The Savannah morning news., 1902-03-06
A WHITE ELEPHANT.

In his testimony en- Tuesday before
! the House Insular Committee Judge
| Taft, the civil Governor of the Philip
pines. said that, in his opinion, there
was no reason why the United States
should be at any expense for the insu-
! lar government of the islands except
for military operations. 1t seems tc
US that this was a very misleading
statement, though perhaps strictly cor
rect. But what will the cost of the
military operations be, and how long
must those operations continue? IT
must be borne in mind that in the mill
tary operations Gov. Taft included the
expense of the military establishment.
He had no intention of conveying the
impression that the revenues collected
in the islands were now, or would be
at any time in the near future. suffi-
cient to cover the cost of transporting
troops to and from the islands and
maintaining them there.
Senator Bacon. in the last of series
of articles in the Saturday Evening
Post on the subject, "Will the Philip
pines Pay?" points out that the only
source of revenue the Philippines
have, and the only one they are likely
to have for long time to come, is
a tax on exports and imports. A di-
rect tax is not to be thought of, for
the reason that the people are too poor.
The idea of internal revenue taxes is
absurd, since there is not sufficient
business to pay the expense of collect
ing such a revenue.
What then is the probable amount
likely to be obtained from taxes on ex-
ports and imports? Immediately prior
to the breaking out of the Spanish
American war the total value of the
exports and imports in deprecated sill
yer was about 10000, 900. 1t is appar-
ent, says Senator Bacon. that if this
amount were quadrupled, which it is
not likely to be in the next fifty years,
it would not yield sufficient revenue to
cover the expenses of the civil gov
eminent together with the cost of
maintaining a sufficient number of
troops to insure the peace of the ISL
ands, even if the tariff taxes were so
high as to be a serious burden to com
merce. 1t is apparent therefore that
if the United States keep the islands
it will be at cost to them of many
millions of dollars year
But it may be said that the United
States will be reimbursed by their
commerce with the islands. Senator
Bacon thoroughly inspected the re-
sources of the Philippines last summer,
and his observations do NOT justify a
hope that they will. The Filipinos are
not likely to want much that we have
to sell. Their chief article of food
is rice, and we cannot supply them
With that. Their main crops, with the
exception of rice are not cultivated
with machinery or such implements as
we have to sell. Therefore they will
not be purchasers of large quantities
Of such articles. Outside of Manila
they have use for only small amount
Of clothes and are practically strang-
srs to shoes. What is it therefore
that they are likely to want of us that
will afford us a market for our surplus
agricultural or manufactured pro
ducts?
Senator Bacon's conclusion is that
the United States will never get back
the SS00,000,0O0 or more which the ISL
'tnds have already cost them, nor any
part of the money that has been ex-
pended; that the revenues of the ISL
ands viii not anywhere near cover the
cost of the civil government, including
the maintenance of an army sufficient
to insure peace, that the commerce
of the islands with this country is not
likely to reach large proportions for the
reasons already stated and that lin
getting possession of the Philippine
Islands we have secured a very cost
ly and profitless white elephant"