The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1899-09-22
We CANNOT TURN BACK
What schurman Says of the Situation in
the Philippines
A STATEMENT FOR THE PUBLIC.
Home Rule for Each of the Tribes Under
supervision of the General Govern
ment at Manila the solution OF the
problem - Our Responsibility for
Maintaining Peace.

ITHACA, N. Y, Sept. 14.-Prcsident
ochurman returned today to his office
IN Cornell university. He gave out
the following statement to the Associ-
ated Press on the Philippine situations:
IL is very important hat the public
should know the actual facts of the
situation. Things are what they are,
n the American public should I'M
derstand them, whether they agree
with or run counter to the public
wishes.
"First-It requires some effort to
realize the vastness of the archipelago,
which runs from Formosa to BOrneO
and Celebes through sixteen degrees of
latitude. Never going out into the
Pacific ocean on the east. nor the China
sea on the west, | made a circuit of
1000 miles south of Manila. This gives
some idea of the difficulty of main
tanning an effective blockade, as the
coast line of the islands embraced in
the archipelago is many more thou
sands of miles.
"Second-The multiplicity and hctcr-
ogeneous natures Of the tribes are
something astounding. Over sixty
different languages arc spoken in the
islands, and the majority of the tribes
are small, and there are several that
have only POO 600 inhabitants. The
speech of any one tribe Is unintelligi-
bic to its neighbors. These tribes are
all civilized and Christianized, but
small unciviliZcd tribes, among which
the lgorots seem best known in Amer
ira inhuhit tha n,nr,t,ir. l., y,,
and form a large part Of the population
of Mundane. In this island there is 4
large M~ohammedan population which
is Independent of the MoLammedans
in the Sulus.
"Third-lt is the Tagals i%nhabiting
some of the provinces about Manila
who are resisting the authorities of
the United States. Other civilized
Filipinos are neutral except where
they are cccrced by armed bands of
Tagals, who seized upon their govern
ment during the making and ratitica-
ton OF our treaty Of peace with Spain.
1t would be incorrect to assume, how
ever, that these tribes are allies of
ours. They are not, indeed, they are
not without suspicion of the white
race, Of which they have had exper-
ence only through Spain. But they
are men of intelligence and property
n the masses, when they are not
stirred up by the Tagalos, recognize
the advantage to them of American
sovereignty, and so many remain neu
trail, although robber bands from time
to time descend from the mountains
to plumber and burn the estates of the
peaceful inhabitants on the Mains
"Fourth-The instruction, though
serious enough, as experience has
proven, is not a national uprising. In
deed, there is no Philippine nation.
AS l have already said, there is a
multifarious collection of tribes hay
ing this in common that they belong
to the Malay race. The inhabitants
Of the archipelago no more constitute
a nation than the inhabitants of Eu-
rope do.
"Fifth-The United States having
assumed by a treaty Of peace with
Spain, sovereignty over the archi-
pelago, became responsible for the
maintenance Of peace, order and JUS
tice, and security of life and property
among all the tribes of the archi-
pelago. This is an obligation which
intelligent Filipinos and foreign ma
tons expect us to fulfill. Nor will the
rational honor permit us to turn back.
taking the Philippines we assumed
great responsibility. The fact that the
responsibility is greater than most
people supposed is no excuse for fail
ure to discharge it. The Philippine
question is largely a question of honor
and Obligation"