Washington sentinel., 1900-06-30
Trying the silver Bart.

for about 81 apiece, the Admins
tration is now offering its human
chattels ten times as much in colo
cash to reform and be good This
is substantially the significance o
General MacArthur's proclama.
nation OF amnesty issued at Man
ila last week. In consideration oI
the surrender by each "rebellious"
Filipino OF his rifle, his promise
not to continue in "insurrection"
and his acceptance Of the author
itY and sovereignty OF the United
States he will be given consider
able sum Of spending money,
| granted immunity from his Gus
sedness" in the past and trans
ported to his home at the expense
ofhis American owners. Contem-
pOraneouslY with this display Of
magnanimitv on the part OF the
Administration comes the state
ment, by way Of the Republican
National Convention, that the
"war in the Philippines is. over
a statement with which this coun-
try i9 sadly familiar, inasmuch as
it has been made at regular inter
walls for the past six months.
1t would have been much
cheaper Tor the Administration TO
have subsidized the Fihpinos be-
fore the war began rather than
fight for more than a year before
instituting its bounty syst m,
Since hostilities commenced our
Government has expended enough
money in the campaign to give
every Filipino able to bear arms
40 acres OF good farming lands in
the archipelago and a we'll seas
oned army mule. If American in
genuity and Tesourcefulness were
as great as they used to be, every
Filipino would have been placed
on the pension rolls before the
fighting began, and would now be
ceiving a comfortable sum to be
have himself and develop the ma
terial resources of the archipelago.
OF course, such a procedure would
have been Irregular, but, as it
would have proved less expensive
than waging war on the scale which
we have found necessary, it might
have proved better policy from a
financial standpoint than the plan
we have purs led without success
up to the present time.
1t used to be said that "the only
good Indian Is a dead Indian"
For a number of years our Gov
erument dealt with the red man
upon the theory that he could be
converted" only by extermina-
ton. Evidently this policy will
not work successfully in the Phil
ippines, although our soldiers, it
must be admitted, have had some
fine shooting and have killed
great many OF our "rebellious"
Asiatic subjects. Before the TO-
ooo, 900 inhabitants OF the archi.
pelago could be exterminaied,
however, the Government would
have to draw too heavily upon the
Treasury to suit even those tax
PAYERS who are expansionIsts.
Hence It has been decided to
adopt the policy outlined in Gen.
MacArthur's amnesty proclama-
ton. Filipinos who will p.edge
themselves to walk in the paths OF
righteousness will be paid hand
somely for their conversion. 1t is
a nice scheme, in keeping with our
plan Of benevolent assimilation"
but it is to be feared that it comes
too late and will not work.
The Asiatic mind is a very sub
tie one. When the Filipinos find
that the Government of the United
States is willing to buy their sub
mission they will probably con-
clude that the war is not a popular
one IN the United States and the
Government has urgent reasons
Tor terminating it. Possibly they
may think that by holding out
longer they may be able to exact
concessions from the United States
OF an even more substantial nature
than a subsidy Tor good behavior,
for it is doubtful whether, so far as
the final outcome OF the war is con-
cerned, the Filipinos are in a worse
position than the United States.
They have prolonged hostilities
for nearly I6 months and maintain
undisputed possession Of the
greater part Of the archipelago.
They have compelled this Govern
ment to spend many millions of
dollars in the effort to conquer
them, and If their fighting spirit
still remains they can keep an
American army busy Tor some