Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-09-29
rection and the establishment Of peace


and order"
There was, said President Schurman,
no instance in history of the successful
government of a colony where the
profit to the parent State or its citi-
zens had been a leading consideration.
On the other hand, there were many
examples of disasters and rebellions
from such unworthy greed and ex-
ploitation. LET a nation,' he said,
seek to enrich itself or its citizens
at the expense of its colonists and it
impoverishes ALL But let a nation in
all its dealings with its colonies take
as its sole criterion of judgment and
standard of conduct the welfare Of the
colonists, and it viii result, as history
everywhere demonstrates, that the en-
riched dependencies become the most
profitable traders with the ruling coun-
try"
President Schurman said that the in
itiative and the directing power belong
ed to the sovereign nation and must be
exercised by her Representatives. A
few will suffice. OF course there must
be one responsible head. But with an
organizing genius at the helm it was
simply astonishing how much could be
got out of the natives, Continuing, he
said; Il was often asked in the Phil
than that of Spain. Here is a point
where the Filipinos suspect and fear
lis. We must allay their anxiety and
, suspicion by splendid Philippine civil
service. believe we shall. 1t is abb
solutely necessary. But there will be
no harder task in connection with our
government of the archipelago. | re-
peat, however, that the success of our
administration in the Philippines will
depend upon the men we send out to
conduct it, much more than upon acts
of Congress or any other circum-
stance"
In conclusion, Mr. Schurman said:
what is the object of colonization?
Why should we extend our sovereignty
over remote countries and alien peo-
pies? l answer that the only justifi-
able object of such expansion is the es-
adjustment of good government in the
territory annexed the elevation of its
people in civilization and the training
of them in progressive self-government
with a view to ultimate independence
| whether by partnership in, or separa-
ton from, the sovereign state. AS the
end for the moral being Is perfection
and the end for the economic society
| is wealth, so the end for the political
community is independence. In the
divine education Of the race no people
can be permanently kept in state of
subsection to, or even depedence upon,
another people. Of all colonizing ma
lions England is the only one which
has realized this great principal; and
it took a successful rebellion in her
first empire to impress the truth even
upon England.
I'm the Philippine islands our own
mission is to educate and elevate the
Filipinos and aid them in governing
themselves. We shall not adopt the
policy of scuttle, nor, although Ameri-
can sovereignty must be established
even by force, shall we ever dream Of
the policy of determination. Not OPP
preston, nor yet abandonment and de-
sertion; not these, but honest and fra
ternal cooperation with the Filipinos
for the establishment of a just and
stable government in which the natives
shall have ever increasing participation
in proportion to the development Of
their political capacities, the growth of
their political experience, the progress
of the masses in education and civil
ization, and the evolution of the idea
and sentiment of nationality, a senti-
ment and idea which will be nourished
and developed by the habit of common
action, the improvement of the means
of communication, the freer informing
ling of the tribes and races and hearty
native cooperation with the Americans
whose best political traditions are but
the realization of the dearest ideals of
the Filipino peoples"