The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-09-17

| there is of the re-introduction of slavery
when We expanded over New Mexico
! and California, we secured free govern
went to these territories and prevented
their falling under the "militarisrn'' of a
dictatorship like that of Santa Anna, or
| the imperialism" of a real empire in the
days of Macmillan. We put a stop to
| imperialism in Mexico as soon as the
| civil war closed. We made a great anti
| imperialistic stride when we drove the
! Spaniards from Porto Rico and the Philip
pines, and thereby made ready the ground
in these islands for that gradually-in-
creasing measure of self government for
! which their populations are severalIy
lifted Cuba is being helped along the
/ path to independence as rapidly as her
own citizens are content that she should
{ go.
OF course the presence of troops in the
! Philippines during the Tagal instruction
| has no more to do with militarism or inn
| perialism than had their presence in the
| Dakotas Minnesota, and Wyoming during
the many years which elapsed before the
| final outbreaks of the Sioux were def
f! nitely put down. There is no more mill
tarism or Imperialism in garrisoning
| Luzon until order is restored than there
was imperialism in sending soldiers to
! South Dakota in 1890. during the Ogallalla
outbreak. The reasoning which justifies
| our having<made war against Sitting Bull
also justifies our having checked the out
| breaks of Aguinaldo and his followers, di-
| rected, as they were, against Filipino and
| American alike.
| The only certain way of rendering it
necessary for our Republic to enter on
| career OF "militarism'' would be TO aban-
don the Philippines to their own tribes,
and at the same time either to guarantee
I "a GOV arm ant ri hoe
or to guarantee them against outside in
! reference. far larger army would be
required to carry out any such policy
than will be required to secure order
under the American flag; while the pres
ence of this flag on the islands is really
the only possible security against outside
aggression. The whole argument against
President McKinley's policy in the Philip
pines becomes absurd when it is con-
eeded that we should to quote the lem
guage of the Kansas City platform, give
to the Philippines first a stable form of
government"
If they are now entitled to independ-
ence. they are also entitled to decide for
themselves whether their government
shall be stable or unstable, civilized or
savage or whether they shall have any
government at all; while 1t is, of course.
equally evident that under such conditions
we have no right whatever to guarantee
them against outside interference any
more than we have to make such a guar
antee in the case of the Boxers (who are
merely the Chinese analogues of Aguin-
aldo's followersl. If we have right to
establish stable government in the ISL
ands it necessarily follows that it is not
only our right but our duty to support
that government until the natives grad
ually grow fit to sustain 1t themselves.
How else will it be stable? The minute
we leave i. ii ceases to be stable.
Government of the Philippines.
Properly speaking the question is now
not whether we shall expand-for we
have already expanded-but whether we
shall contract The Philippines are now
part of American territory. To suTren-
der them would be to surrender Ameri-
can territory. They must. of course, he
governed primarily in the interests of
their own citizens. Our hrst care must
be for the people of the islands which
have come under our guardianship as a
result of the most righteous foreign war
that has been waged within the memory !
OF the present generation.
They mus be administered in the in
terests of their inhabitants. and that
necessarily means that any question Of
personal or partisan politics Ia heir ad-
ministration must be entirely eliminated |
We must con .inue to put at the heals of |
affairs IN the different islands such mon
as General Wood. Governor Allen, and
Judge Taft; and it is a most fortunate
thing that we are able TO Illustrate what |
ought to be done in the way of seating
officers thither by pointing out what ac- !
tually has been done. The minor places !
in their administration. where it Is i'm 4
possible to fill them by natives must /
be filed by the strictest application of I
the merit system.
1t is very important that in oJ- own |
home administration the merely m MIS-
terial and administrative Offices. where |
the duties are entirely nonpclitical |
shall be filled absolutely without ra:er- |
ence to partisan affiliations: bus this is !
many times more important in he new /
ly acquired islands. The mart system |
is in its essence as democratic as oGr I
common school system, for it sim L. !
means equal chances and fair play for |
all.
Seif-Government IN Luzon.
Ii must be remembered always that gov /
erning these islands in the interest of the |
inhabitants may not necessarily be TO gov
ern them as the inhabitants at the moment I
prefer. To grant self government to Luz /
ION under Aguinado would be Ike grant, |
ing self-goYernment to an Apache reser- |
walton under some local chief: and this /
Is no more altered by the fact that the !
Philippines fought the spaniards. than it (
would be by the fact that Apaches have /
long been trained and employed In the I
United States Army and have rendered /
signal service therein; just as the Pawnees i.
did under the Administration of President |
Grant; just as the Stockbridge Indians did /
in the days OF General Washington, and d,
the friendly tribes of the Six Nations in |
the days of President Madison.
There are now in the United States /
communities of Indians which have adj
vanced go far that it has bee2 possible |
TO embody them al q whole IN our politi- !
cal system, all the members Of the The I
becoming United States citizens There /
are other communities where the l.fli; OF +
the tribe are still too wild for it 10 be |
possible TO take such a step. There are i
individuals amorg the Apaehes. raanees,
Iroquois, Sioux, and other tribes who are |
now United States citizens. and who are
entitled to stand, and do stand, OF an alb
sclute equality with all orr citizens of 1
pure white blood.
Men OF Indian blood are now serving in i
the army and navy and in Congress and |
occupy high position both in the business /
and the political world. There is every /
reason why as rapidly as an Indian, or
any body OF Indians. becomes fit for self
government, he or # should be granted the /,
fullest equality with the whites but there
would be no justification whatever In
treating this fact as reason for abandon
Ing the wild tribes to work out their own +
destruction. Exactly the same reasoning
applies in the case of the Philippines. To
turn over the islands To Aguinaldo and
his followers would not be to give SELF