Evening star., 1902-05-07
M'C0MAS
His Speech on the Philippine
Bill.
ME ASU RES EFFECTS
THE CRUELTY OF WAR IS A SIDE
ISSUE.
We Must Not Now Shrink From the
Duty of Governing Those
People.


and received a very attentive hearing on
the part of both members of the Senate
and the occupants of the galleries.
Success in a war with Spain,'' he said,
forced upon a republican administration
by the democratic minority, gave US the
Philippine archipelago, called in the east
The Gem of the Orient
Three years we have held and exercised
sovereignty over those peoples. Sovereign
" in law, sovereignty in fact, RESPONSE
bility and power. These powers must be
exercised in the best and highest spirit for
the good of those communities. These re-
sponsibilities must be met with wisdom and
courage"
Supreme Court Decisions.
He cited the diamond ring case as de-
cided by the United States Supreme Court,
showing that the Philippines became terri
tory of the United States, over which civil
government could be established, and that
in the language of the court, their al
legiance became due to the United States
and they became entitled to its protec-
ton
The court also decided said the SEN
ator from Maryland, that although the
Philippines ceased to be a foreign country
and became territory of the United States
and domestic, yet that it was merely 'ap-
purtenant' territory and not a part of the
United States within the revenue clauses
of the Constitution
The minority have in a prolonged de-
bate ignored all history, ignored the treaty
most of them helped ratify, ignored the act
of Congress paying for this cession of ter
ritory, ignored the acts of the executive
in carrying on government during three
years over this territory of ours. They
ignore the decision of the Supreme Court
that the archipelago is our territory and
domestic.
They bark back to the time before the
war, and propose to undo the glorious and
momentous work of the past four years
to denounce our treaty; to disgrace our
army and navy; to throw away sovereign
ty and the twenty millions We paid for it;
to undo the action of Congress; to defy the
verdict of the people who reelected Presi-
dent Mckinley; to reverse the Supreme
Court in series of its most important de-
cisions; to scuttle amid the fiouts and jeers
Of all the nations of the world.
THE democracy have lost skill and cour-
age. the initiative quality. But I concede
they are initiative. If by i'll luck the de-
mOcracy should succeed republcanism
years hence and then take up the Philip
pine problem in our stead, they would go
right on in our track. because no other
plan would be safe or honorable; no other
is now practicable; no other course is open
to us, and they know it.
The Temporary Philippine Tariff
w nave already Dy law alnTIne0 the I'D
eral tariff adopted by our commission in
the Philippines. The Spanish tariff put a
low rate of duty on luxuries and high
rate on necessities
The new tariff fixes a high rate for lux
uries and a low rate for agricultural i'm
plements. for food Stuffs and all the neces-
sites of the poor. 1t also lowers our own
tariff in favor of articles the growth and
product of the archipelago coming into the
70
ury of the Philippine Islands all money
collected upon goods imported into our
country from those islands. This substan-
tial aid will help the civil government we
are establishing in the archipelago. They
need the revenue.
''As peace extends over all the provinces
civil government expenses increase. We
decrease our Dingley tariff to help the
Philippines and give them all we collect
We let them exact from us the same GUS
toms dues they charge other nations
Mr. McComas summarized the purposes
and effects of the pending Philippine bill
1T is the highest wisdom" he declared
TO resist the temptation to go too fast
We must go slowly if we would educate
these Malay races in self-goverument
Much that is opposed to western instincts
must be allowed to remain. We cannot oc-
c-dentalize the orient in day. To explode
a republican government upon the Filipi1os
at once is to make matters worse for them
and for us. We cannot hustle the east We
dare not forget that after all the east is
the east. If We would carry to them our
institutions We must slowly prepare the
way for the free institutions of the west
and urge them gently along it. We muSt
avoid too much sentimentality Blunders
are Inevitable; therefore we must go slow
II We are blind to the force of oriental
ideas in the orient our failure is fore
doomed. The FAipinos must develop along
their own racial lines: We cannot refashion
them into oriental Americans. Therefore
Congress must proceed slowly. and this
plan of temporary government is wise, hu-
mane, adequate.
here propose. civil government is rapidly
extending over the islands. Progress and
prosperity follow in its wake.
The Side Issue-Cruelty of War.
This beneicent work is obstructed by
the minority on this floor The minority
seek to draw away the public mind from
the dawning of peace in the archipelago.
They shrink from discussion of the pro-
visions of this bill, and for days denounce
cruelties perpetrated by American soldiers
in those islands They do not denounce
and lddrOneS. Instead. they indict our
army, the whole army-gallant youths; sons
of Union soldiers; sons of confederate SOL
diers; our volunteer soldiers in arms: our
fellow Americans from the north and from
the south. Is it patriotic for American
senator's to denationalize themselves for the
sake of partisan adVantage?'
He praised the work accomplished by
General Funston and showed the high es-
TEEN in which he is held by his superior
officers.
1T IS true" he said. that a few of our
soldiers have inflicted the water cure to
eXtort arms, to develop treachery, or to
discover the savages who have buried their
comrades alive or burned them alive by
slow fire. l denounce these instances and
deplore them. The Presidents ringing
words make sure he will punish the few
and Viudicate the army. Ii is true that
here and there villages have been set on
| fire. l deplore these acts
We should remember that war is cruel
War General Sherman said, is hell
Il observe" said Mr.. McComas, II have
not yet heard any senator who wore the
gray or wore the blue rise to rail at the
American army
Summary Punishments.
I'm our own country in sixteen years more
than $500 lynchngs have occurred and
that 81 victims were women; that only
one-fourth of these executions by mobs
were melted by the fiendish crime which
so strongly tempts men to infiict summary
punishment without authority of law
Nearly a thousand of these victims were
white men, Indians, Chinese, or Mexicans.