The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1900-10-12


~ as her own citizens are content that
she should GO
OF course the presence OF troops in the
Philippines during the Tagal insurrection
has no more to do with militarism or inn
perialism than had their presence in the
Dakotas, Minnesota and Wyoming dur
ing the many years which elapsed before
the final outbreaks OF the Sioux were def
nitely put down. There is no more mill
tarism or Imperialism in garrsoning Luz
zon until order is restored than there was
Imperialism in sending soldiers to South
Dakota in 1890, during the Ogallalla out
break. The reasoning which justifes our
having made war against Sitting Bull
also justiies our having checked the out
breaks of Aguinaldo and his followers, di-
rected, as they were, against Filipino and
American alike.
No Abando on ment.
The only certain way of rendering it
necessary for our republic to enter on
career of "militarism" would be to aban-
don the Philippines TO their own tribes,
and Mt the same time either to guarantee
a stable government among these tribes
or to guarantee them against outside in
reference. A far larger army would be
required to carry out any such policy
than will be required to secure order
under the American flag; while the pres
ence of this flag on the islands is really
the only possible security against outside
aggression.
The whole argument against President
McKinley's policy in the Philippines be-
comes absurd when il is conceded that we
should, to quote the language of the Kan
sas City platform, give to the Philip
pines first a stable form OF government"
Ii they are now entitled to independence,
they are also entitled to decide for them
selves whether their government shall be
stable or unstable, civilized or savage, or
whether they shall have any government
at all; while it Is, of course, equally evil
dent that under such conditions we have
no right whatever to guarantee them
against outside interference any more
than we have to make such guaranty in
the case Of the Boxers (who are merely
the Chinese analogues of Aguinaldo's fol
lowers).
If we have n right to establish a stable
government in the islands it necessarily
follows that ii is not only our right but
our duty to support that government UNI
til the natives gradually grow fit to sus-
tain it themselves. How else will it be
stable? The inmate we leave 1t, it ceases
to be stable.
Now "A Question of Contraction.
Properly speaking, the question is now
not whether we shall expand-for we
have already expanded-but whether we
shall contract. The Philippines are now
part of American territory. To surren-
der them would be to surrender American
territory. They must, of course, be gov
erned primarily in the interests of their
own citizens. Our first care must be for
the people of the islands which have
come under our guardianship as a result
of the most righteous foreign war that
has been waged within the memory of
the present generation. They must be
administered in the interests of their i'm
habitants, and that necessarily means
that any question of personal or partisan
politics in their administration must be
entirely eliminated
We must continue to put ut the heads
OF affairs in the different islands such
men as Gen. Wood. Gov. Allen and
Judge Taft; and it is a most fortunate
thing that we are able to illustrate what
ought to be done in the way Of sending
officers thither by pointing out what ac-
tually has been done. The minor places
In their administration, where il is inn
possible to fill them by natives, must be
filled by the strictest application of the
merit system.
1t is very important that in our own
home administration the merely minis
terial and administrative offices, where
the duties are entirely non-political, shall
be filed absolutely without reference to
partisan affiliations; but this is many
times more important in the newly ac
quired islands. The merit system is in
its essence as democratic as our COM
mon school system. for IL simply means
equal chances and fair play for all.
Parallel with In ian Government.
1t nuts be remembered always that
governing these islands in the interest Of
the inhabitants may not necessarily be
to govern them as the inhabitants at the
moment prefer, to grant self-government
to Luzon under Agunaldo would be like
granting self-government to an Apache
reservation under some local chief; and
this is no more altered by the fact that
the Filipinos fought the Spaniards than
ii would be by. the fact that Apaches
have long been trained and employed in |
the United States army and have rem
dered signal service therein; just as the
Pawnees did under the administration of
President Grant; just as the Stockbridge
Indians did in the days of Gen. Wash
ington and the friendly tribes OF the six
nations in the days of President Madison.
There are now in the United States
communities of Indians which have ad-
vanced so far that it has been possible
TO embody them as n whole in our POI
litical system, all the members OF the
tribe becoming United States citizens.
There are other communities where the
bulk OF the tribe are still too wild for IL
to be possible to take such a step. There
are individuals among the Apaches, Paw
nees, Iroquois, Sioux and other tribes
who are now United States citizens and
who are entitled to stand, and do stand,
on an absolute equality with all our citi-
zens OF pure white blood. Men OF Indian |
blood are now serving In the army and
navy and in Congress and occupy high |
position both in the business and the po-
litical world.