Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1900-08-16
General Greene on the Philippines.

General Francis V. Greene, who
knows more about the Philippines thar
all the i-Imperialists taken together,
has pronounced himself most emphati-
cally in favor of President McKinley's
reelection and says that w. j. Bryan,
if he were president would not dare to
pursue any other policy towards the
Filipinos. General Greene says:
LAS to all this talk about imperial
ism, I do not know where anyone finds
any foundation for it. There is nothing
which has the least appearance of i'm
perialism in the attitude of our govern
ment toward the islands. 1t is no more
Imperialism than was the acquisition of
territory from Mexico in 1S4S or the
purchase of Alaska. We must furnish
the people of the islands a peaceful
government. and teach them the prin-
ciples of self-government. They are
not fit now to govern themselves, and
it will probably be a long time before
| policy of the government to advance
them on the line Of taking care of
| themselves just as soon as it is practi-
| cable. They will first be given local,
or town f-government. and when
| that has been made to work success
fully, will be allowed to elect officers of
the provinces, and ultimately to choose
all their officers. But it will take time.
'"There are 60 races of people in the
islands, two of these have about 1000
900 people each, and all are extremely
jealous of each other. To turn them
loose now would be simply to invite a
| state of anarchy in the islands. Their
present idea Of independence is to have
tribe or province chiefs to rule abso-
lutely over them. Aguinaldo. who is
set up as the example of Filipinos, Is
known to have ordered people beheaded
or shot. Would it be independence for
the people to give the islands into the
hands of such a dictator?
"If you want an example of imperial
ism you have but to look to Louisiana
and Mississippi. That is what I call
| imperialism, WltlC llCy oCIiOCh olCiy
| disfranchise the negro voters for the
sake of setting up an oligarchy of the
| white men to govern them. 1t is inn
perialism to give those states a repre-
sentation based upon a population one
half of which is not allowed to vote.
I'm Cuba we have a population all
of one race and of the same family
as ourselves. They are nearly all of
| Spanish descent; have institutions
closely resembling our own, and are in
every way superior to the Filipinos.
After two years of our guidance. when
! they have lived in the first absolute
peace that they have known for q
years, they will learn the meaning of
self-government, and it should and
will Don be given to them. But with
the Filipinos the question will have tc
be worked out by slow stages. Most OF
the Filipinos are Asiatics who, although
they have a civilization ,ante-datine
that of Europe, have not kept UP with
the progress of modern times. and dc
not know better than the American In.
dams did, the true meaning of indie
pendent government.
but while we are performing a duty
that has been imposed upon us by the
fortunes of war, in restoring order and
civilizing these people. we will at the
same time gain a great advantage tc
commerce through the possession of the
islands. Through them we can enter
the markets of Asia, where nearly one
half of the human ace lives; our trade
will expand, giving us a market fol-
stuffs, which but for this war would
probably never have been ours"