Philippines,
we have not tho slightest doubt that
in couple of months he would have
"caught on'' to his work, and that
| in years time, or less, he would
have prepared all the instruments,
military and civil, necessary for com
pIete settlement of the islands. But
| Col. Roosevelt Is by no means the only
man of his kind In the United States.
There are plenty of a similar kind.
Even if civilians are excluded, there
are at least half dozen men in the
navy, and another half-dozen in the
army, who would do the work admir-
ably. Admiral Dewey, for example,
would, of course, be an ideal governor
general, but in all probability the Navy
Department would deem it impossible
to surrender one of their most brilliant
commanders. Questions of actual men
are, however, for discussion in America,
not in London. All we want to insist
on is that America can perfectly well
produce the right stamp of man, and
| that he can do the work as we'll as
any Anglo Indian, provided he is given
a fair chance, and allowed and in.
structed to work under proper con.
ditions. We may recapitulate what we
believe those conditions to be: 1)
There must be no attempt to hurry
matters, or to get things rushed through
by the use of a vast army of white
troops. t2) A governor general with
absolute powers and free hand must
be appointed. ~ The work of con,
quest must be deliberately prepared
for, and a military force suitable tt
the duties in hand organized. az Ar
efficient native army must be raised
and differed by Americans. (5) The
conquest must be accomplished bit by
bit, and care taken that capable civi
administrators shall follow close on the
conquering troops. t6) Last, and per.
haps most important of all, the Fill
pinos must be taught that the Ameri
cans have come to stay, and that thu
permanence of American government
is the central and essential element il
the situation. All this, we admit
sounds almost foolishly simple ant
elementary when set forth gravely a
advice to the American people. w
can only excuse our temerity, to our
selves, by remembering that it is thu
simplest things which are most Otter
forgotten in an emergency, and that ;
man making new departure or in ;
moment of difficulty generally ignores
in practice the facts which he know
quite we'll in theory.