The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1902-11-07
PROBLEMS OF IMPERIALISM.

PROBLEMS OF IMPERIALISM.
The American people are just be-
ginning to realize the difficulty of
adapting our system of just govern
ment by free men in a free land to the
conditions of governing subject colon
les of alien people. There is not only
the difficulty, but there is the cost,
and then Their is prospect of very prob
able failure in the end Just now we
are getting ready to pay Denmark
$5,OOO,OOO for the possession of three
West Indies islands, whose inhabi-
tants do not ask a change of al
legiance and are sure to give us trou-
BILE before long. Moreover, these ISL
ands have been a constant charge up
| on the Danish treasury, and we must
expect to pay a considerable stipend
yearly for the privilege of ruling them
| through high-salaried officials, such
as those we have put in control at
Porto Rico and Manila. If Denmark
backs out of the trade at the last min
ute, as now seems not impossible, it
will be not only money in Uncle Sans
pocket, but load off his mind.
Then there is the greater problem of
getting rid of the friars in the Philip
pines, paying them off, disposing of
their lands and bringing in their sue
cessors. Added to this is the task of
preparing the Filipinos for ultimate
elf-government' the Moros.
The duty of killing the latter is still
upon us. They are unconscionable
Mohammedans, polygamists and slave
holders. We must put them down any
how. There has been earthquake and
tidal wave at Guam, and the officer in
charge there has sent a pressing ap-
peal for money and material to rebuild
the piers and barracks. From Hawaii
comes an urgent request for permis-
sion to introduce Chinese labor, and
also a counter petition which tells of
intolerable cruelty practiced upon ma
tives of Porto Rico who have been in
duced to migrate to Hawaii to take
the places of Chinese coolies hitherto
working there.
L ulo VI lllG Nltlpob llO"SNCt' -
very clearly the worst we have on our
hands in the shape of a problem of i'm
perialism. 1t looks straight toward a.
religious war the most terrible form
of conflict So far the Mohammedans
of the Sulu archipelago have been
| kept quiet by the payment from the
| United States treasury of Salaries" to
the sultan and his chiefs. which they
accept as tribute from an inferior ma
ton. No attempt has been made to
compel them to acknowledge subjuga-
ton, or to enforce the supreme law of
| the United States against human
slavery and against polygamy. The
Moros of Sulu are allowed to go on in
their own way, keep quiet and receive
tribute from the American govern
ment in the form of salaries"
| Not so, however. with the Moham-
medans of Mindanao. That big island,
the largest in the archipelago except
Luzon and lying near by. must be
brought into full subsection for APP
pearances sake If for nothing else.
For the past six months, therefore,
General Sumner has been engaged in
destroying forts and killing Moro
troops. only to find that those who
are left alive are more stubbornly con-
WINGED of the righteousness of their
| cause and the more fanatically deter
mined to resist to the end. He gets
nothing but defiance. This is a sample
of the communications he receives
from the surviving chieftans: 1.-THE
sultan of Bacolod desires war forth
with. He wishes to maintain the re-
ligion of Mohammed. Cease sending
| letters. What we want is war: we
do not desire your friendship"
| And the worst of 1t is that these
misguided Moslem fanatics mean ev-
cry word they say. They actually pre-
| fer death to the kind of Americaniza-
ton which has been going on in Luzon
and Samar and elsewhere these last
| four year, With inConceivable stu
pidity and shortsightedness this sui
tan would rather be ruler of his own
lands than accept the sovereignty of
the United States as enforced by Gov
ernor Taft and General Sumner. In
stead of being ready to have Christian
ity forced down his throat at the same
| time, he WISHES u ule LOT MOlaHt-
mechanism from bullets fired in the
name Of the Prince Of Peace.
Moreover, this idea cannot be beaten
out of the minds Of these men. It is a
part of their religion. The holy law of
Mahomet commands an eternal hOstil-
ity on the part Of followers of the
prophet toward all unbelievers. Their
rulers are forbidden to submit to the
jurisdiction Of the unbeliever, to pay
him tribute, to acknowledge in any
way his sovereignty. They may pre-
tend to do so if the alternative is ex-
termination. but only with a view tC
breaking all treaties and repudiatina
all obligations and rising in arms tc
throw off the Christian yoke when OPP
portunity offers. How far fanaticlsm
will carry them in obedience to the
roly law of the prophet, the world has
seen in the stand of the dervishes OF
the Soudan against the British arm
les. It is the same type of men, the
same fanaticism, with which we have
to deal in the Philippines.
After all the Christian Filipinos
have been subjugated, there will re.
main this problem of the Mohamme-
dams They cannot be assimilated
benevoently or otherwise: they will
not stay subjugated. for their religion
forbids them to accept such a position
under unbelievers. The only alterna.
tive is determination. Are the Amer.
lean people ready to undertake this