The evening times., 1899-01-28
ANNEXATION OF
THE PHILIPPINES
Views of Assistant Solicitor
Felix Alexander Reeve.
No Reasonable Doubt of America S
Right to the Island.
InadmissibIe Logic of the Anti-Ex-
pnnsiOnists-Tire Time for Prompt
and Decisive Action.

and Decisive Action.
Assistant Solicitor Of the Treasury Fe-
! iix Alexander Reeve. in an interview with
| Times reporter this morning said regard
| ing the question of the annexation of the
| Philippines: fa
Territory Acquired by America.
LAS to the constitutional and legal right
of the United States to acquire and hold the
| Philippine Islands as national territory
| there can be no reasonable doubt in the
| mind of lawyers conversant with the Or
ganic law and the history of the country
Our nation has grown great upon the we'll
| founded principle of expansion. Accord
| ing to the inadmissible logic of those VINO
oppose the acquirinent OF territory. the
| Federal Government should never have ex-
| panded beyond the thirteen original States
| Instead, however, of confining ourselves to
| this '.pent-up Utica we purchased from
France in 1903 the vast region known then
| as Louisiana, out OF which more than thlr-
teen populous and prosperous States have
since been carved and admitted into the
| Union Florida was ceded by Spain in 1o19;
| Texas was annexed in 1S45; Ca ifornia was
ceded by Mexico in 1871; and twenty years
| later we acquired Alaska by purchase from
| Russia.
| Thus for nearly hundred years tie
| Emitted States has been acquiring territory
| by conquest and purchase. The Constitu-
| ton clearly contemplates the requirement
| and holding of territory. Section CT Artl-
| Gle " provides that New States may be
admitted by the Congress into this Union;
and that, The Congress shall have power
to dispose of and make all ncedfui ru es
| and regulations respecting the territory or
| other property OF the United States. II
vas held by the Supreme Court i'll Drei
! Scott vs. Sanford t19 How. p 3s3) that
| Congress had the power to ex-
| pand the territory OF the United States,
and 10 hold it until it is in su.ta5ie
| condition to become a State.
And If the United States may acquire
| territory situated on our own continent, o.
| in the Western Hemisphere it nay so
| acquire territory lying in any other part o
| the globe: for there is no express nor nee
! essarily implied restriction upon the pow
| ers of the Government in this regard. And
| while territory can be held only with a
| view to future Statehood, yet there is no
limit as to the time il may be SO held
| Alaska has been held over thirty years as
| :. territory and may be held hundred
more. So also the Philippine Islands if
| annexed, may prove unfit for admission
into the family of States for generations
10 come. II such is the case, may We lot
conclude that they would be equally un-
| prepared for self government for period
at least as remote?
Protectorate Over the Philippines.
1t is for the United States to choose
between the maintenance of an indefinite
ly long protectorate over the Philippine
Islands, or the annexation of those islands
as a part of our territorial domain. The
latter seems 10 me to be the wiser course
| with reference to the welfare and good or
der of the inhabitants, and the highest
best interests OF the people OF this country.
1T is true that a study of the races, or
rather tribes, who inhahit the Philippine
| Archipelago, as described in Professor
Worcesters entertaining book. and in 9TH
er instructive works on the subject of
| those multitudinous islands and their peo-
pie, is well calculated TO give us pause
| and sober down the glory and the dream
of extended empire TO a practical thinking
basis Touching the problem of the Phil
| ippiIes. we are not occupied with the
| ory but seriously confronted with a con-
| dition.' And what are We going to do
about it? That is the question AT first
we could (and possibly should) have sail
ed away and left the Philippines and FIJI
| ipinos to their fate. We cannot do this
now. At the time of Admiral Dewey's i'm
| mortal victory the United States had as
sumed no responsibility for those Span
| ish possessions far away in the under
| world but now we cannot recede with
honor or propriety from the forward step
we have taken, however rash it may have
been; and the question of abandonment
| must not be entertained The enquiry is,
What is the wiser policy to be pursued
under the existing conditions? Shall the
United States establish a military suzer-
ainty over the Philippine Islands and hold
them until the various unCiviliZed tribes
that inhabit them are judged capable of
setting up an independent autonomy of
their own, or shall they be annexed alb
solutely as a component part of our ma
tional territory?
Conception OF the Cost in Money.
IF the first is to be the policy of the
Government. then an. adequate conception
of the cost in money, the sacrifice of life
and health. and the duration of the neces-
sary control and tutelhge of the people will
battle the most sanguine imagination.
| For 800 years and more the Philippines
| were under the dominion of one of the
civilized nations of Europe and yet for
the most part the mongrel natives are still
ignorant and wholly incompetent to es-
tablish a stable government even if they
wanted one, Admitting, as We are al
ways ready to do with great compiacency,
that the United States is the most Chris
tian and enlightened country on the face
Of the globe, yet We may we'll distrust our
ability to prepare these speople for self
| government in the next fifty years. espe-
cially in view of our miserable failure in
civilizing our own Indian tribes. In any
event we must think about the cost of the
| proposed undertaking-the millions of
money, the thousands of lives, and all the
evils that would result from maintaining
an army in tropical climate II, GOO miles
from home, for an indefinite period oi
time. 1t seems to me that this dark and