The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-08-08


| our government upon them without
| their consent? Before our duty can be
aScertained. and when their rights are
| once determined, it is as much our duty
| to respect those rights as 1t was the
duty of Spain to respect the rights of
the people of Cuba, or the duty of Eng
| land to respect the rights of the Amer1-
| can colonists. Rights never conflict;
| duties never clash Can it be our duty
to usurp political rights which belong
to others? Can it be our duty TO XIII
those who, following the example OF
our forefathers, love liberty Well enough
to fight for it?
Some poet has described the terror
which overcame a soldier who, IN the
midst of battle, discovered that ne had
slain his brother. 1t is written; All We
are brethren Let us hope for the COM
ing of the day when human ife-which,
when once destroyed cannot be restored
will be sosacred thatitwiH never De Ia
ken except when necessary TO PUNISH
crime already committed, or to prevent
crime about to be committed!
If it is said that we have assumed be-
fore the world obligations which make 1t
necessary for US to permanently main
tain government in the Philippine ISL
ands, reply, first, that the highest obll-
cation of this nation is to be true to It
self. No obligation to any particular ma
ton, or to all nations combined, can re-
Quire the abandonment of our theory OF
government and the substitution OF doc
trines against which our whole national
our obligations to the Filip1nOS, who IN
habit the islands, are greater than any
obligation which we can owe to foreign
erS who have a temporary residence In
the Philippines or desire to trade there.
It is argued by some that the F1llpInos
are incapable of Self-gOvernment and
that therefore we owe it to the world to
take control of them. Admiral Dewey,
in an official report to the navy depart
ment, declared the FilipinOS more capa-
BILE of self-government than the Cubans,
and said that he based his opinion upon
a knowledge Of both races. But VIII
not rest the case upon the relative ad-
vancement of the Filipinos. Henry Clay,
in defending the rights of the people of
South America to government, said
1T is the doctrine of thrones that man
is too ignorant to govern himself. Their
partisans assert his incapacity in refer
ence to all nations; if they cannot COM
mand universal assent to the PROPOSE
ton it is then remanded to particular
nations; and our pride and our presump-
ton too often make converts of u.s. 1
contend that it is to arraign the DISPOSE
ton of Providence Himself, to suppose
that He has created beings incapable Of
governing themselves. and to be tram
pied on by kings. Self-government is the
natural government of man.
Clay was right. There are degrees of
proficiency in the art of government
but it is a reflection upon the Creator to
say that He denied to any people the ca
pacity of Self-gOv ernment. Once admit
that some people are capable of self
government, and that others are not, and
that the capable people have a right to
seize upon and govern the incapable,a and
you make force-brute force-the only
foundation of government and invite the
reign of the despot. I am not willing to
believe that an all-wise and an all-lOving
God created the Filipinos, and then left
them thousands of years helpless until
the islands attracted the attention of
European nations.
The Dead Still Under Our Flag.
Republicans ask: "Shall we haul down
the flag that floats over our dead in the
Philippines?" The same question might
have been asked when the American flag
hoated over Chapultepec and waved over
the dead who fell there: but the tourist
who visits the City of Mexico finds there
a national cemetery owned by the Uni
ted States and cared for by an Ameri-
can citizen. Our flag still floats over our
dead, but when the treaty with Mexico
was signed, American authority withdrew
to the Rio Grande, and venture the
opinion that during the last SO years the
people of Mexico have made more pro-
gress under the stimulus of independ-
ence and Self-government than they
would have made under a carpet-bag
government held in place by bayonets.
The United States and Mexico, friendly
republics, are each stronger and happier
rhan they would have been had the for
Tster been cursed and the latter crushed
by an imperialistic policy, disguised as
benevolent assimilation
asked. The question is not what we can
do, but what we ought to do. This ma
ton can do whatever it desires to do,
but it must accept responsibility for
what it does. If the Constitution stands
in the way, the people can amend the
Constitution. I repeat, the nation can
do whatever it desires to do but it can
not avoid the natural and legitimate re-
suits of it's own conduct. The young
man upon reaching his majority can
do what he pleases. He can disregard
trample upon all that he has been
taught to consider sacred, he can dis
obey the laws of the state, the laws of
society and the laws of God. He can
stamp failure upon his life and make
his very existence a curse to his fellow
men, and he can bring his father and
mother in sorrow to the grave; but he
can not annul the sentence 1.-The wages
of sin is DEATH And so with this ma
ton. 1t is Of age, and it can repudiate
the principles upon which the nation
rests; it can employ force instead of
reaSOn;it can substitute might for right;
it can conquer weaker people; it can
exploit their lands, appropriate their
property and kill their people; but it
can not repeal the moral law or escape
the punishment decreed for the viola
ton of human rights
would we tread in the paths of
tyranny,
Nor reckon the tyrant's cost?
Who taketh another's liberty
His freedom is also lost.
Would we win as the strong have ever
won,
Make ready to pay the debt,
For the God who reigned over Babylon |
Is the God who is reigning yet"
Some argue that American rule in the |
Philippine Islands will result in the bet |
ter education of the Fi1ipinos- Be not |
deceived. If we expect to maintain a
colonial policy we shall not find it to I
our advantage to educate the people. |
The educated F'ilipinos are now in re- |
volt against US, and the most ignorant |
ones have made the least resistance to |
our domination. If We are to govern |
them without their consent and give |
them no voice in determining the taxes |
which they must pay, we dare not edu- |
tIl,rr Lao, to Alac,