New-York tribune., 1902-07-02
"OUR DUTY IN THE PHILIPPINES. )"
REPORT MADE BY THE REV. DIR. A j.
BROWN. SECRETARY OF PRESBYTERIAN
BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS.

The Rev. DR.. Arthur J. Brown. Secretary of
the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions,
New-York, recently returned from a fifteen
months tour of Asia. during which he visited
Japan, Korea. China, the Philippines, SIAM
India. Egypt and Syria. In his report the
Philippine Islands, which has been printed by
the board for private circulation. he writes
in part as follows on Our Duty in the Philip
pines"
TON er are n ny ond Fod mat a s Seorse h
tension of our domain l grant that some OF his
supposition But washington lived when a compar-
aYe a6 n d of g90es Fe sn ss6 m %sh
tion was whether we could preserve our national
dream of the situation which confronts US to-day
F6 from the &aR to the a hG and R
an enormous surplus Of wealth and power. Wash
showed the necessity for Change Tor While he had
SdyoSated ALLIANCE With France & as general ne op
strate he was the last to assume that iron
ance Of a nations policy under circumstances then
unforeseen, What washington would, DO to-day is
not to be deduced from what he said in the com
paTatyc gl99Sm Of 1883 but from what common IN
Goa dictate in ia0i and as the Father Of our Coun,
try was characterized by all these qualities do not
the nineteenth century he would have done about
what the equally wise. patriotic and Christian
These new problems are appalling; . grant; But
sp9nsbilitss not by Pusillanlinou?ly doaging lhem
and when the United States finds itself to race
has made it safe ard strong and prosperous. II has
profit may y be seen . IT, their discharse
In all their relations to the Philippine Islands the
American Government and people should resoluteIy
hold themselves to stern and sef-sacriiGing sense
StrGet nI'y the e Is Of eght mon lion people Of widely
different race separated into many tribes differing
tered over territory which Is not only ll!.OOO
ntaTiv thopsand m .lands the so9tbernmost of
which is nearly two thousand miles from the north n
providental way When on that bright May morn
ing Dewey had so triumphanty v3nql9ished Irt tne
we TO do? Hitherto we had pursued self
we we're % young and that our present territory was
vast enough our present PTGbfbms ems aye e e9oggh s
rudely forced other territories other problems upon
Gould g or We r 6uTeTe we a Of s Rrn fS them o to
Spain? impossible. we had DESTROYED SPANS
haif-civiized MaIays to cut one another's thrQats
the the frstF Equally impossible AguInaldo accord
ing some reports is an able man. but he is an
See6 m Soddg as snf that ms d the sn TurEey
o Gye b5 5hsm so soSfe Of p3cap knows
that such an attempt would haze preISdiptateSd it So
Had we moral right anyway to vacate our re-
sponsibilities? A nation. like an individual does
+ But after all the question whether we ought to
"ft is condition Which confronts us and not a
theory" The real questions which we must face
object to be sefsh or unselhsh, the increase of
our own wealth and power or me inc enigntenent h
sees nothing in the Philippines but trade or
stepping stone to Asiatic power is unworthy to
vote on the affairs of the archipelago.
The conflict Of in the Philippines Is
nearly but the conflict of moral forces is
only beginning. On side are ambition avarice,
godliness and bigotry; on the other are the open
Bible the free school and the pure Gospel. On
this battlefield drums are beating trumpets
pealing But in the grim silence which often at
tends the most portenous struggles, right is fight
ing against wrong, heaven against hell. America
lacked not martial courage, grudged not material
resources for the physical warfare. Shall II want
Christians Of large hearts and broad vision and
wonderful thing IL would be If our country would
signalze its emergence as world power by the
spiritual well the material regeneration Of