Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1899-09-20
TO SHlRK is COWARDLY
Df. Washington GLADDEN. on
the Philippines.
NO REPUBLIC TO RECOGNIZE,

AguInaIdo Only a Dictator, who Holds
what Authority He Possesses by Force
and Tricksry and Not by the Consent
Of His Tribe--Only Repr esents About
One-Eighth OF the Filipinos.
DR.. Washington GLADDEN. of Column
bus is widely known as one of the
most scholarly and eminent men in the
Congregational church. No mans
judgment is more revered in Columbus
than his, and nobody can charge him
with misstating facts for any partisan
purpose In an able lecture, Sunday,
Sept. 8. upon the Philippine question
Dr. GLADDEN. presented the following
cogent facts as the result of his thor
ough study OF the subject:
ut must also be remembered that
the revolutionary governmento of Aguin-
aldo does not pretendto to represent more
than a small minority of the people in
the Philippines. Out of a population
of 100000 or 100OO,000 of people, not
more than 100000 have in any way
signified their adherence to him. The
insurrection is nearly if not wholly
confined to the tribe of Tagals.
There has been no government in
the Philippines which had the faintest
resemblance to republic. There has
been a military dictatorship which un-
dertook to assemble a congress; one
out of thirty tribes was supposed to be
represented in this congress. Nine
tenths of the people had no represent
tation in it. The congress displayed
its patriotism by choosing as its pre-
siding officer man who was known to
all of them to have sought, in the
most shameless manner to sell them
out to the Spaniards. After wrangling
for two months, this delectable body
burst into fragments, leavig nothing
but bad odor.
Where is this Philippine republic
that our government is crushing? 1t
has no capital, no constitution, no civil
institutions, no seat except in the sad
die of Aguinaldo.
81 do not wish to speak contemptu-
ously of Agunaldo 1t is evident that
he possesses some good qualities, and
that he is a skillful partisan leader
He has managed to hold together the
tribe to which he belongs in a pretty
stout resistance to our military forces.
Doubtless he has wrought upon the
superstidous fears of the natives by
making them believe that the Ameri-
crushing them; and he has kept alive
their hopes by assuring them that a
revolution here at home was about to
occur by which our army would be re-
called That he thinks himself able
to set up a good government and to
hold all these tribes together in unity
l am willing to believe. But his civil
experiment, so far as it has been tried,
certainly warrants us in doubling his
ability to do any such thing and justi-
ties us in refusing to turn over to him
the government of these islands. And
when the refusal to turn over the gov
ernment of these islands to a military
dictator is denounced as the betrayal
of people struggling for freedom, l
am moved to ask whether there is not
more heat than light in such objurga-
ions."
In closing DR.. GLADDEN. said:
"The Philippine islands present to
the people of this country a stupendous
task. Of its seriousness, its magnitude
l was well convinced before | began to
study the question, but it looms larger
and more porteptous as | draw nearer
to it. But it is on our hands and we
must work it out. To shirk it is cow
ardly; to sit down in disbursement
before it Is pusillanimous to refuse to
bear our part in it dshonorable; to
by gnorant and carping
those who are doing their
best to solve it, is unpatriotic.
THE question is one which we have
no right to drag down into the mire
of partisanship 1t is not merely the
present administration that will have
the Philippine question to deal with:
it will be on the hands of a great many
future administrations; it will be the
most delicate and the most difficult
business with which they will have to
deal, and they will need from the whole
people fair consideration and generous
treatment"
A Gospel of Good Americanis,n