Durango semi-weekly herald., 1902-01-09
shafroth at it Again.

congressman onaIrOtn mas an ar
ticle in the January number of the
Forum in which he returns to the at
tack on the Philippine question. He
protests 'ainst the expenditure of
money for the maintenance of an
army in the Philippines and pre-
diets dire diaster to the United States
if it holds on to those islands. He
closes his article with these words:
Why not avoid the stupendous
blunder of the acquisition of these is
lands, by helping their people to es-
tablish government of their own,
based upon Republican principles.
and thereby continue to be the bea-
con-light of civilization and liberty
to all the world?
We should like to know what the
administration is doing If it is not
helping the Filipinos to establish a
government of their own. , What
would Mr.. Shafroth have the United
States do that it is not doing? He
knows that If it had not been for the
influence of William Jennings Bryan,
the god of his idolatry," the treaty
by which these islands were acquired
would never have been ratified To
be consistent, Mr.. Shafroth must ad
NIT that the ratification of that treaty
was right, for the first premise of all
his political reasoning is that VIII
liam Jennings Bryan can neither do
wrong nor commit error.
Starting with the fact that the
treaty was ratified and that 1t WAS
right to ratify 1t, what has been done
since then that does not meet with
Mr.. Shatroth's approval? 1t was that
great Filipino representative OF Fry
anism. George Washington" Aguin.
aldo, who ordered the Filipino sol
diers to fire on the American truops
Would Mr.. Shafroth have had the
Americans submit or does he think
it was right to prosecute the war
which Aguinaldo began? If it was
right to prosecute the war has it not
been right to continue to use military
force to restore order in the islands?
At what point in the history of Amer
lean occupation does Mr.. Shafroth
think he would have quit?
Has not the administration pushed
the establishment of a civil govern
ment wherever the followers of Ag'u-
naldo have ceased to shoot at Ameri-
can soldiers? Has it not established
schools, importing hundreds OF teach
ers for that purpose? Has 1t not
done all it could to give the Fillpinos
participation in the local administra.
ton? Has it not encouraged them
to organize municipal governments
choosing their own people for public
officers? What more could they or
Mr.. Shafroth or Mr.. Bryan ask that
has not been done?
Suppose that we should formally
declare that we intend at some ti.ue
in the future to turn the government
of the islands entirely over to the
Filipinos, would that reduce the ex-
pense of the obligation OF maintain
ing troops in the Philippines? If Mr..
Shafroth is solicitous for the Fill
pinos, can he suggest anything that
would be better for them than the
government of the United States
1t is good thing for California and a
good thing for Maine. If 1t proves
bad thing for the United States,
can he not trust the Aemrican people
to let the islands go when they have
completed the work they are now
doing and which they certainly could
not do il they were to withdraw their
jurisdiction and abandon the islands
to their fate?
Mr.. Shafroth should follow the ex
ample of his distinguished colaboreI
in the field of Populism and exclaim
"Mr. Speaker, Where am I at?"-
Denver Republican.