Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1900-05-04
is THE PHILIPPINE POLICY RIGHT OR
WRONG?

WNOlNu!
All NATIONAL or political, policies lie within
the sphere Of morals, and should be sanctioned
or disproved from the moral standpoint. The
revealed eternal principles of truth and right
must also constitute the moral standpoint. 1t
must be by the Lords moral code, and not by
the indefinite and changing mans code, that the
right or WRONG is to be determined This is so
because the nation is under the Divine govern
ment, and thus under obligation to apply the
Divine principles Of truth and right. For the
character of Its policies and actions the Lord
holds the party and nation responsible and ac-
countable.
The recognition, il large measure, of these
fundamental truths has made the policies and
actions of our nation largely right and has Sc
cured the Lora's blessing and our nations great
ness. Some of the wrongs that have existed
have either been corrected by recognition of
of right or by the Lords heavy chastsement;
and other wrongs still existing are likely to be
corrected in one or the other of these ways, un-
less the nation chooses 10 run on in sin toward
judgment.
In question as serious as the Philippine pol
icy no mistake should be made If the policy
followed is morally right, it will secure bless
ing from the Lord, both for our nation and for
the people of those islands; but it wrong, it will
secure for lis the Lords displeasure and correc-
ton, though the Lord may ovelrule all for the
good of the islands. There is far more involved
in this question than the success of armies, or
the policy of party, or the expansion of
nation, or the enriching of country. The
question of loyalty to truth and right is of far
more Importance than that of loyalty to party
policy; for any policy of party or nation that
Goes not harnonze with the Lords principles
is injurious to our country, and will sooner or
later bring evil results.
The wrong view point is being occupied by
many who write and speak upon the Philippine
policy of expansion; and it can hardly be SUP.
posed that their conclusions will harmonic with
the principles OF the Supreme Arbiter The
view point taken is that of business transaction,
and the moral aspect of the policy is hidden
from view. The Hon. Charles Denby, member
OF the United States commission to the Philip
pine Islands, i'll his answer to Agoncio in
The Independent, justi6es the policy from the
business view po"t. He cites the history of
Formosa as illustrating our right to the islands,
and i'll Justification of the policy. China ceded
Formosa to Japan. "Formosa repudated the
cession and her people declared themselves all
independent republic" The Japanese army
at Formosa enforced the cession and took pos
SESSION. The parellel of this transaction may
be given in the presidents language ''It pro-
vided, among other things, that Spain should
cedeto the United States the archipelago, known
as The Philippine Islands; that the United States
should pay to Spain the sum of $40 900, 900, and
that the civil rights and political status of the
native inhabitants Of the territories thus ceded
to the United States should be determined by
the congress-
In both of these transactions there was to-
tai ignoring of the wishes or rights of the in
habitants of the territories cede. The people
were neither counseled about the transfer, or
treated if they had any right to express an