The Elk Mountain pilot., 1900-09-18

Mr.. Bryan S unQualllleu eNpositloh VI
the doctrine of the right of self-goVern-
ment goes infinitely farther than the
states rights doctrines entertained by
the most extreme of the Calhoun and
Jefferson Davis school before the war
For Mr.. Bryan's doctrine would allow
any group of men, whether i'll county,
i'm town. or in school district to set
themselves up as an Independent gov
ernment. The state rights men at least
understood the fact that sovereignty
had to reside somewhere, If there was
TO be any government at all; and they
went no farther back in their analysis
than the states which were the consult
uent members of the Federal Union.
1t does not seem to us necessary TO at
tempt to set the American people into
contending camps over the mere meta-
physics of the inherent rights of man.
When one takes individuals and cross
examines them, one finds that there Is
not n shade of difference between Re-
publicans and Democrats on the theo-
retical question of the deslraDlllty Oh
Intelligent self-government every
where. 1t just happens, however, tnnt
at the present moment Mr.. Bryan
Democratic friends throughout the
South are engaged i'll the practlcal TASK
of depriving of elf-government nearly
half of the entire Southern populauon'
ON the ground that participation in
government is not, in fact, an inherent
human right, but that the object of
government is the high and true wei
fare of the community, and that only
those people should participate in the
tasks of government who are sufhclent-
ly Intelligent and responsible. 1t does
not seem to us that the real question ut
stake in the Philippines is met, or even
approached. by eloquent eXposltions
ba ed upon glitteIing generalities about
the inalienable rights of man.
Mr.. Bryans solution.
Toward the end of his speech Mr..
BRYAN comes to what he calls IAN easy,
honest, honorable solution of the Phil-
ippine question" 1t involves three
points:
government in the Philippine Islands.
Second, to give independence to the
Filipinos.
"Third, to protect the Filipinos from
outside interference while they work
out their destiny"
The first of these propositions goes
fatty counter to the elaborate theo-
retical argument which occupies nearly
all the space of Mr.. Bryan's speech. III,
indeed, the Filipinos possess. as he az
firms. the absolute right to govern
themselves. then we can have no pusl-
ness to establish Il stable government
or any other kind of government,
among them. Aguinaldo and his sup
porters have asserted all along that
they are eminently capable of estab-
fishing their own government, ana that
our business is simply to clear out. Ihe
administration at Washington, ana
Judge Taft's commission now in the
PHILIPPINES. made up of Democrats ana
Republicans alike, are at this moment
doing everything in their power TO es-
tablish n stable government III the
archipelago. Human motives can never
be wholly free from some taint or al
10y of earthly imperfection; but 1t does
not seem to us that anybody can very
well question the uprightness ana SIN
cerity of the motives of the Philippine
commission in attempting to frame ana
establish government that shall be
the best possible for the natives, and
that shall train and develop them in
the practice of self-government
As to Getting "a Philippine Harbor.
The real and practical question Is,
What is best to do. for everybody con-
cerned. in serious and critical situa-
ton? Mr.. Bryan devotes many columns
to abstract and lofty argument with
impressive quotations from American
STATESMEN of an earlier day and from
the holy Scriptures. He gives only n
few lines to telling us what he would
really have done in the Philippine mat
ter If he had been in authority. In the
first place. he says: "A harbor and
coaling station in the Philippines would
answer every trade and military neces-
sity; and such a concession could have
been secured, at any time. without Diff
nculty." This could hardly mean any
thing else except the harbor of Manila.
the one important center of the Phil
ippine trade If we could, without
difficulty have secured this from the
Filpinos, 1t surely would not have
been because the Filipinos were at
heart willing to give away their best
possession. If they were to be allowed
n real freedom of action as an indie
pendent government, who is there that
supposes for moment that they would
have given us the harbor of Manila
Mr. Bryan. in this speech, as well as
In others, constantly likens the attitude
of the American people toward the
Filipinos to that of highwayman
committing robbery with violence. But
his descent from the ideal to the prac-
tical is not altogether felicitous. His
suggestion is. to quote his exact words,
that "A war of conquest is as unwise
Ms it is unrighteous." The unwisdom
lies in the fact that we do not need the
whole thing. and we might have got
The valuable harbor. which is all we
need for commercial and naval pur-
poses. without entering upon war of
conquest. In other words, the wise
bighwayman would make gentleman
~ compromise with his grateful victim
by accepting his gold watch as pres
ent, and would allow the traveller to
pass on with his horse, his pocket
book and his loose change. If Mr..
Bryan's suggestion means anything at
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