Marshall County independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1897-1902, 1900-08-17
hem without their consent, Before our

| them without their consent? Before our
| duty can be ascertained. their rights
must be determined. and when their
| rights are once determined. ii is much
our duty TO respect those rights as II
was the duty of Spain TO respect the
| rights or the people of Cuba or the duty
| OF England TO respect the rights of the
American colonists. Rights never con-
| flict; duties never clash. Can il be our
| duty TO usurp political rights which be-
long to others? Can ii be our duty 10
Kill those who following the example
of our forefathers. love liberty well
enough to fight for ii?
| Some poet has described the terror
which overcame a soldier, who in the
midst midst of battle discovered that he had
are brethren Let us hope for the com
ing OF the day when human life-which
when once destroyed cannot be restored
VIII be so sacred that it will never he
taken except when necessary 10 punish
a crime already committed. or to prevent
a crime about TO be committed.
| III IL is said that we have assumed be-
| iore the world obligations which make
1t necessary for us TO permanently main
| tain a government in the Philippine ISL
! ands; l reply first. that the highest OBJ
| nSatlon OF this nation is 10 be true to
itself No obligation 10 any particular
nations. or to all the nations combined
can require the abandonment of our
theory of government and the substitu-
tlon or doctrines against which our whole
national life has been a protest. And.
second. that our obligation TO the Fill
pinos' who inhabit the islands. Is greater
| than any obligation which we can owe
10 foreigners who have a temporary resi-
dehce In the Philippines or desire TO
| trade there
1t is argued by some that the Filipinos
are Incapable of self-government and
| that therefore we owe il to the world
10 take control of them. Admiral Dewey
| In an official report 10 the navy depart
ment, declared the Filipinos more cap
able of self-government than the Gu
pans and said that he based his opinion
I M 1,,x
VIII not rest the case upon the relative
| advancement of the Filipinos Henry
| Clay, in defending the right of the peo-
pie or South America 10 self-government.
said:
1T is the doctrine of thrones that man
Is 100 ignorant to govern himself. Their
parusans assert his incapacity in refer
ence to all nations; if they cannot com
| mahd universal assent to the proposition.
IL Is then demanded to particular nations;
and our pride and our presumption too
| often make converts of us. | contend that
1t is to arraign the disposition OF provi-
dence Himself to suppose that He has
created beings incapable of governing
themselves and to be trampled on by
| kings. Self-government is the natural
government of man."
Clay was right. There are degrees of
proficiency in the art of self-govern-
| ment, but it is a reflection upon the Gre
| ator TO say that he denied TO any people
| the capacity for self-government Once
! admit that some people are capable of
]
| and that the capable people have a right
| 10 seize upon and govern the incapable.
and you make force-brute fOrce-tha
only foundation of government and invite
! the reign of despOt. | am no. willing
to believe that an al-wise and an ALI
loving God created the Filipinos and then
lett them thousands of years helpless un-
| VI the islands attracted the attention of
| European nations.
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
| Heated 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 United
States and cared for by an American
citizen. Our flag still floats over our
dead, but when the treaty with Mexico
was signed, American authority with
drew TO the Rio Grande and | venture
| the opinion that during the last fifty
| years the people of Mexico have made
more progress under the stimulus of in
dependence and self-government than
they would have made under a carpet
bag government held in place by bay
onets The United States and Mexico
friendly republics. are each stronger and
happier than they would have been had
the former been cursed and the latter
crushed by an imperiaiistic policy. dis
Suised as benevolent assmila ton"
Can we not govern cOlonies?" we are
asked. The question is not what we can
do. but what we ought To do. This ma
tlOI CAN 90 Whatever IL desires to do
but it must accept responsibility for what
il does. If the constitution stands in
the way, the people can amend the con-
stitutiOn. | repeat, the nation can do
whatever it desires To do. but il cannot
avoid the natural and legitimate results
of its own conduct. The young man upon
reaching his majority can do what he
pleases He can disregard the teachings
of his parents: he can trample upon all
that he has been taught to consider
sacred: he can disObey the laws of the
f4t 70 h.3 La nf nd h.
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 cannot annul the sentence
The wages of sin is death" And so
with the nation. 1t is of age and it can
traditions OF the past; 1T can repudiate
the principles upon which the nation
rests; it can employ force instead of rea-
son: it can substitute might for right.
it can conquer weaker people: it can ex-
plot their lands, appropriate their prom
erty and kill their people: but il cannot
ishment decreed for the violation of hu-
man rights.
Would we tread in the paths of tyrrany.
Nor reckon the tyrant's cost?
Who taketh another's liberty
His freedom is also lost.
Would We win as the strong have ever
Make ready to pay the debt,
For the God who regned over Babylon
Is the God who is reigning yeti
Some argue that American rule in the
Philippine islands will result in the bet
ter education of the Filipinos. Be not
deceived If We expect to maintain a
colonial policy we shall not find it tt, to
educated FilipinOs are now in revolt
against us, and the most ignorant ones
have made the least resistance to our
domination II We are to govern them
without their consent and give them no
voice In determining the taxes which
they must pay, we dare not educate
them, lest they learn to read the Declare
ton OF Independence and the cOnStitu-
ton of the United States and mock us for
our inconsistency.
The principal arguments. however. adj
yanced by those who enter upon de-
Tense of Imperialism, are:
First-That we must improve the pres
ent opportunity to become a world power
and enter into international politics.
Second-That our commercial interests
in the Philippine islands and in the
Orient make it necessary for us TO hold
the Islands permanently.
Ihlrd-That the spread OF the Christian
religion will be facilitated by a colonial
policy.
Fourth-That there is no honrable re-
treat from the position which the nation
has taken.
The first argument is addressed to the
nations prize. and the second to the
nations pocketbook. The third is in
fenced for the church member and the
fourth for the partisan.
1t is a sufficient answer to the first
argument to say that for more than a
century this nation has been a world
power. For ten decades it has been the
most potent influence in the world. Not
only has 1t been a world power, but 1t
has done more to affect the politics of
tons of the world combined. Because
our Declaration of independence was pro-
muleated. others have been promulgated
g.