El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-10-19
Philippine Problem
New Eng1dnd's Utopian Plan
of Liberty.
Wriffan Tor thu HERALD

Written for the HERALD.

IL Written for the HERALD. 3
In the treatment of the Philippine
problem, the people of New England
| have fallen into the same error which
they com mitted in respect to the Afri-
can negroes in the south. This error
lie the result of ignorance, of natural
| conditions, and of working upon
theoretic rather than actual conditions.
Their premises were based upon mere
| assumptions,-not upon legitimate
facts, and their conclusions are neces-
sarily false and misleading. The fact
is-they were, and are, densely ignor-
ant of the real condition of the negro
in the south both before and since
the war between the states. And here
error which has delayed real progress
in the settlement of the negro problem
for hundred years,-ignOrance of
fthe true status of the negro.
The fatal defect in the New Eng
land "Plau of Salvation" Of alien races
is due their illogical attempt to create
an equilibrium between the white and
black races, Such an attempt is not
only irrational. and supremely absurd,
but is utterly impossible. To accom-
plish this result we must either bring
i the whites down to the level of the
blacks,-which would involve q pro-
cess of degradation, and this Is just
what the laws against miscegenation.in
| the south are Intended to prevent, or
to bring the blacks up to the social
level of the whites, task as difficult
as the reversal of the course of the
solar system.
The New England misconception OF
the character of the negro is due to the
fact that they take the negroes who
have been reared In the North as re-
representatives. of the negroes of the
| south. The negroes in the north are
surrounded by and dominated socially,
by White people; they acquire an emu
lative spirit; they are reared under
better conditions, incident to greater
wealth; they live under radically diff
ferent climatic and physical condi-
lions. In fact the envirOns of the ne
groes in the north and in the south are
ditions being different, the products
must necessary be dissimilsr. Oppor-
tunities for education in the north are
far superior to those in the south.
| Yet education will not change the 60
cial status of the negro. We must go
to the root of the racial tree to effect
that change. The south is accused of
denying to the negro the benefits OF an
education. But this Is false. In the
time OF slavery this matter was. of
course looked at in q different light.
An educated negro was dangerous
slave; an ignorant freedman is q dan
gerous citizen. The people of the
sonth are in favor of the education OF
the negroes, but they deny the efficacy
of this privilege in changing the social
status of the colored people. They
deny that colored people,-however.
we'll educated, are fit to exercise the
rights of the majority. when white
people must be governed by q majority
composed of cOlored men.
Now the people of New Eugland,-
acting upon the same false assump-
tions which misled them in respect to
the southern negroes, have jumped to
the conclusion that the Filipiuos must
be of the same character as people of
the AnglO-SaxsOn races,-fully
capable of forming government. and
establishing An independent sovereign
ty at once. Acting upon the theory
that the "Majority'' must rule, they
contend that the wild and untutored
hslf-breeds, swarming like heas
from the swamps and jungles
of the islands. should be
tion of the affairs of the archipelago,
may be, as in many cases of like con-
ditions in the south, Intelligent, re-
fined people, may have to "bite the
dust" under the domination of ignO-
rant natives. just as the New England
people commended that tie negroes of
the south, -paper-made citizens, as
they were, should be accorded all the
rights of a majority in the conduct of
public affairs, so now they contend
that the upper classes of the Philip
cines,-the people of Intelligence,
property, and high social status, should
be placed Unfortunately under the
rule of the roaring savages Of the is
lands regardless of consequences. But
there are we'll defined Limitations when
this rule cannot be applied either with
justice or equity. Such an occasion
arose in the south after the war; such
an occasion has arisen in the Philip
pines. Circumstances alter cases
Facts must be permitted to govern the
application political as we'll as legal of
principles.
What the people of New England
demand is, that our government shall
withdraw from the Philippines, and
permit the half-breeds, the lower
classes of the islands,-to attempt to
bring the better classes of the country
under domination, of the ignorant low
err classes under the specious plea Of
''majority'' rule. The followers OF
Aguinsldo stand In relation to the
upper classes in the islands just as the
ex-slaves did to the white people of
the south at the close of the war. So
that, an attempt to place the upper
classes in the Philippines under the
domination OF men of the Aguiualdo