The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-01-09

| braltar of the Pacific, and count our
| blood and treasure already spent a pro-
| ftable loss, than to apply any academic
! arrangement of self-government to
| these children. They are not capable
! of self government. How could they be?
! They are not of a governing race.
| They are OrientalS, Malays. instructed
| by Spainards in the latters worst es-
| tate. They know nothing of practical
| government except as they have wit
messed the weak, corrupt, cruel and ca
| PRECIOUS rule of Spain. What magic
! will anyone employ to dissolve in their
| minds and characters those impressions
| of governors and governed which three
| centuries of misrule have created 2What
| alchemy will change the oriental quail
| ity of their blood and set the self-gov-
/ erning currents of the American pour
| ing through their Malay veins? How
| shall they, in the twinkling of an eye,
| be exalted to the heights of Self-govern-
| ing peoples, which required a thousand
! years for us to reach, Anglo-Saxon
/ though we are?
| Let men beware how they employ the
| term self government" 1t is a sacred
| term. 1t is the watchword at the door
! of the inner temple of liberty; for liber-
| ty does not always mean Self-govern-
ment. Self government is a method of
| Hberty-the highest, simplest, best-and
| it is acquired only after centuries of
study and struggle and experiment and
| instruction, and all the elements of the
| progress of man. government is
| no base and common thing, to be be-
| slowed on the merely audaciouS. It is
the degree which crowns the graduate
| of liberty, not the name of liberty'S in
| FAINT class, who have not yet mastered
| the alphabet of freedom. Savage blood;
! oriental blood; Malay blood; Spanish
| example-are these the elements of self
| government?
| We must act on the situation as it
| exists, not as we would wish it. I have
| talked with hundreds of these people.
rRffin.r their views IN the PfiCal
| workings of Self-government. The great
| majority simply do not understand any
participation in any government what
| ever. The most enlightened among
them declare that self-government will
| succeed because the employers of Ia
| Dor will compel their employees to vote
/ as their employer wills, and that this
| will insure intelligent voting l was
assured that we could depend upon
| good men always being in office because
| the officials who constitute the govern
ment will nominate their successors,
| choose those among the people who will
| do the voting and determine how and
where elections will be held The most
| ardent advocate of government
| that l met was anxious that I should
| know that such government would he
| tranquil because, as he said, if anyone
| criticised it. the government would
| shoot the offender. few of them have
a sort of verbal understanding of the
| democratic theory, but the above are
! the examples of the ideas of the prac-
| teal workings of self-government en-
| tertained by the aristocracy, the rich
! planters and traders, and heavy en-
| ployers of labor, the men who would
run the government
PEOPLE INCIDENT; NO COMPETE
TION WITH OUR LABOR.
Example for decades will be neces-
| sary to instruct them in American ideas
and methods of administration. Ex-
ample, example; always example; this
| alone will teach them. AS a race, their
general ability is poor. Educators both
| men and women to whom have talked
| in Cebu and LuZon, were unanimous in
| the opinion that in all solid and useful
| education they are, as a people, dull
and stupid. In snowy things, like cary
| ing and painting, or embroidery, or
music, they have apparent aptitude, but
even this is superficial and never
| thorough. They have facility of speech,
| too. The three best educators on the
| island at different times, made to me
| the same comparison, that the common
people, in their stupidity, are like their
caribou bulls. They are not even good
| agricultruiStS. Their waste of cane is
| inexcusable. Their destruction OF
| hemp fibre is childish. They are incur
ably indolent. They have no continuity
| or thoroughness of industry. They will
| quit work without notice and amuse
| themselves until the money they have
| earned is spent. They are like children
| playing at mems work. No one need
| fear their competition with our labor
! No reward could beguile, no force COM
! pei, these children of Incidence to leave
| their trifiing lives for the fierce and
| fervid industry of high-wrought Amer
| lea. The very reverse is the fact. One
| great problem is the necessary labor to
! develop these islands, to build the
| roads, open the mines, clear the wilder
| ness, drain the SwampS, dredge the
| harbors. The natives will not supply
| it. a lingering prejudice against the
/ Chinese may prevent US from letting
| CI1TT01xT If Ultima fa1U "
| real truth of Nthe climate and human
| conditions is known, it is barely posi-
| BILE that our labor will go there. Even
| now, young men with the right moral
| fibre and a little capital can make for
! tunes there as planters. But the natives
| will not come here. Let all men dis
| miss that fear. The Dutch have Java,
| and it's population, under Holland S
rule, has increased from 100000 to
| more than 100000 people,yet the Java
| laborer has never completed with the
laborer of Holland. And this is true
| OF England and Germany, of every
| colonizing administering power. The
native has produced luxuries for the la
| borer of the governing country and at
| forded a market for what the laborer
| of the governing country, in turn, pro-
| duced.
In Paluan, the natives are primitive.
| In Sulu. and Mindanao. the Moros are
vigorous and warlike. but have not the
1 most elementary notions of civiliza-
ton. For example, they do not under
stand the utility of roads. Nothing ex-
lists but paths through the jungle. I
have ridden for hours IN Sulu over the
! most primitive paths, barely discern
| ible in the rank grass. They have not
| grasped the idea. of private and perman-
ent property in land And yet. there is
! no lovelier spot, no richer land, no bet
ter military and naval base than the
! Sulu group. In Paluan- Sulu and Min
danao, the strictest military govern
ment is necessary, indefinitely. The in
habitants can never be made to work,
| can never be civilized. Their destiny
| can not be foretold. But whether they
will withstand civilization or disappear
before it, our duty is plain.
OUTLINE OF PLAN OF GOVERN
| MENT NEEDED IN THE PHIL
IPPINES: SIMPLE
| AND STRONG"