New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1901-10-02
TAMPERING WITH NAMES
THE PHILIPPINE SCHEME UNWIsE AM
IMPROPER

Sir: L was glad to see your editorial para
graph this morning in disapproval of the
scheme to change the name of the Philippine
Islands to the Mckinley Islands The PROPOSE
ton Is one which naturally arises among the
people who in spirit of affection and admira-
ton seek to raise fitting monument to their
fallen chief There is something attractive
ABOUT the idea of calling the great archipelago
after the President under whose administration
IL was ADDED to our domain. Yet the sentiment
Wh1ch urges such a course fails to take account
| of the difficulties and embarrassnents of chang
ing cid and universally accepted names II
these islands We're discovery for which
name was sought. no name could be more ap-
prcpriate than that of the President with whom
they will ever be identified in the thoughts of
| Americans. If we are to build a city there
as naval station mart for commerce Nc
kinley might properly be it's name. II We in
the development of the islands create new prov
inces, one of them might we'll be called McKin-
ley. Nothing, however but worldwide annoy
ahce could result from trying to take from the
islands arbitrarily title they have borne for
| three hundred years. a title from which the
name of the civilized inhabitants is derived. and
for which they doubtless have the feeling
that we have for the name American
These islands. it is true named for a
Spanish king quite arbitrarily should
rename them now He doubtless is less worthy
of remembrance and admiration than Mckinley.
and with the passing of Spanish sovereignty
there is no further reason to maintain a monU-
ment to him. So Amerigo Vespucci was less
worthy of Immortality than Columbus, and with
our modern knowledge realize how much
more fitting it would be if these continents were
called Columbia instead of America. Yet no.
body seriously proposes to blot out the nomen-
clature of four hundred years. The personality
of vespucci is lost in the generic name for these
Western lands. So. too. the personality of Philip
is forgotten. The average man would have to
consult a cyclopadia to find out just which
Philip is concentrated The name now stands
merely for the islands. and the islands embody
| the name. just in the case of England.
France or Italy. Whoever rules these coun-
tries their names are indestructible. Louis
lana called after French king. but when
we annexed it we did not rename it Jefferson
Several of the American States when they
achieved their independence bore the names OF
Ell gIish sovereigns. New-York was named In
honor of the Duke of York. afterward James
ii. the Carolinas after Charles H. Maryland
after Mary II. Virginia after Elizabeth. and
Georgia after George l. The American people
were devoted Washington, but no New
Yorker. Virginian, CaTOlinian Marylander or
Georgian thought of Americanizing them and
removing traces of English sovereignty by
changing the names by which they knew them
selves and were known by the civilized world
Instead they gave the name of their hero to the
new capital they built TO- the nation Later
Territory. since grown to a State, was called
Westinghouse the confusion of the pOStoffce-
but, though Lincoln is likewise the idol of his
countrymen, none of the new States created
since his time have been called in his honor,
though | believe the plan proposed for
one of the Dakotas. Instead, local established
territorial designations have been wisely pre-
served. and admired statesmen have been COM
memorated in the titles of new cities and in
other ways.
Another objection to the proposed change il
founded on euphony. THE Mckinley Islands
is not so bad, but what about the people Of
them? Are they to be McKineyites Mckin-
leyans? And in that far-Off time when they
may possibly establish an independent or semi
independent State. is il to be handicapped by
a designation which is after ALL not true
nlme, since it cannot stand for the country
without qualifying words? 1t cannot be Nc
Kinley or even the Mckinley Republic. the
Dominion of Mckinley, or anything of that sort.
1t must be the State. province, republic or what
not of the Mckinley Islands, excessively
awkward phrase. Moreover. the feelings OF
people who speak Spanish and call themselves
Filpnos are to be considered AmerCaniza-
ton is all very we'll. but one of the most i'm
polite of steps in that direction would be an
attempt to tamper with their language, to force
them to speak English. or arbitrarily to impose
them nomenclature. They are Fill
pinos. and FfIpinoS they should be allowed to
remain even after they learn English OF their
own free will and adopt American institutions.
New-York Oct /. 1901. r.
NON I-nr> THE CT OpV OLy NY'(INI