La Junta tribune., 1899-04-22
PHILIPPINE QUESTION.
Pre.ident Mckinley Has Pes.seA 0st
the Path to Follow.


President Mckinley Has PsiaseA 0ut
the Path to Follow.
President Mckinley has once more
given voice and utterancs TO the ma
tional creed conviction and purpose.
His speech at Boston before the
Home Market club sums the national
policy and raises the issues presented
by colonial acquisitions to level where
opposition to this policy becomes diff
cult If not impossible. With his GUS
tomary capacity for presenting = great
question SO that it can be understood Of
all men, President Mckinley has sum
moned the nation to the duty which
confronts it He has boldly and wisely
put aside all appeals to self interest. He
has refused to consider expansion or ac
QUESTION from the selfish standpoint.
He has preferred. as did Lincoln at a
great crisis. to appeal instead to the
loftiest principles and to the highest
motives and to trust to the American
people to act upon them.
Victory and conquest last July first
presented themselves to the nation as
the path to acquisition and expansion.
sovereignty AS agitation and discus
sion went on this has changed. The
needs of the new territory. the demands
Of its population. the necessity Of lead
ing these half savage and semibarbarous
races into civilization have steadily
grown upon the nation. and President
McKinley's luminous and persuasive
declaration of the conditions which
forced the annexation Of the Philippines
complete the condition that the duties
imposed by the acquisition can only be
discharged in President McKinley's 9
words by
"Giving to the people Of the Philip
pines peace and order and beneficent
government. affording them every op-
portunlty to prosecute their lawful pur-
suits. encouraging them in thrift and
industry. making them feel and know
that we are their friends. not their enc
mics. that their good is our aim. that
their welfare is our welfare. but that
neither their aspirations nor ours can
be realized until our authority IL &C.
knowledged and unquestioned
This summary of the present duty Of
the executive is an equally complete
summary of the future duty of con-
gress. Under this charter Of American
authority in the Philippines the United
States has no just rights in the Philip
pines except those which grow ont Of
the necessities Of situation which re-
Quires the power Of this government to
create in that territory and for It's pop
ulation law liberty and self rule
Acting on this basis and following
this principle. the United States begine
its career as the possessor Of colonial
dependencies with unique aims unpAr-
alleled in history The lesson which
Great Britain has learned through three
centuries--that the first duty Of the
sovereignty to the dependency 10 the
peace. prosperity and self government
Of the latter-is accepted ~ this coun-
try at the very threshold Of its great
task in the tropics. which future his
tory will show is not bounded by thS
Philippines The one duty and necessity
imposed by these high principles and
lofty motives is to be equal TO them in
Cuba. Porto Rico and the Philippines
alike: to carry on an administration 30
visibly directed to the profit. prosperity
and training Of these lands in self gov
ernment that the world will approve
our practice. as the nation approves to-
day the principles Of President McKin-
ley's speech on the colonial policy Of
the United States. -Philadelphia Press
-