The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1900-09-22

more than two thousand miles distant
from our extreme western boundary. We
nave a serious race proDiem now al our
country ana 1 am not in 1aVor or AIDING
~ our domestic IaDric "a mongrei popuiii-
ton lof this character). Our consutu-
tlon makes no provlsions Tor colonial
establishments Any territorial govern
ment We might establish wound neScssari-
~, because or the population, De AN
oligarcny. which woulu nave 10 be sup
ported ny armed soldiers. let hawaii has
now been annexed ana her Delegates have
sat In the national conventions OF the
TWO great parties. Inc fears thea eX-
pressed IN reiatIon 10 an "oligarchy'
and armed soldiers are not now Be-
riously entertained by any human being;
urged against the acquisition OF the
philippines at TINS very moment. We
are making no new departure. we are
not TAXING "a single step which IN any
way Affects our institutions or our ira
ditional policies. From the beginning
we have gwen widely varying degrees
OF selt-goNernment 10 the Inherent ter
ritories. according to their needs.
The simple truth Is that there is moth
ing even remotely resembling 'imperiai-
lsin or miitarism invoived In the
pansion which mas been part OF The his
Tory OF America from the day wnen she
became nation. The words mean ABB
solutciy nothing as applied 10 our pres
ent policy IN the Pmlippines; Tor this
policy rs oniy imperialislic IN the sense
that Jenersons poilcy In Louisiana was
tnat JacksCns pN.cy s,ward the SEM
inoies or Custer coward the Sioux
embodied militarism; and there IL no
more danger OF ITS producing evei results
at home now than there was OF It's IN
terfering with freedom under Jefferson
or jackson, or In the days OF the lndlan
wars on the plains. our army Is relative
NY not as large AS II was In the days OF
wayne we nave not one regular for
every thousand inhabitants. There is no
more danger OF Il draft than there rs OK
the re-introduction oil slavery.
When we expanded over New Mexico
ana California We secured Tree govern
ment 10 these territories and prevented
their falling unaer the ''mllltarism' OF
dictatorship nke that OF santa Anna,
or the imperialism OF "a real empire In
the days OF MaXiinillian. We put stop
to Imperialism IN Mexico US soon as the
ci.li war closed. We madeNa great anti
imperialistic stride when we drove the
Spaniards from Porto klco and the Phil
ippineS and thereby made ready the
ground In these islands Tor That gradually
increasing measure OF self-goternment
tor which their populations are severaliy
ntted. Cuba Is being helped along the
pain to Independence rapidly as her
own citizens are content that they should
the philippines during the Tagal insur-
rection has no more to do with mill
tarism or imperialism than had their
presence In the Dakotas, Minnesota and
wyoming during the many years when
elapsed before the final outbreaks OF the
Sioux were definitely put down. There
IL no more militarism. or Imperialism
In garrisoning Luzon until order Is re-
stored than there was imperialism in
sending soldiers to South Dakota iii 1870.
during the Ogallaila outbreak. The
reasoning which justies our having
made war against sitting Bull also JUS
titles our having checked the outbreaks
of Aguinaldo and his followers, directed
as they were, against Filipino and Amer
lean alike.
The only certain way of rendering 1t
necessary for our republic to enter on u
don the Philippines to their own tribes,
and at he same time either to guaran-
tee "a stable government among these
tribes or to guarantee them against outside
interference. tar larger army would DO
required to carry out any such policy
than Will be required TO secure order UNI
der the American flag; while the press
ence OF this flag on the islands Is really
the only possible security against OUT
side aggression The whole argument
against President Mckinley poncy in
the Philippines becomes absurd when 1t
Is conceded that we should, TO quote the
language of the Kansas City platform.
Ito give the Philippines first "A stable
form of government" If they are now
entitled to Independence, they are also
entitled to decide for themselves wheth-
er their government shall be stable or
unstable, civilized or savage, or whether
they shall have any government at all;
while IL is, of course, equally evident
that under such conditions we have no
| right whatever to guarantee them against
outside Interference any more than We
| case of the Boxers (who are merely the
Chinese analogues OF Aguinaldos fol-
lowers(. IL we have right TO establish
u stable government in the islands IL ne
cessarily follows that 1t is not only our
right but our duty to support that gov
eminent until the natives gradually grow
fit to sustain II themselves. How else
will It be stable? The minute we leave
1t, 1t ceases to be stable.
Properly speaking, the question Is now
not whether we shall expand,-fo We
hax mir nv ND aH hiit "a hnth Ar xxy..
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
crpedgsprimarily I'm the interest of their
own citizens. Our first care must be for
the people of the islands which have coma
under our guardianship as a result OF
the most righteous foreign war that has
been waged within the memory of tho
present generation. They must be admins
istered in the interests of their inhabi-
tants and that necessarily means that
any question OF personal or partisan pol
tiles In their administration must be en-
put at the heads of affairs In the diff
ferent islands such men as General Wood,
Governor Allen and Judge Taft; and 1t
Is 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 actually has been
istration, where 1t Is impossible to fill
them by natives, must be filled by tho
strictest application or the merit system
IT is very important that I'm our own home
administration the merely ministerial
and administrative Offices where the
duties are entirely non-political,) shall be
| filled absolutely without reference to par
tisan affiliations; but this Is many times
more important In the newly acquired
| islands. The merit system Is In It's es-
sence as democratic as our common
| school system, for IL simply means equal
chances and fair play for all.
1t must 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-govern-
ment to Luzon under Aguinaldo would
| be like granting self-governmcnt to ~,
| Apache reservation under some local
! chief; and this Is no more altered by
| the fact that the Philippines 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 rendered signal service therein;
| just as the Pawnees did under the adj
| ministration of President Grant; Just as
| the Stockbridge Indians did In the days
| OF General Washington, and the friend
! ~ tribes of the Six Nations In the days
| OF President Madison.
There are now in the United States
| communities of Indians which have adj
vanced so far that II has been possible
| to embody them as n whole In our poit-
| ical 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
II IL. -