Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-09-29


REQUIRES THE MOST DELL
CATE CONSIDERATION AND
HANDLING -THE OBJECTS TO
BE SECURED BY AMERICAN
GOVERNMENT OF THE IS
LANDS.
ITHACA, N. Y, September 2S.-Pres-
ident Jacob G. Schurman, in his adj
dress at the opening of the scholastic
year of Cornell University to-day,
spoke at considerable length on the
question of National Expansion" Mr..
Schurman was President of the Com
mission sent to the Philippine Islands
to investigate the subject of the civil
government of the archipelago, At
the outset Mr.. Schurman referred to
the address of last year when he an
swered negatively the inquiry, Shall
We Take The Philippine Islands From
Spain?" His opinions, he said, brought
upon him no little condemnation, but
the rapid march of events rendered it
unnecessary to consider whether these
opinions were sound or not The
treaty-making power of the United
States, backed, he admitted, by. an
overwhelming public opinion irrespec-
tive of party, took the Philippine Is
lands from Spain. Some people were
still discussing the theoretic expediency
of expansion. This had not been an
open question since last winter. The
only question to-day open was this:
"The United States having, taken the
Philippine Islands from Spain, what
shall be done with them?'
This grave issue must be decided by
the President and Congress. With
them he thought it could be left, in
the confident expectation that wise
solution would be reached. He invited
attention to some observations on the
general subject Of national expansion.
A difference between the expansion
of the United States and that of Great
Britain comes prominently into view
when our States were compared with
dependencies like India. The popula-
ton of the United States was homo
genous. that of India indiscribably he
terogeneous. The Americans ruled
themselves whether in New York or
Oregon: the alien and multitudinous
y races of India could be held together
Dnly by strong foreign hand Ameri-
ca had grown from within outward.
England had enlarged herself by &C
rretion. Our assumption of sovereign
ty over the Philippine Islands was al
together unlike the previous phases OF
our national expansion. He pointed
out that whereas in the development
of the United States from Atlantic to
Pacific, practically uninhabited terri
lands were already well peopled with
Malayans who had long made it their
home, who resented the intrusion of
of the races and to whom the physical
environment was far better adapted
than 1t was to white men.
There are those who speak of the
Philippine Islands as our possessions
and calmly conclude we may do what
we please with them. This was too
barbarous to be taken seriously; it was
mot callousness of heart it was only
muddle-headedness The terms town-.
ership' and possession" were a bar
barous survival when applied to any
relation between our people and an
other. The sovereign power owned
nothing, but there was something 1t
owed. It was charged with the respon-
sfaility of government. Our relations
with the Philippines would be mlsrep-
resented so long as we retained that
fatal confusion of government and
property.
Continuing. Mr.. Schurman said:
We simply possess, in virtue of the
treaty of Paris, the right to govern or
aid in governing the people of the Phil
appine Islands. Unhappily we have
not yet got beyond the first function of
9oyernmeDt--the suppression of insur-