The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-01-10

VI toduS. NOtnliiS exists but paths
through the jungle. l have ridden for
hours in Sulu over the most primitive
paths, barely discernible in the rank
grass They have not crasped the
IDEA OF private and permanent property in
land. And Yet, there is no lovelier spot
no richer land, no better military and ma
val base than the Sulu group. In Paluau
Sulu and Mindanao, the strictest military
government is necessary, indefinitely The
inhabitants can never be made to work.
can never be civilized Their destiny can
not be foretold. But whether they will
Withstand civilization or disappear before
it, our duty is plain.
Plan of Government Needed.
In all other islands our government must
be simple and strong. 1t must be a uni
form government. Different forms for diff
terent islands will produce perpetual dis
lurbance, because the people of each is
land would think that the people OF the
other islands are more favored than they.
In Panay, | heard murmurings that we
were giving Negros an American consti-
tuition. This is a human quality found
even in America; and we must never for
get that in dealing with the Filipinos we
deal with children. And so our govern
ment must be simple and strong. Simple
and strong; the meaning of those two
words must be written in every line of
Philippine legislation; realized in every
act of Philippine administration.
English or Dutch systems Impossible
We cannot adopt the Dutch method in
Java, nor the English method in the Malay
states, because both of those systems rest
on and operate through the existing gov
ernments of hereditary princes. with
Dutch or English residents as advisers
But in the Philippines there are no such
hereditary rulers. no such established gov
ernments There is no native machinery
of administration except that of the vii
lagos. The people nave been deprived of
the advantages of hereditary native
princes, and vet not instructed in any
form of regular, just and orderly govern
ment. Neither is a protectorate pracli-
cable. II a protectorate leaves the ma
would our direct administration OF their
government, II would permit the very evils
which it is our duty to prevent. If. on
the other hand, under protectorate, we
interfere to prevent those evils. we gov
crn as much as if we directly administer
the government: but without system or
constructive purpose. In either aitsrna-
tive we incur all the responsibility of III
rectly governing them ourselves. without
any of the benefits 20 u.s. to them, or TO
the archipelago. which our direct adminis-
tration of government throughout the ISL
ands would secure.
True Interpretation of Declaration
of Independence.
The Declaration of Independence does
not forbid us to do our part in the regen-
GRAFTON of the world. 1t If did. the declar-
alton would be wrong. just as the Arti-
Giles of Confederation drafted by the very
same men who signed the Declaration.
was found to be wrong. The declaration
has no application to the present situa-
ton 1t was written by self-goVerning
men for self-governing men. 1t was writ
ten by men who, for a century and half.
had beeen experimenting in self-govern-
ment on this continent and whose ances-
tors for hundreds of years before had
been gradually developing toward that
high and holy estate. The Declaration
applies only to people capable of self-gov
eminent. How dare any man prostitute
this expression of the very elect of self
governing peoples to a race of Malay chill
dren of barbarism, schooled in Spanish
methods and ideas? And you, who say the
Declaration applies to all men, how dare
you deny its application to the American
Indian? And if you deny it to the Indian
at home, how dare you grant 1t to the
Malay abroad?
Constitutional Power to Govern as
We Please.
'SS,sf,I, is.. Is e7r,osition are estopped from
denying our constitutional Is.&>5T to gov
ern the Philippines as circumstances may
demand. For such power is admitted in
the case of Florida. Louisiana, Alaska.
How then, is ii denied in the Philippines?
Is there a gee graphical Interpretation TO
the constitution? Do degrees of longitude
fix constitutional limitations? Does a
thousand miles of ocean diminish consti-
tutional power more than a thousand miles
of land? The ocean does not separate us
from the field of our duty and endeavor-
it joins us. an established highway need
ing no repair, and landing US at any point
desired The seas do not separate the
Philippine Islands from us or from each
other The seas are highways through
the archipelago, which would cost hun
dreds of millions of dollars TO construct IL
they were land, instead of water Land
may separate men from their desire; the
ocean never Russia has been centuries
in crossing Siberian wastes; the Puritans
crossed the Atlantic in brief and flying
weeks If the Beers must have travelled
by land, they would never have reached
the Transvaal: but they sailed on Lber-
tvs ocean-they walked on civilizations
untaxed highway, the welcoming sea
Our ships habitually sailed around the
cape and anchored in California's har-
bors before a single trail had lined the
DESERT WIN ttlt whitening DOHeS vi THOSE
who made it. MOI No! The ocean unites
us; steam unltes us; electricity unites us
all the elements of nature unite us to the
region where duty and interest call us
There Is, in the ocean, no constitutional
argument against the march of the flag,
for the oceans, too are ours.
May Govern Under Amy Form We
Please.
The nations power to make rules and
regulations for the government of its pos
sessions is not confined in any given set
of rules or regulations. 1t Is not confined
to any particular formula of laws or kind
of government or type Of administration.
Where do senators find constitutional war
rant for any special kind of government
in territory belonging TO the United
States" The language affirming our pow
er to govern such territory Is as broad as
the requirements of all possible situations.
And there is nothing in the constitution to
limit that comprehensive language The
very reverse is true. For power to admin
lister government anywhere and in any
manner the situation demands would have
been in Congress IL the constitution had
been silent; not merely because it is a
power not reserved to the states or peo-
ple. not merely because 1t is "A power in