Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-11-13
SOME CORRECTIONS MADE.
Statements of the Anti-Tmperialists
Are COntrOverted.

Statements of the Anti-Imperialists
Are COntrOverted.
To the Editor of The Evening Star:
The recent manifesto of the local anti
imperialists," intended as an answer to the
report of the Philippine commission, con-
tains some statements which surprising
to those who have kept themselves in
formed as to our affairs in the orient.
Their indignant exclamation, Are these
(the insurgents) the people who were going
to loot Manila?'" only serves as a re-
minder that they attempted to loot and
burn that city on February 3D. 1899, and,
according to the statement of one of them,
to massacre it's European inhabitants as
wei Aguinaldo's attitude on that and
some other occasions has been specifically
and distinctly that of pirate, and if the
"anti-imperiasts' are determined to apoth-
eosiZe hlD as "a second George Washing
ton we may expect them to hail the Hon.
Dorsey Foultz as a third George Washing
ton.
Again, the effort to make 1t appear that
the assistance of the insurgents was essen
tial to our forces in the reduction OF Ma
Mia only serves to recall the evident fact
that Dewey could have taken the city alone
had he not preferred to avoid lombard
ment.
The assertion that 'any people, even the
weakest and most ignorant, can govern
themselves better than any other people
can pOssib e govern them has been dis
proved in India and many other countries.
ana its absurdity is palpable to readers of
history.
But most astonishing of all is the account
of the beginning of the insurrection given
IN attempting to show that we We're the
aSSreSSorS. The ants declare that "a Fill
Pine lieutenant carelessly strolled
across the line and was instantly shot and
killed by squad of the list Nebraska Regi
mcnt. without chal enge or parIey."
NOR Il T,,Jxv l,gn
Off tial, Associated Press and other reia
bic accounts of the incident. The Associated
Press dispatch published February last
is as follows: The clash came at $40 yes
terday evening, when three daring FilipinoS
darted past the Nebraska Regiments pick
cts ut Santa Mesa, but retired when chal-
leHged They repeated the experiment with
ont drawing the sentres. fire. But the third
time Corporal Gree challenged the Fill
pinoS and then fired, killing one of them
and wounding another
Only few days ago the writer heard
gentleman who has passed seventeen years
in the orient in responsible positions, and
who probably knows more about eastern af
fairs than any other American, describe
the proVocation Systematically employed
by the FllipinOS for weeks before the out
break to tempt our soldiers to attack them.
Swords We're. actually drawn across the
throats of some of our men. He said also
that when our sentries did fire rockets
went up from the Filipino front Ong
line of five miles. showing that the affair
was part of a precOncerted plan of attack.
1t appears, therefore, that the accounts
of the event in the published statements
from the most responsible and respectable
sources contradict the one embodied in the
anti-imperialist" declaration. Assuming
that the persons who signed ii did so in
good faith, they must have done 50 with
out having familiarZed themselves with
any of the numerous authentic accounts of
the occurrence or without having read the
paper which they signed.
hot. IpI,;
summed up in practical manner by the
statement that our retention Of the archi-
pelaeo viii! be best for the natives and
best for us.
1t is noteworthy fact that the critics
OF expansion are with scarcely an ex-
ceptiun people who know nothing from per
S0H2I experience of conditions in the far
cast The men who are there are practi-
caiiy una 1lmous in approving our present
pollcy. Such concurrence of the expert
opinion Of men exceptionally Intelligent and
prominent has seldom, if ever, been pre-
scented
Under our rule the Filipinos in certain
districts already enjoy, in the language of
the commission, "a degree Of participation
IN their own government previously I'M
known IN the Philippines" They have no
chance of civilization or ultimate indepeud-
encc without our helD.
H. IN the course of time, the FilipIn0s
become fitted for independence. no douht
we snail bestew it upon them, just as Eng
Great Britain if she wished; but probably If
that time comes they viii. prefer, like Can
ada' 10 perpetuate existing conditions In
any event this is a contingency too remote
10 concern the present generation
so FAR as the consent of the pOverned,,
Is concerned, 1t appears certain that more
or the tilipinos want our government than
are IN faE0r OF any other. Only minority
OF one tribe are partisans of AguinaldO,
ana requests for American protection
against the tyranny and extortiOn of the
agents Of his despotism are constantly
made by the natives
1t does not require an exhaustive knowl-
edge of the history Of the AngIo-Saxon
race tand that term is used here In it's
modern significance, which some of the
dhIl-eNerythlngs appear not to have caught
up With) to enable one to predict that our
nag VIII never come down in Luzon
The American people are always opnosed
10 crawl, and are not a nation of cutters
ana nag furlers. They know that wherever
the nag waves it is an assurance of the
greatest good to the greatest number and
marks another upward step in the march
OIL progress and in the fufillment of the
great purposes of God for the reclamation
OF the world. PATTI. WEPSTJgI1 L