The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1900-09-22

ready the ground IN tneSe lSLan0S Tor
that gradually increasing measure of
self-government for which their popula-
itions are severally fitted. Cuba is being
helped along the path, OF independence
as rapidly as her own citizens are con-
tent that she should go. OF course the
presence of troops in the Philippines
during the Tagal instruction has no
more to do with militarism thar had
their presence in the Dakotas. Mime
sofa and Wyoming during the many
years which elapsed before the final out
breaks Of the Sioux were definitely put
down. There is no more militarism or
imperialism in g%arrisoning Luzon until
order is restored than there was i'm
perialism in sending soldiers to South
dakota In 1890, during the Ogallalla out
break. The reasoning which %justifes our
having made war against Sitting Bull
also justifes our having checked the
outbreaks of Aguinaldo and his followers,
directed, as they were, against Filipino
and American alike.
The only certain way of rendering
ter on a career of .militarism''
would be to abandon the Philippines
to their own tribes, and at the same
time; either to guarantee q stable
government among these tribes or
to guarantee them against outside
would lie required to secure order
under nny such policy than will be
required to secure order under the
American flag; while the presence
of this flag ON the stands is really
the only possible security against
outside A3EresstOn
The whole argument against President
Mpkin1aV'S nn1}ov In tho philfnninoa he.
comes absurd when it is conceded that we
should, to quote the language of the
Kansas City platform. 'give to the Phil
ippines first a stable form of govern
ment." If they are now entitled to indie
pendence. they are also entitled to decide
for themselves whether their governmnt
shall be stable or unstable, civilized or
savage, or whether they shall have any
government at all; while It, is, of course,
equally evident that under such condi-
tions we have no right whatever to guar
antee them against outside interference
any more h we have to make such a
guarantee in the case of the Box
ers (who are merely the Chinese
analogues of Aguinaldo's f~ollowers).
If we rave a right to establish
a stable government In the Stands
it necessarily follows hat it is not only
our right but our duty to support that
government until the natives gradually
grow fit to sustain it themselves. How
else will 1t be stable? The minute we
leave it, it ceases to be stable.
g Shall We Now Contract
Properly speaking, the question is now
not whether we shall expand-for we have
already expanded-but whether we shall
contract. The Philippines are now part
of American territory. To surrender them
would be to surrender American terri
tory. They must, Of course, be governed
primarily in the interests of their W
citizens. Our first care must be for the
people OF the Stands which have come
under our guardianship as a result Of the
most righteous foreign wal that has been
waged within the memory of the present
generation. They must be administered
in the interests of their inhabitants. and
tina necessarily means that any question
of. personal or partisan politics In their
administration must be entirey eliminated.
We must continue to put at the head of
affairs in the different islands such men
as Gen. Wood, Gov. Allen and Judge
Taft. and 1t Is a most fortunate. thing
that we are able to Illustrate what ought
to. be done in the way of sending officers
thither by pointing out what actually has
been done. The minor places in their ad-
ministration, where; 1t Is impossible to fill
them by natives, must be filled by the
strictest application Of the merit system.
1t. is very important that in our own
home administration the merely minis
terlal and administrative offices. where
the duties are entirely non-pohtical, shall
be filled absolutely without reference to
partisan affiliations; but this is many
times more Important in the newly &C.
quired islands, The merit system Is IN Its
essence as democratic as our common
school system, for 1t simply means equal
chances and fair play for all.
Aguinaldo the Dictator.
It must be remembered always that
governing these islands in the interest OF
the Inhabitants may not necessarily be to
govern them as the inhabitants at the
moment prefer. To grant s~elf-govern-
ment to Luzon under Aguinaldo would be
like granting ;self-government to an
Anache reservation under some local
chief: and this is no more altered by the
fact h the Filipinos fought the Span
iards than it would be by the fact that
Anaches have long been trained and en-
Moved in the United States army and
have rendered signal service therein; just
as the Pawnees did under the administra-
ton Of President Grant: just as the
stockbridge Indians did in the days Oh
Cen. Washington, and the friendly tribes
NJ the Six Nations in the days OF Presi-
dent Madison.
There are now in the United States COM
munities of Indians which have advanced
40 far that 1t has been possible to en-
body them as a, whole in our political svs-
tenn. all the members Of the tribe becom-
ing United States citizens. There are
other. communities where the I'LL OF the
tribe are still too wild for 1t to be possi-
bic Is take such q step. There are indi-
yiduuails among. the Apaches. Pawnees'
I~r1ootuuoois, Sioux and other tribes. who are
noyW' United States c~itixens, and who are
| entitled to stand; and do stand, on an
! absolute equality with all citizens OF
pure white blood. Men Of Indian blood
are now serving in the army and navy
and in congress and occupy high position
both in the business and the political
world. There is every reason why as
rapidly as an Indian. or any body OF
Indians, becomes fit for seff-government.
he, or it should be granted the fullest
equality Of the whites; but there would
be no Justification whatever in treating
this fact as a reason for abandoning the
wild tribes to work out their own de-
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