The record-union., 1899-11-17
DUTY IN THE PHILIPPINES.
COMMISSIONERS WORCESTER
REBUKEs CoPPERHEADs.
Why the United States Must Hold
and Govern the
Islands.


night upon "The Philippine Question.
The address, which was delivered un-
der the auspices of the Hamilton Club
local Republican organization, was
received with every manifestation OF
approval Mr. Worcester followed in
the main the line of argument regarding
the retention of the Philippines which
had been published in the report of the
Philippine Commission. He said at the
outset that the issues raised by the
Philippine question, directly or indi-
rectly, were more important, more FAR
reaching in their consequences than
any other nation has been called upon
to meet since it's birth. He deprecated
the idea of those willing to make party
politics Of questions which involve the
wellbeing and the future destiny of
millions of their fellowbeings. Proceed
| ing, he said:
If all the accusations brought by
those who disclaim against our So
called crime in the Philippines are
true, we have indeed committed a great
transgressiOn against the people OF
those islands. 1 propose to take up
some facts often quoted in support Of
these charges and scrutinize them
somewhat closely. l shall try to make
my explanation wholly dispassionate."
Professor Worcester then took up
various arguments presented against
| the American policy in the Philippines,
| and, quoting from Senate documents,
from the proclamations of Aguinaldo,
| and from a mass Of official evidence,
most of which has been made public,
answered the several criticisms. His
! answers We're directed specially to the
arguments "of a gentleman who re-
Gently addressed an audience from the
rostrum on which I stand
He also stated that members OF the
Aguinaldo Cabinet testified before the
commission to the fact that even in
his proclamation Of June 18th he freely
admitted that no American had ever
promised him independence for his
people. The speaker added: ''It has
often been stated that our Consul at
Singapore, Spencer Pratt, exceeded his
authority and made the promise in
question. if not directly at least indi-
rectly. am indebted to Admiral Dewey
for the statement that Mr.. Pratt is
ready to take oath that he never made
such promise, and I may add that legal
proceedings brought by Mr. Pratt
against publisher for this and other
charges resulted successfully"
Professor Worcester said, after citing
much evidence: II believe 1 have shown
that there was no true cooperation be-
tween our land forces and the Filipinos.
except in the fact that we fought
common foe, each in his own way. /
may add that we required no help in
"a oil lo1
the mercy of Dewey's guns, and SOL
dlers were expected to occupy it, not
to take it. The fighting Of August 18th
was perfunctory and designed only to
save the honor of the Spanish troops
After the fall of the city Aguinaldo
modestly demanded of General Merritt
the royal palace for himself, and, in
addition the principal churches, a share
in the public funds and, most important
of all, the arms and ammunition sur
rendered by the Spanish troops, which
he had long planned to possess. It is
needless to add that his requests were
refused"
Speaking Of the efforts to avoid a
conflict Professor Worcester said: II
am often asked the question: Might
not all this have been avoided if, even
after the fall of Manila, the Americans
had come to an understanding with the
Filipinos?' 1 am glad to be able to
say to you that such attempts were
made. General Otis, who did not be-
lieve that the insurgent leaders were
plotting trouble, had repeated inter-
views with one and another of them. -
After detailing the fruitless negotia-
lions and citing from General Otis
| letters, Professor Worcester said: 1.-THE
prime cause of the failure Of these final
negotiations lay in the fact that the
Filipino commanders were unable to
formulate any definite statement of
their own desires. They did say that
they desired independence under
United States protection, but in dis
cussion made it evident, first, that they
did not themselves know what they
meant by these words, and, second
tnat they were not agreed among
themselves even as to the general de-
mand. l have no hesitation in saying
that the United States did infinitely
more than Agninaldo's army in driving
out and destroying Spanish power in
the Philippine Islands. If our claim,
to sovereignty was shadowy, what
snail we say as to the claim Of a tribe
representing less than one-sixth of the
population of the islands, and exer-
cising Jurisdiction over but a small
portion of the Philippine territory?"
AS showing the bloody work Of the
insurgents, Professor Worcester said:
AT the time I left Manila the province
OF Batanbagas was overrun with
thieves and murderers No attempt
was made to enforce law and order. The
public schools were abandoned. Forced
contributions were wrung from the
people at the bayonet- point until many
We're ruined. Unwilling contributors
had been punished by having their
hands hacked off and even by being
buried alive.
The individual houses in such i'm
portant towns as Taal were intrenched
IN order that the. inhabitants might de-
fend themselves against their neighbors.
The Military Governor of the province.
| although a Taga1o and an insurrent
had characterized the condition exist
ing as complete anarchy and had re-
peateoiy sent in secret to Manila ask
ing for aid to restore order, and prom-
ising to surrender with his troops II
we would only dispatch a small force
to his aid"
Inc speaker denounced as false the
statements that the Americans had no
friends among the Filipinos. and de-
clared we had many good friends among
the leading Filipinos. He proceeded
heard it said that If only a fraction
OF the Filipino population is in arms
against us, and that the great maioritv