Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-11-23
OUR PHILIPPINE PLAN.
AMERICAN EMIGRATION WOULD
SOLVE THE PROBLEM.


Mr. Edward p. North of New York, in a
recent letter to the American Economist,
writes inter, etinCly of the problem of civ
ilizauon ana Progress which This contry
row has to solve. In his letter he says in
part:
The question of our policy in the Phil
ippincs Is a serious one, and Is yet unde-
tcrminod All Anglo -maniacs and general
lv these like Solomon's lilies of the field,
proclaim that we should follow the col
onial example of Great Britain, and by
the insistcncc and Vchomence OF their de-
mund they have induced others to believe
they think We should. This advice. how
ever. will be Immediately taken with some
limitations. South Africa is not an in
stance Of conciliatoiy administration. Nor
are the economic results of british rule
in the West Indies encouraging. Any ref
creuCc to Canada and Australia in this
connection is manifostly unfit; hence our
attention must be directed to British IN
did
Colquhoun says C'Chna in Transforma-
ton'D of this question: mot only is 1t
the business of no one to preach the
truth, but it is the meter of many to
conceal it," The first English company
was chartered to trade with India in loN3,
but it was not until nearly twenty years
later that permanent lo1gment on its
shores was effected For nearly 4 century
gradually widening area. Cp to sixty
years ago "the wealth of India" was re-
garded as the ne plus ultra Of compact
son; now the word brings to mind poverty
and death by famine.
BRITISH CIVIL SERVICE.
After its first loot by the military. it
has been more Systematically and more
thoroughly looted by the burcauCrats Of
the British civil service. Neth@' the
teaching of the Christian religion nor #
the English language has been enCour-
aged, lest the natives should combine. All
manufacturing industry has been discour-
aged. Although in British india ana Cey-
lon there are POI 100000 inhabitants, they
have been kept from building over 22,5
miles of railroad, and much of this IS
strategic rather than commercial As
natter of comparison, Mexico, with 1850
coo inha bitants, has ZOO miles of railroad
1t will be seen that the Hindoos, to ne on
an equality with the McXi"ans, should
have over l1Io0D miles. Concurrcntly with
railroad building in Mexico wages have
been increased, the stlndacd Of living has
been elevated. disorder and brigandagc
suppressed and government strengthen d.
1t will not do, in the light of this example
and of the unexpected success of the ST.
berian road. to say that railroads are use
full only in developing Anglo-Saxon COM
muniti s.
The chief and almost only beneliciaries
of the British occupation of India are the
British appointces to Office there, who,
after some years of administration of the
affairs of a country in which their sole
pecuniary interest is their pay retire TO
England with n pension, paid out of In
dian revenues. If we cannot do better
with the Philippines than that we should
follow Atkinson's advice and get out.
But we will probably do better. Since
h., 1.,,, hot
conception Of religious freedom it has heen
established mat no one shall be burned
for lack of orthodox belief and the Jew
can profess his celgion without fear Of
molestation over nearly all the world. The
successful effort foi political freedom not
only preserved representative government
in Great britain, but extended II oveS'
most of Europe and both Americas on
establishing form of government our
immediate decision TO lay duties on goods,
wares and merchandise imported, has
steadily uplifted thu enumeration TOR la
Dor and the standaCd for living; SO that
Bryce was forced to admit that they
allow themselves Injuries such as the
masses enjoy in 10 other country and
produce an amount of wealth which is
not only greater, but more widely dinusod
through the population than in any other
Fart of the world"
AMERICAN WAGES
This henenceuce has not been confined
to ourselves. Our high wages have react
ed on those of Europe, increasing the
compensation for productive labor and
noticcably alevatirc the masses of those
countries from their poverty and degrade
ton. At the same time the Improvements
in machinery and administration. mostly
introduced by our well pai0 and we'll fed
operatives, have reduced the cost Of man
ufactures to every consumer in the civil
lized and somi-cvihzed world.
Put obscene descendants of these chief
contributors to the worlds progress and
welfare object to their pro2enitors, that in
seeking foS religious freedom they We're
ready to prosecute those who differed from
then; that while seeking political freed IN
they not only cnslaVed Africans, hut COM
bincd against the trade and commerce of
Great Britain; that in seeking Industrial
freedom they were aCtuated more by de-
sire for profit than for the welfare of
their employees. 1t is not proposed to con-
trovcrt assertions based on the internal
consciousness Of those who delight in
fouling their ancestral nests, but only to
point out the moral status of many, If not
most, opposers of our ASSUMING the full
responsibility cast upon US by the most
humane war ever Wagcd.
our mission to tho Philippines Is plainly
to give them the advantages of American
civilization; to give them abundant EN-
ployment at American wages, facilities
for cheap transportation, the English Ian
guage and American common schools. All
of this is simple enough II the operati or
is not bungled by our parasitic class
which will try to straddle the movement
to their own immediate advantage, the
sitting Of primary education and indus
trial progress in those islands, They vii
argue against any effort to improve The
coalition of the Philippines that an IN
crease of wealth to some Americans would
ensue, and the argument to that class vii
lie unanswerable.
GIVE LAND TO SETTLERS
But the great mass Of immigrants W.
have received have had their moral ant
physical condition dpliftcd and their minds
expanded by example fully as much as 10y
high wages. There seems but one way
by which an emigration to the Philippines
Of sufficient volume to effectively influence
public opinion there can be developed
THAT is by granting the unoccupied land'
to settlers of American citizenship. Sucf
a measure would probably draw on th'
heavily as on the enthusiasts energy o
the inhabitants of the Sunhower State
The combination would produce mission
aries with a Verlo mental and physical
equipment hitherto unknown
1t IL not probable that either their Chi
nesc or Hindoo n~ighborS would grow -
rich under their example as our reserVa
ton Indians have who propose increasing
the cost Of a license for marriage between
white men and sluaws to $1,000, TO pre-