The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-05-18
WHAT ISAM ERlCAN POLICY
If We Have no Policy Let US Say so
and Stop Fighting.
TO FIGHT FOR NO POLICY IS WICKED
We Sho3, Down Filipinos Because They Will Not
Do What We Want and We Do No,
Tel Them What We
Will Do.
(From the independently

'"There is always something new from
Africa" was the old world saying III
our new world we have, since 1898, peeh
continually having something new from
the PHILIPPINES. Besides the develop
ments in the Investigations conducted oy
the Senate Philippine Committee, Which
would be more satisfactory TO the I'M
partial investigator if they couid pe
divorced from partisan politics, we nave
had in rapid succession within the last
few weeks the Gardener report, lne
charges made in the Waller trlal, the
horrible admission Of Gen. smith S couh-
sci. the testimony concerning the Tor
turing of Filipinos by Americans, anu
the outbreak of hostilities with some OF
the Mohammedan tribes on the southern
coast of the great island of Mlndanao.
The editor of the Independent has done
me the honor of asking my opinion re-
garding the effect which the most recent
Developments in the Philippine situation
will have. or should have, on the general
Philippine policy of the United States.
Now. in replying to that question, L
think il will be well to begin with the
recent fighting between our troops and
the Moros Every nation is bound TO
protect its citizens and soldiers, and TO
demand reparation when they are at
tackled or murdered. There seems to be
doubt that one or more Americans were
killed by Moros. If no satisfaction were
offered if the act were not dlsaVowed,
both the honor of our flag and the safety
of our people would seem to call FOR
punishment, and among communities
tribally organized, as all the Mohamme-
dan and heather people OF Mindanao
are that punishment might from thelr
point of view be as properly corporate
as indvidual-might, that is to say, IAN
with equal justice either upon the per-
sonal offender or the tribe or clan to
which he belonged. The punitive expe-
dition dispatched by the American ofhcer
i'm command against the dattos and mem
bers of the guilty tribes was in itself
considered no improper proceeding. And
if we were not responsible for any prior
provocation, l do not see that the course
firally adopted is fairly open to criticism
Our soldiers and officials in the Philip
pines must be protected SO long as we
keen them there and if their conduct
squares with our statutes, with the COM
mandments of morality, the rules of war
and the laws of nations, we must protect
them even at the cost of further war
But / fear that we may have been
guilty of the original provocation which
ended in murderous retaliation. | have
read in the newspapers an order issued
by the officer in command requiring our
troops to explore the country of the
Mohammedan chieftains concerned. Now
these chieftains never recognized Span
ish authority beyond the coast line.
Even in the island of Sulu (Jolo) the
Spaniard had no footing except in the
little walled coast town of the same
name With that exception the island
was governed by the sultan and his dat
tos as though Spaniards had never
landed on it's shores. AS inheritorS OF
Spanish sovereignty we have no rights
other than those which Spain enjoyed.
Why then should we send exploring ex-
petitions among the lake Moros in the
interior of Mindanao? Have we not
enough on our hands already, even if we
have the right which l do not concede,
to force the Mohammedan and heather
chieftains to receive expeditions whom
they will certainly regard as enemies
coming to spy out and probably take
forcible possession of their lands? AS
we have lived in peace since 1899 with
the fierce and dangerous people of those
southern Philippine islands by respect
ing their wishes and making amicable
agreements with them, by whose author
ity is this policy to be reversed? Does
the President, does Congress, does the
American nation desire a more extensive
Jurisdiction in the Philippines and a
more intensive control over those au-
tonomous and practically Independent
million or two Mohammedans and heath
en- in Mindanao, Sulu and Palawan? l
have heard nothing of it.
Why, then, should any American officer