La Junta tribune., 1900-09-29

1
would have TO tre supported by armed
soldiers- Yet Hawaii has now been
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 trndi-
tionzl policies From the beginning We
have given widely varying degrees Of
self government TO the different terri
tories, according to their needs
The simple truth IL that there IL moth
ing even remotely resembling 'impe-
riaiism'' 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 a nation. The words
mean absolutely nothing as applied to
our present policy In the Philippines;
for this policy IL only imperiaiistic In
the scnsc that Jeffersons policy in Lou
Isiana was imperialistic; only military
In the sense that Jackson's policy TO-
ward the Seminoles or Clusters toward
the Sioux embodied militarism: and
there Is no more danSero of Its producing
evil results mt 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
l. ~. LIZ, .ls n
n draft than there is of the reiutroduc-
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 n dictatorship like that OF
Santa Anna. or the Imperialism OF a
real empire in the days of MaSimilian.
We put Il stop to Imperialism in Mex
leo as soon rs 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 In
these Islands for that gradually in
creasing measure of self-goyernment
for which their populations are sever
ally fitted. Cuba Is being helped along
the rrfth To independence as rapidly as
her own citizens are content that she
should go. or course. the presence OF
troops In the Philippines during the
Tagal inSurrcc,ion has no more to do
with militari>m or Imperialism than
had their presence in the Dakotas,
Minnesota and Wyoming during the
many wears which elapsed before the
final outbreaks Of the Sioux were def
ini,ely put down. There is no more
L. arriS
ing i,izou until order is restored than
ther- WAS Imperialism in sending sol
diers 10 South Dakota in 1890. during
the ocallalla outbreak. The reasoning
which justities our having made war
against Sitting Bull also justifies our
having checked the outbreaks of Aguin-
aldo and his followers. directed. as
they We're. against Filipino and Amer
Jean alike.
The rroteciornte Idea.
The only certain way Of rendering 1t
necessary for our Republic to enter on
n career Of "mili,arism" would be to
abandon the Philippines 10 their own
tribes. and At the same time either to
guarantee stable government among
these tribes or to guarantee them
against outside interference. A far
greater army would be required TO car
ry out any such policy than will be
required 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's policy in
the Philippines becomes absurd when
II Is conceded that we should. to quote
the language of the Kansas City plat
form, give to the Philippines first
stable form of government" III they
are now entitled to independence. they
are also entitled to decide for them
selves whether their government shall
he stable or whether civilized or saw
age. or whether they shall have any
government ut all: while IL Is. OF
course. equally evident that under such
conditions we have no right whatever
to guarantee them against outside in-
reference any more than we have to
make such guarantee in the case Of
the Boxers (who are merely the Chi
nese analogues OF AguinaldO's follow
ers). II we have right to establish a
stable government in the island 1t nee
essarily follows that II Is not only our
right, but our duty to support that
government until the natives gradually
grow at to sustain It themselves. How
else will II be stable? The minute we
leave II. 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
island. which have come under our
guardianship as a 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-
tnnta and that NECESSARILY mranE that