The San Francisco call., 1899-11-03
DECL ARES The FILIPIN0S ARE
INCAPABLE OF SELF-G0VERNMENT
Report to the President
Made to AguinaIdo
General Otis.

archipelago at the present time. The most that
can be expected of them Is to cooperate with
the Americans in the administration OF general
affairs from Manila a center and to under
take, subject to American control or guidance
(as may be found necessary the administra-
ton OF provincial and municipal affairs For
tunately there are educated Filipinos, though
they do not constitute a large proportion of the
entire population and their support and
vices will be of incalculable value in inaugu-
rating and maintaining the new government
AS education advances and experience ripens
the natives may be entrusted with large
and more independent share OF government,
self-government as the American ideal. being
constantly kept in view as the goal. In this
way American sovereignty over the archipelago
will prove a great political boon to the people
Should our power by any fatality be with.
drawn the commission believe the government
of the Philippines would speedily lapse into
anarchy which would excuse, II 1t did not
necessitate the intervention of other powers
and the eventual division of the Islands among
them.
Only through American occupation, therefore.
is the idea Of free self-governing ana anited hs
Philippine commonwealth at all conceivable.
And the indispensable need, from the Filipino
point of view, of maintaining American sover,
eighty over the archipelago is recognized by an
intelligent Filipinos and even by those insur-
gents who desire an American protectorate'
The latter 1t is true would take the revenues
and leave us the responsibilities Nevertheless
they recognize the indubitable fact that the
Fiiipinos cannot stand alone Thus the welfare
of the F-tIininos comedies with the dictates of
national honor in forbidding our abandonment
of the archipelago We cannot: from any point
ment which our sovereignty entails and the
commission Is strongly persuaded that the per
formance OF our national duty viii prove the
greatest blessing to the peoples Of the Philip
pine Islands.
One of the closing chapters of the re-
port is devoted to a tribute to
SPaere The ana aaGfs Gsmsses the the
reports of the desecrating of churches.
the numbering of prisoners and
the committing of unmentionable crimes
h6-
lief that war was never more humanely
conducted, saying:
If churches were occupied 1t only a
military necessity and frequently after their
use as forts by the insurgents had made 1t
necessary to train our artillery on them. Pris-
oners were taken whenever opportunity afford
ed. often to be set at liberty after being dis
armed and fed Up to the time of our depart
ure. although numerous spies had been cap
tured. not a single Filipino had been exc
cuted.
The commission gives a general view
of the value of the islands, their general
richness in agricultural and forest prod
ucts, their mineral wealth and their COM
manding geographical position. They
state that the Philippines should soon
become one of the great traders of the
East. Manila is already connected by
new steamship lines with Australia, India
and Japan, and she will become the nat-
ural terminus of many other lines when
a ship canal connects the Atlantic with
the Pacific. 1t cannot be doubted that
commerce will greatly increase and the
United States will obtain a large share in
this treatment. The report concludes:
Our control means to the inhabitants of the
Philippines internal peace and order. a guar
antee against foreign aggression and against
the dismemberment of their country, CONNER
cial and industrial prosperity and as large
share of the affairs of government as they
shall prove fit to take. When peace and pros
perity shall have been established throughout
the archipelago, when education shall have be-
come general then, IN the language OF a lead
ing Filipino his people will. under guild
ance, become more Americans than the Amer
leans themselves" !"
The report is signed by ]. G. Schur-
man. George Dewey, Charles DENLY and
Dean c. Worcester.