Arizona silver belt., 1900-10-18
RIGHT THE WRONG.
Give the FilIpinos Their Liberty
 and Protect Them In It.

duu f'otce' iutbi bu u.
 Hon, Jame, l. Blair in tha chicago Record
 The question is often asked "W hat can we do now, and are we in po- sition where we cannot go backward?" The answer to these questions is very simple one.
 Nations are subject tO the same ob- ligations as individuals. If wrong has been done it is never too late to right it. In this case reparation is a very simple matter. The establish ment of a protectorate in the Philip pines until such time as the Filipinos can organize a government of their own Is the obvious and only moral course for us to pursue. If the presi- dent were tomorrow to issue proc lamation announcing to the Filipinos that they are free, and that they would be protected until they could organ iZe their own government just as the Cubans have, there is no shadow of doubt that they would throw down their arms, organize a government and work out their own salvation, slowly and painfully it may be, just as it certainly will be in Cuba, yet it Is their inalienable right to have an op- portunity to do 80, and it can never be less than crime for us to with hold this opportunity. It will not do to say that protectorates are imprac- ticabie. History demonstrates the contrary. The island of Samoa is a recent and direct confirmation of this view, and for nearly 100 years the United States has practically and eff fectlvely exercised protectorate over the South American republics.
 There can be no national duty which Infringes the rights of another nation or individual. If our theory that there can be no just government which does not rest upon the consent of the governed is right, then our con duct in the Philippines up to this  time is indefensble. Surely no one will dispute the correctness Of that theory, The fact that we have not al- ways lived up to 1t is immaterial. It IS part of our national ethics, and is still our national standard. If we are d true democracy we cannot consist ently maintain a despotism, however mild and benefcent that despotism may be. That the British government is democratic at home and imperial in India does not signify. Our govern. ment rests upon a written coustitu- tion, declaration of independence and bill of rights. We are absolute ly committed to the propositions that no man Is good enough to govern any other man, and that liberty is an in- aiienable right, and any deviation from the spirit or letter of these funda- mentals is a violation of the most es- sentlal principle of our national ex- lstence.
 The worst aspect of our not doing our full duty to the Filipinos is the re- actionary effect upon ourselves. Tyranny consists not in the presence of the tyraut but in the absence of the people. The withholding for one mo- ment of the smallest right by one in dividual from another is tyranny The perpetratIon ofone act of tyranny, however small, deadens the national conscience and others will surely fol- low in it's wake. Men glide by easy gradations and the stress of circum- stances from one error to another If the first act is wrong their Subse- quent act must necessarily diverge from the straight line of duty.