The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1901-11-23
WHAT IMPERIALISM MEANS.

Having adopted England's robber
policy we have undertaken to copy the
methods she employs in the carrying
out of that policy. We are, therefore,
not surprised to learn that the most
stringent sort of coercion law has been
proclaimed in the Philippines by the
Taft commission. To begin with, trea-
son to the government, which has been
forced upon the Filipinos at the point
of the bayonet, is punishable by death.
The commission, made up of foreign
ers who do not know even the lam
guage Of the people over whom they
exercise despotic power, will define
what constitutes treason. We know
what treason consisted of during our
own revolutionary war. The American
who gave aid OF comfort to his coun-
trymen who had taken UP arms
against English rule, was regarded and
treated as traitor, just as Taft and
his fellow commissioners will regard
and treat any native of the Philippines
whose patriot impulse prompts him to
favor his countrymen in arms against
an alien domination, says the Irish
World.
England's representatives in the
American colonies, however, had much
more justification for their conduct
than have the representatives of the
United States in the Philippines. Wash
ington and his companions in arms at
one time owed and willingly rendered
allegiance to the British crown. The
Tilipinos, on the other hand, were
never American colonists., They new
err recognized the authority Of the
United States. They received our
troops with open arms as allies who
would aid them in their struggle for
freedom. Later on they discovered
that they had been deceived, and that
those whom they welcomed as liberat-
ors had become would-be subjugators.
Now the Taft commission proclaims
that non-submission to this great
wrong will be treason and punishable
with death.
Easy is the downward path. Having
begun by initiating England's robber
policy, we find it necessary to follow
in her footsteps and deprive the Fill
pinos of all the personal rights and
safeguards guaranteed to ourselves by
the constitution of the United States.
The subjects of the Taft commission
who utter seditious words or speech
es, or who write libels against the Unit
ed States government" are liable to be
imprisoned or fined. The Irish World,
or any other anti-imperialist newspaper
which criticises the policy Of imperial
ism, if published in the Philippines,
would be liable to a fine of $4,000, or,
if the foreign masters of the Flipinos
took it into their heads they could send
the editor writing such "libellous mat
ter to prison for two years. Here
again how closely are we copying after
England, which has on more than one
occasion filled Irish prisons with Irish
men who had dared to criticise her
Ubiquitous rule in their native land.
Let us draw another parallel. In
Ireland public opinion counts for moth
ing With Dublin Castle. 1t is the same
in the Philippines. What the natives
think of the foreign rulers and their
coercive measures has no weight with
Taft and his fellow commissioners.
One of the leading men of Manila,
Senior Bautiste who holds an official
position under the new regime, thus
entered his protest against the new
coercion act: ''The sections Of the pro-
posed law have created panic in
Manila Spain had no such law. The
doctrine of treason ought to apply 10
officials only. The bill as drawn offers
great opportunities for blackmall."
What answer do you suppose was re-
turned to this protest? Vice Governor
Wright. who is i'll supreme command
on account of Dictator ,Taft's tempo
rary inability through sickness, IN