The Worthington advance., 1900-09-21


more uanxer OF = craft IInan there is Ot
tne re-inLIOductiOn or slavery.
When we expanded over New Mexico
e eSsaa 1ss
their falling under the 'mllltarlsm' OF
olctat0rsnip ,ilke that OF santa Anna,
Of the lmperiansm" or a real empire in
to Imperialism in Mexico as soon az the
CIVIL war closed. We made q great anti
lmperianstic't stride when we drove the
>lpplnes and thereby made ready the
ground In these islands for that gradually
increasing measure OF selt-government
ti1ted. CUB. is ~ BENG heipea "a along ns'as .ns
path to Independence as rapidly as her
own citizens are content thai they snould
the philippines during the Tasal insur-
rect1on has no more to do with mill
tarism or Imperialism than had their
presence in the Dakotas, Minnesota and
elapsed before the nnal outbreaks OF the
Sioux We're definitely put. down. There
IS no more militarlsm or Imperialism
stored than there was imperialism IN
sending soluiers TO South Dakota in 1886.
during the Ogallalia outbreak. Tne
msae wsr asanst as Bu our 1n
titles our having checked the OUTBREAKS
OF Aguinaldo and his followers. ulrecIed
as ,.sd thsy yn,s were' against Filipino and Amer
The only certain way Of rendering it
necessary for our republic to enter on 4
career OF :Militarism' would be to aban-
don the Philippines to their own tribes.
and at he same time either to guaran-
tee stable government among these
tribes or to guarantee them against outside
REQUIRED to carry out any such policy
than will be required to secure order un-
der the American nag; Whlle the p1es-
ence OF this tag on the islands is really
the only possible security against QUO
side aggression. Yhe\ whole argument
against President McKinleys policy in
the Philippines becomes absurd when it
Is conceded that we should, to quote the
language Of the Kansas City platform,
TO give the Philippines first stable
form OF government. II they are now
entitled to Independence. they are. also
er their government shall be stable or
unstable, civilized or savage, or whether
they shall have any government at all;
that under such conditions We have no
right whatever to guarantee them against
outside interference any more than We
have to make such a guarantee in the
Chinese analogues of Aguinaldo's fol-
lowers). If We have u right to establish
stable government in the islands 1t ne
cessarily follows that it is not only our
right but our duty to support that gov-
ernment until the natives gradually grow
fit to sustain 1t themselves. How. else
will it be stable? The minute we leave
1t, 1t ceases to be stable.
Properly speaking, the question Is now
not whether we shall expand,-for We
whether
part of American territory To surren-
der them would be to surrender American
territory. They must. Of course. be gov
own citizens. Our first care must be for
the people of the islands which have come
under our guardianshiP as result Of
been waged within the memory Of the
present generation. They must be admin
lstered in the interests of their 1nhabi-
! tants and that necessarily means that
any question of personal or partisan pol
itics in their administration must be en-
tirely eliminated. We must continue to
put at the heads of affairs in the diff
Governor Allen and Judge Taft; and 1t
is most fortunate thing that we are
able to illustrate what ought to be done
a,n3e In the way Of g sending officers thither by
done: The minor places in their admin
istration. where 1t is impossible to fill
them by natives. must be filled by the
1t is very Important that in our own home
! administration the merely ministerial
and administrative offices, where the
duties du are entirely non-political. shall be
tisan afhliations; but this is many times
more important In the newly acquired
Islands: The merit system is in its es-
school system. for it simply means equal
chances and fair play for all:
1t must be remembered always that
the Inhabitants may not necessarily be
to govern them as the Inhabitants at the
moment prefer. TO grant self-govern:
like srantng TO
chief; and this is no more altered by
hf It %oud S bS 5 ns
that. Apaches have long been trained and
employed in the Unitvd States army and
have rendered signal service therein;
ministration Of President Grant: just as
the Stockbridge Indians did In the days
Of General washington, and the friend
| Of President Madison.
There are now in the United States
communities Of Indians which have ad-
go Tar 5ha wSae n
ical system, all the members Of the tribe
becoming United States citizens. There
are other communities where the bulk
be Possible to take such a step. There
are individuals among the Apaches, Paw
nees, 1roquois. Sioux and other tribes.
who are now United states citizens, and
on an absolute equality with all our citi.
zens Of pure white blood. Men Of In
dian blood are now serving in the army
and navy and In congress and occupy
high positions both in the business and
political world. There Is every reason
why as rapidly as an Indian, or any
body Of Indians, becomes fit for self-gov-
ernment, he or It should be granted the
fullest equality with the whites; but
there would be no justification whatever
in treating this fact: as reason for
abandoning the wild tribes to work out
reasoning applies. IN the case Of the fnu-
ippines.~? 20 turn over the islands I'd
Aguinaldo and his followers would not be
to give self lf-governnnent to the islanders;
under no circumstances would the ma
jority thus gain seh-goternment. They
would simply be put It the mercy Of q
syndicate of Chinese half breeds, under
whom corruption would flourish far
more freely than ever it fiourished un-
der Tweed, while tyrannical oppression
would obtain to a degree only possible
under such an oligarchy.
Yours truly.