The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-11-03

attacked the Insurgents of whom there
are very few in the island. In Cehu
we have only 20 reckon with the law
less elemeE;k. which has never been
very formidable there"
Special attention is given to the
lisland of Negros. as this seemed field
we'll adapted to the extension of an
American system. Here the natives
had adopted the extension of an Amer
lean system, including a congress. and
had raised the American flag They
believed themselves capable of man
aging their own affairs and asked for
! a battalion of troops to hold in check
! a mountainous band of fanatics. The
battalion was furnished, but the people
proved unable to carry out their pro-
| gramme, owing to i'll feeling among
! their own officials
Americans Popular In Negros.
The Americans remained popular. At
the request of General Otis. a new and
simplified scheme of government for
the island, giving the people a large
voice in their affairs. but placing an
! American in full control. was put into
operation. 1t brought about satisfac-
/ ton and public order is better in the
| island today than at any time during
the last twenty years. Summing up
the failure of the native form of gov
eminent and the success of the Amer
lean control, the commission says:
THE fiat failure of this attempt to
secure an Independent native govern
ment in Negros, conducted, as ii was,
under the most favorable circum-
I, stances, makes it apparent that here,
as well as in the less favored provinces,
a large amount of American control is
at present absolutely essential to a sue
| cd r,1ir let, Of rlnh1ic f
| fairs"
The efforts at Cancellation with
Aguinaldo and his various commits
sions are set forth in detail. These COM
missioners were assured of the benefi-
cent purposes of the United States and
the presidents readiness to grant the
Filipino people as large q. measure of
home rule and as ample liberty as was
consistent with the ends of government,
! subject only to inc recognition of the
| supremacy of the United StateS--a
point which. being established. the
F, commission invariably refused even to
discuss
Aguinaldo Is Ambitious.
The commission adds that nothing
came of the negotiations. as Aguinal-
dos emiSSarieS were without powers
and merely came and came again for
| Information. Courteous reception was
accorded the insurgent commissions
and earnest appeals made to stop fur
Their bloodshed, all witnessing the
spirit of patient Cancellation exhibited
by the American commission in en-
deavoring to reach an amicable ad-
justment with the insurgents, as well
as the obduracy of Aguinaldo. The re-
port sums up the result of these fruit
less exchanges as follows:
NO better proof could be furnished
that the primary object of his Strug-
gle is not, as is pretended. the liberty
of the Filipino peoples, but the contin-
uance of his own arbitrary and despodc
power. In any event, the American
people may feel confident that no ef-'
fort was omitted by the commission 10
secure a peaceful end Of the struggle,
but the opportunities they offered and
urged were all neglected, if not, in
deed, Spurned.
The chapter devoted to capacity for
self-government' is the result, the re-
port states, of diligent inquiry for sew
eral months in the course OF which
great number of witnesses were eX-
amined. of all shades of political
thought and varieties of occupation,
tribe and locality. The most striking
and perhaps the most significant fact
in the entire situation is the multi
plicity of tribes inhabiting the archi-
pelago, the diversity of their languages
tWnlCn are IIlulQdli- ulihNCAiiS3AOiNf
and the multifarious phases of civil
ization-ranging all the way from the
highest to the lowest. AS to this the
report says:
Loyalty of Tribal Type.
: 1.-THE F'ilipinos are not a nation, but
"a variegated assemblage of different
tribes and peoples. and their loyalty
is still of the tribal type"
Concerning their intellectual capa-
cities the commission says: AS to the
general intellectual capacities of the
Filipinos. the commission is disposed
to rate them high. But. excepting in
limited number of persons, these capa-
cities have not been developed by edu-
cation or experience.
1.-The masses of the people are uned-
ucated. That intelligent public opin-
ion on which popular government rests
does not exist in the Philippines, and
il cannot exist until education has ele-
waited the masses, broadened their in
tellectual horizon and disciplined their
faculty of judgment. And even then
the power of government cannot be
assumed without considerable previous
training and experience under the guild
ance and tutelage of an enlightened
and liberal foreign power. For the bald
fact is that the Filipinos have never
had any experience in governing them
selves
The report shows that this inability
for self-government is due to the old
Spanish regime, which gave the Fill
pinos little or no part in governing
themselves After reviewing this Span
ish system. the commission sums up
on this point:
Cannot Govern Themselves.
This is all the training in self-gov-
ernnnent which the inhabitants of the
Philippine islands have enjoyed. Their
lack of education and political expert
ence, combined with their racial and
linguistic diversities. disqualify them,
in spite of their mental gifts and dem
ocratic views. to undertake the task of
governing the archipelago at the pres
ent time.
THE most that can be expected of
them is to cooperate with the Amer |
leans in the administration of general
affairs. from Manila as center, and
to undertake. subject to American con-
troll or guidance Gas may be found nee
essary) the administration of provin-
cial and municipal affairs. Fortunate
ly, there are educated Filipinos, !
though they do not constitute a large /
proportion of the entire population, |
and their support and services will be 1