The Washington weekly post., 1900-09-18


secured from Russia BY treaty and pur-
chase Alaska was fun OF natives. some
OF whom had advanced we'll beyond the
stage OF savagery and we're Christians,
They were not consulted about the pur-
chase. nor was their acquieseence re-
auired- The purchase was made By the
rlen who had just put through ;ri-
umphant war to restore the Union AMI
free the slave; but more CT them deemed
If necessary TO push the doctrine Of the
consent Of the governed TO a conclusion
50 fantastic as TO necessitate the turning
over of Alaska 20 its original owners. the
Indian and the Aleut. For thirty years
the United States authorities. military and
civil, exercised the supreme authority IN
a tract Of land many times larger tha.l
the Philippines. IN which II did not seem
likely that there would ever be any coz
siderable body Of white inhabitants.
Nearly thirty years passed before the
next instance of expansion occurred
which was over the island Of Hawaii. An
effort was made al the end OF President
Harrison's administration TO secure the
annexation OF Hawaii The effort was
unsuccessful In a debate in Congress on
February .. 1894 one Of the leaders IN OPP
posing the annexation OF the ISLANDS,
stated: These Islands are more than
two thousand miles distant from our eX-
treme western boundary. We have SER
ious race problem now In our country,
and I am not in favor OF adding % our
/ domestic fabric mongrel populAuJh toL
| this character). Our Constitution make'
mo provisions for a colonial establish
ment ANY territorial government we
might establish would necessarily. BE-
cause of the population, be an ohgarchY,
which would have to be supported ty
armed soldiers Yet Hawah has nov
| 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 entertain
| ed by any human being. yet they are pre-
| cisely the objections urged against the
/ acquisition of the Philippines at this very
moment We are making no new de-
| parture We are not taking a single
| step which in anv way affects our insti-
| tutions or our traditional policies. From
/ the beginning we have given widely vary
1 ing degrees OF self-government TO the
| different Territories, according to their
| needs.
| Far Removed from imperialism.
| The simple truth is that there is nothing
even remotely resembling imperialism"
or ''militaTism" 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 is only
| imperialistie in the sense that Jeffers0n's
policy in Louisiana was iraperialstic;
| only military in the sense that Jackson's
policy toward the Seminoles or Clusters
/ toward the Sioux embodied militarism;
and there Is DO more danger of its pro-
ducing evil results at home now :ha1
Z there was of its interfering with freedom
under Jefferson or Jackson, or in the days
of the Indian wars on the plains. OR
army is relatively not as large as ii was
in the days of Wayne; we have not one
regular for every thousand inhabitants.
There is no more danger of a draft than
there is of the reintroduction of slavery.
When We expanded over New Mexico
and California we secured free govern
ment to these Territories and prevented
their falling under the ''militarism" of d
dictatorship like that Of Santa Anna. or
the imperialism" Of a real empire IN the
| days of Maximillian. We put a stop 10
! Imperialism in Mexico as soon as the civil
war closed. We made great anti-im-
perialiGuc stride when We drove the
Spaniards from Porto Rico and the Phil
1 ippines and thereby made ready the
/ ground in ~ islands for that grad
| ually incrt; measure of sef-goverl-
ment for their populations are sev
/ orally fitted. CUoa is being helped along
the path to md spendence as rapidly as
her own citizens are content that she
| should g.. Of course the presence OF
troops in the Philippines during the Tagal
insurrectiun has no more to do with mill
taTism OF Imperialism than had her
presence in the Dakotas, Minnesota, and
| Wyoming during the many years which
elapsed before the final outbreaks OF the
Sioux were definitely put down.
Comparable 60 Indian Outbreaks.
There is no more militarism or imperial
| ism in garrisoning Luzon until order is
! restored than there was Imperialism in
| sending soldiers TO South Dakota in 1890.
during the Ogallalla outbreak. The -eas-
Oning which justifies our having made
war against Sitting Bull also justifes our
having checked the outbreaks of Aguin-
aldo and his followers. directed. as they
were, against Filipino and American
alike.
The only certain way of rendering ii
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 aran-
tee a stable government an tAese
tribes or TO guarantee them ag.Nrst Guy
side interference. far larger army
would be required to carry out any such
policy than will be required TO seeare or
der 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 McKinleys policy in
the Philippines becomes absurd when it
is conceded that We should. to quote the
! he ~,
give TO the Philippines first a stable
form of government" Ii they are now
entitled to independence they are also en-
titled to decide for themselves whether
their government shall be stable or I'M
stable, civilized or savage, or whether
they shall have any government at ali /:
| while ID Is of course, equally evident that
under such conditions We have no right
whatever TO guarantee them against cut
side interference any more than We have
10 make such a guarantee in the case of
the Boxers (WhO are merely the Chinese
analogues of Aguinaldo's followers). If
we have a right 10 establish stable gov
ernment in the islands it necessarily fol-
lows that il is not only our right but our
duty to support that government until
the natives gradually grow lit to sustain
il themselves. How else will il be sta
BILE? The minute We leave 1t, 1t ceases to
be stable.
Retention OF the Phiippines.
Properly speaking. the question is now
not whether We shall eXpand-for we have
already expanded-but whether We shall
cantract The Philippines are now part
of American territory. To surrender
them would be to surrender American
territory. They must. of course, be gov
erned primarily in the interests OF their
own citizens. Our first care must be for
the people of the islands which have come
under our guardianship as result Of the
most righteous foreign war that has been
waged within the memory of the present
generation. They must be administered IN
the interests of their inhabitants, and that
necessarily means that any question CT
personal or partisan politics in their 5d-
ninistration must be entirely eliminated.
We must continue TO put at the heads OF
Z a@fairS in the different Islands Sfch men