The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1902-07-11

take. And that was to. accept a cession
OF the islands, pacify them. civilize them
and establish Law, ana urder and good
government for them :
President Mckinley was at first loath
to insist on cession; but when the great
pr05s 16 all ITS sne AND AND
breadth. <dawned upon MIN and he fully
duty seemed plain to him. He was no
moral coward, no evaders Or responsible
never falter, never shirk and never trim.
We owed it to ourselves. to the people
Of the Philippine ISLANDS and to the en-
did do. To have don. otherwise would
have rendered our ton a, moral imbecfle
among the enlightened nations Of the
At the time Dewey entered Manila Bay
Spain was in undisputed possession and
control of the islands. The insurrection
which Which ,Agunaldo and s some. of his asso-
promised and abandoned for money, con-
sideration in 1897 and had taken them
selves to China, where they were living
Manila. There was at that time no Phil
ippine fnsurr and no semblance Of
Philippine army or Philippine govern
! which turned out to- be mere pretense,
of helping our forces to expel the Span
iards, Aguinaldo and some Of his ASSOC
turned to Llizon and were furnished with
arms and ammunition. But no sooner
had they landed and secured arms than
they proceeded de- tt to organize an army and
tilftY to our government i rather, than
Spain. They were even ready at one time.
to. join and cooperate with the Spaniards.
This insurrection, thus started, and fed
/ by the Ignorant and savage 1awlessness
of the people,: we have suppressed. Most
Of It, except in a few isolated parts and
in the case of a. few barbarouS and saw:
age tribes, and bands Of 1adrones or rob
bers, we suppressed more than a year
ago. f. s. ~ :.G| =. W.,
numbered 10000; we have but 1000 there
our force, to 1000 men 4, year ago tbs
q @ 1t T XII me fBs
Der is only 245. and, deducting from, this
the stations in Samar and Batangas,
there are but 100 left, and these would be
greatly reduced If more extensive quar-
tiers were found for the troops in the
larger towns. In the meantime, under the
Taft commission have s1ecfgssfpilg
and order, in most OF the provinces In
thirty five provinces civil governments
are Established and working most success
IS fully. chiefly under, ma tive officials, while
In nine provinces civil government is sue
+ cessfully carried on under military au-
q mi hirty-fve Of the provinces a system
OF public schools has been established, i
with nearly 1000 Americans and 1000 ma.
tive teachers, thus g fford ding the people
have never enjoyed before. They are.
eager to attend the schools and to. learn
English, and they learn quicknesss
and avidity. There are to-day American
teachers in 200 towns and villages where.
there Ii not a5 single American soldier
with the except OF ,af few isolated and
|barbarious tribes and bands. and the La
drones, the islands are to-day spached,.
and law and order and civil sgoYernmenr.
prevails. al AZ civil government more Just
and liberal than ever enjoyed under Span
is1i rule. ].
Under d liberal tarin law enacted by
/ and supplemented by an act OF congress-
at this session. Whfeh eliminates the
( harsh eafuress OF Spanish taxation, ample
EspensessD f the goVeTnments OF the islands,
B inclndfng the tenaIca of
system az pub 1ch0 ols &c the Improve.
81 i IL cuntIy.s