The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-08-23
ROOSEVELT BEGINS HIS TOUR
 AND OUTLINES PARTY POLICY
lcontInued from First Paael

--~---&~~~-~l~-~~0-- @~->-~-@--~ISS- and then some stronger power would have stepped in and seized the islands and have taken up the task which we in such a case would have flinched from performing. A less easy but infinitely more absurd course would have been to leave the islands ourselves and at the same time to assert that we would not permit any one else to interfere with them. This particular course would have combined all the possible disadvantages of every other course which was advo- cated. IL would have placed us in a hu- initiating position, because when the actual test came it would have been quite out of the question for us, after some striking deed of savagery had oc- cured In the islands, to stand by and prevent the re-entry of civilization into them while the mere fact of our having threatened thus to guarantee the local tyrants and wrong-doers against outside interference by ourselves or others, would have put a premium upon every species of tyranny and anarchy within the islands.
 Not an Easy Course.
 "Finally there was the course which we adopted-not an easy course, one fraught with danger and difficulty, as is general ly the case in this world when some great feat is to be accomplished as an incident to working out national destiny. We made up our minds to stay in the islands, to put down violence, to estab- fish peace and order, and then to intro duce a just and wise civil rule accom- panied by a measure of self government which should increase as rapidly as the l islands showed themselves fit for it. l Well, 1t was certainly a formidable task; but think of the marvelously successful way in which It has been accomplished.
 "The first and vitally important feat was the establishment of the supremacy of the American flag, and this had to be done by the effort of those gallant fel- low-Americans of ours to whom so great a debt Is due-the officers and enlisted men of the United States army, regulars and volunteers alike. Tn succession ol campaigns, carried on in unknown tropit jungles against an elusive and treach erous foe vastly outnumbering them, un der the most adverse conditions O climate, our troops completely broke th power of the insurgents, smashed thei 1 armies and harried the broken robbe | bands Into submission. In it's later stag the war against our rule sank into mer' brigandage; and what our troops had t' do was to hunt down the parties O Iandro1ies It was not a task which 1 was humanely possible to accomplish il a month or a year; but month by month year by year. with unwearied and pa tient resolution, our army in the Philip pines did the task until the last Vestig of organized insurreetion was stampe' out. I do not refer to the Moros witt whom we have exercised the utmos forbearance but who may force us t chastize them If they persist In attaclSinl our troops Among the Filipinos proper however peace has come. Doubtless her and there sporadic outbreaks of brigand age will occur from time to time, bu organized warfare against the Americal flag has ceased. Our army in the island has been reduced until it is not fourth of what it was at the time tn outbreak was at its height
 Army Conquered Step By Step.
 ..Step by step as the army conquered the rule of the military was supplante' by the rule of the civil authoritles-th soldier was succeeded by the civilian magistrate The utmost care has beel exercised in choosing the best type o Americans for the high civil positions ana ! the actual work of administration ha! been done so far as possible by native Filipino officials, serving under these i Americans The success of the effort ha: l been wonderful. Never has this country had a more upright or an abler body ol public representatives than Governor l Taft. Governor Wright and theil | ippine islands. It is a very difficult mat ter practically to apply the principles O an orderly free government to an orienta people struggling upward out of barbar ism and subject. It is a task requirinl infinite firmness patience. tact and broad mindedness. All these qualities have beel found in the civil and military officials who have been sent over to administe the islands It was, or course, inevitabl | .l.s h1 a1fr la1 frlt but 1t is astonishing how few these hay been. Here and there the civil govern ment which had been established in
 given district had to be temporarily with drawn because of Some outbreak; but a last on July that has just passed 1t wa possible to declare amnesty throughout the islands and definitely establish civ rule over all of them excepting the coun try of the Mohammedan people. wher the conditions were wholly dr~rent
 Each inhabitant of the Philippines | now guaranteed his civil and religious rights, his rights to life, personal libert, and the pursuit of happiness subject onl, not to infringing on the rights of others It is worth noting that already tn, Philippine people have received a great CT share of self-goveInment; that the, have more to say as to how they shal be governed than Is the case with othe. people In ths orient which IS under Flu ropeau rule Nor Is this all. Congres has with far-seeing wisdom. hearth! supported all that has been done by tn executive. Wise laws for the governmen of the Philippine Islands have been place' upon the statute books and under thos laws provision is made for the introduc tion into the Philippines of a representa- tive government, with the delay onl, absolutely necessary to allow for the es