The Elk Mountain pilot., 1900-09-25

W
annexed and her delegates have sat in
the national conventions of the two
great parties. The fears then expressed
in relation to an .'oligarchy" and
armed soldiers" are not now seriously
entertained by any human being; yet
they are precisely the objections urged
against the acquisition of the Philip
pines at this very moment We are
making no new departure. We are not
taking a single step which in any way
affects our Institutions or our tradi-
tional policies. From the beginning we
have given widely varying degrees of
selfgovernment to the different terri
tories, according to their needs.
The simple truth is that there is moth
ing even remotely resembling "impe-
rialism" or "militarism" involved in
the present development of that policy
of expansion which has been part of
the history of America from the day
when she became nation. The words
mean absolutely nothing as applied to
our present policy in the Philippines;
for this policy is only imperialistic in
the sense that Jeffersons policy in Lou
siana was imperialistic; only military
in the sense that Jacksons policy to-
ward the Seminoles or Clusters toward
the Sioux embodied militarism; and
there is no more danger of its producing
evil results at home now than there
was of its Interfering with freedom
under Jefferson or Jackson, or in the
days of the Indian wars on the plains.
our army is relatively not as large as
IL was in the days of Wayne; we have
not one regular for every thousand in
habitants. There is no more danger of
Il draft than there is of the reintroduc-
tion of slavery.
When we expanded over New Mex
leo and California we secured free gov
ernment to these territories and pre-
vented their falling under the mill
tarism'' of dictatorship like that of
santa Anna. or the imperialism" of a
real empire in the days of MaNimilian.
We put Il stop to Imperialism in Mex
leo as soon as the Civil war closed. We
made a great anti-imperialistic stride
when we drove the Spaniards from
Porto Rico and the Philippines and
thereby made ready the ground III
these islands for that gradually in
orensing measure of self government
for which their populations are sever
ally fitted. Cuba is being helped along
the nath To independence as rapidly as
her own citizens are content that she
should 90. OF course. the presence or
troops in the Philippines during the
Tagal insurrection has no more to do
with milltarism or Imperialism than
had their presence in the Dakotas,
Minnesota aud Wyoming during the
many years which elapsed before the
final outbreaks of the Sioux We're def
initely put down. There is no more
militarism or Imperialism in garrison
ing LuZOn until order is restored than
there was Imperialism in sending sol
dierS to South Dakota i'll 1870, during
the Ogallalla outbreak. The reasoning
which justifieS our having made war
against Sitting Bull also justities our
having checked the outbreaks of Aguin-
aldo and his followers. directed, as
they We're, against Filipino and Amer
lean alike.
The Protectorate Idea.
The only certain way of rendering 1t
necessary for our Republic to enter on
career of "militarism' would be to
abandon the Philippines to their own
tribes. and at the same time either TO
guarantee n stable government among
these tribes or to guarantee them
against outside Interference. far
greater army would be required to car
nv out any such policy than will be
requHed to secure order under the
American flag; while the presence of
this flag on the islands is really the
only possible security against outside
aggression. The whole argument
against President Mckinley policy in
the Philippines becomes absurd when
it is conceded that we should. to quote
the language of the Kansas City plat
form. give to the Philippines first Il
stable form of government" If they
t,, inInnnn1nnpn in
are also entitled to decide for them
selves whether their government shall
be stable or whether civilized or saw
age. or whether they shall have any
government mt all; while 1t is, of
course. equally evident that under such
conditions we have no right whatever
to guarantee them against outside in
tcrference any more than we nave TO
make such n guarantee in the case of
the Boxers (who are merely the Chi
nese analogues of Aguinaldo's follow
ersl. If we have right to establish Il
stable government in the island it nee
essarily follows that it is not only our
right. but our duty to support that
government until the natives gradually
grow fit to sustain it themselves. How
else will it be stable? The minute we
leave it. it ceases to be stable.
Properly speaking the question is
now not whether we shall expand-for
we have already expanded-but wheth-
er we shall contract. The Philippines
are now part of American territory. To
surrender them would be to surrender
American territory. They must, of
course. be governed primarily in the in
terest of their own citizens. Our first
care must be for the people of the
isla nd
guardianship as n result of the most
righteous foreign war that has been
waged within the memory of the pres
ent generation. They must be admins
tered in the interests of their inhabi-
tants, and that necessarily means that
any question of personal or partisan
nnlitics in their administration must be