Omaha daily bee., 1902-11-20
Reunion H. Complete.

| navy one Of the most famous aghting ad-
| mirals OF all time, Farragut.
Reunion H. Complete.
There Is another reason why our country
| should be glad that Il was General Wright
who rendered this service. General Wright
| fought with distinguished Eallantry among
| the gallant men who served in the armies
| Of the confederacy during the civil war
| We need no proof OF the completeness Of
| our reunion as people. When the war
| with Spain came the sons OF the men who
| wore the blue and the sons OF the msn who
| wore the gray We'd with one another in
| the effort to get into the ranks and face
| a foreign foe under the old flag that had
been carried iq triumph, under, Winfield
| Scott and Zachary Taylor and Andrew
serve under that fearless tighter, old Joe
ways be proud. But II we needed any proof
| OF the unity OF our interests IL would have
| afforded this very year by General Wright.
as se aetnS governor Of the e Phliippne is
| ands. Upon him during the months of
| summer rested a heavier burden of re
| sponsibility than upon any other public
| servant at that particular time and not
| the least of his titles to our regard is the
OF cordial good will with the head of the
army, himself a man who had honored
! the blue uniform as Wright had honored
! the gray.
Cannot Escape Duty.
General wright's work has been as difi-
! the last four years have definitely decided
/ that whether we wish to or not we must
hereafter play a great part in the world;
| may shirk them II we are built of poor
! stuff or we may take hold and do them
| II We are fit sons of our sires-but face
| them we must, whether we will OF not.
| Our duty I'm the Philippine Islands has
simply been one of the duties that thus
| we can no more haul down our flag and
abandon the ISLANDS than we could now
| abandon Alaska. Whether we are glad or
| sorry that events forced US to go there is
| aside from the question; the point is that
| as the inevitable result Of the war with
! Spain, We found ourselves In the Philippines
| and that we could not leave the Islands
without dscredit. The islanders were
wholly unit to govern themselves and IL
period OF bloody chaos, and then some
| other nation would have stepped In to do
| the work which we had shrked. 1t can
| not be too often repeated that there was
| no question that the work had to be done
! All the question was, whether we would
of men like Governor Wright, 1t has been
| done we'll. The first and absolutely indis-
| pensable requisite was order-peace. The
| reign OF lawless violence, OF resistance to
| legitimate authority, the reign of anarchy,
! could no more be tolerated abroad than 1t
could be tolerated here In our own land.
! Flag stands for Liberty.
The American flag stands for orderly
stands for 1t at home. The task of our
! soldiers was to restore and maintain order
| in the islands. The army had the task to
! do, and II did II well and thoroughly. The
| fullest and heartiest praise belongs to our
| soldiers who in the philippines brought to
| a triumphant conclusion a war, small In
deed compared to the gigantic struggle In
which the older men whom L am address,
| ing took part In the early COS, but in
! conceivably harassing and difficult, because
/ II was waged amid the painless jungles Of
| tropic islands and against foe very
| elusive very treacherous and often incon-
! laat n rrra hnf Td mo
| toward the great numbers OF peace-loving
! Filipinos who gladly welcomed our advent
| The soldiers included both regulars and
volunteers, men from the north, the south,
| the east and the west, men from Pennsyl-
vania and from Tennessee, no less than
| Pacific slope-and TO all alike we give
| honor, for they acted as American soldiers
should.
Punish wronE-DOers.
! Cruelties were committed here and there.
The fact that they were committed under
| no excuse for such cruelties, nor can we
admit as justifcation that they were re-
made to detect and punish the wrongdoers
! and the wrongdoing itself has been com
! exceptional, and their occurrence In no wise
| alters the fact that the American army in
the Philippines showed as a whole not
| order of humanity in dealing with their
! foes. A hundred thousand of our troops
went to the Philippines. Among them
| were some who offended against the right.
Well, are we altogether immaculate at
! home? 1 think not. ask for no special
consideration to be shown our friends and
! kinsmen, our sons and brothers, who dur
| ing three years so well upheld the ma
| tional honor in the Philippines. 1 ask
| merely that we do the same equal justice
| to the soldier who went abroad and faced
| death and lived hard as We show to his
fellow who stayed at home and lived easily
! and in comfort; and II we show that equal
! Justice we will doff our hats to the man
! who has put the whole country under
! obligations. by, the victory he helped to win
But the soldiers work as a soldier was
not the larger part Of what he did. When
| once the outbreak was over In any place,
! then began the work Of establishing civil
| administration. Here, too, the soldier did
ms part IT yhS w0FS en or dobs bn rho bSr &
GERS and men of the regular army, and well
done, too. Then the real work OF building
pe peOpie Who had Become our Wards Hr was
begun, under the auspices of the Philippine
commission. Judge Taft being made gov
to appoint General Wright as vice gov
ernor During the critical period when
| the insurrecton was ending and the time
was one of transition between a state OF
war and a state OF peace, at the time that
1 issued proclamation declaring that the
government was now i'm complete COM
mand, General Wright served governor
6s S6fb Pc wa PTossefss se5s S1d on th
| regards order and justice under the ad-
| ministration OF Governor Wright and his
| colleagues has been astounding.
Have Gone Fast Enough.
There is no question as to our not hay-
| ing gone far enough and fast enough in
| granting self-goVernment to the Filipnos;
| the only possible danger has been lest We
| should go faster and farther than was in
| the interest Of the Filipinos themselves.
| Each Filipino at the present day is guaran-
! teed his life, his liberty and the chance
| to pursue happiness as he wishes, so long
which the islands have never known before
/ during all their recorded history There
are bands of ladrones of brigands, still
| in existence. Now and then they may
| show sporadic increase. This will be due
| occasionally TO disaffection with some of
| the things that our government does which
| are best-for example, the EFFORT to quaran-
| tine against the plague and to enforce
necessary sanitary precautions, gently and
| tactfully though IL was made, produced
/ violent hostility among some of the more
| ignorant natives. Again, disease Ike the
! cattle plague may cause in some given
! Inhabitants revert to their ancient habit
| of brigandage. But the islands have never
been as orderly, as peaceful, or as prosper
GUS as now: and In no other Oriental coun-
try, whether ruled by Asiatics or Euro
! peans, is there anything approaching to
the amount OF Individual liberty and of
| self-goveTnment which our rule has brought
! 10 the Fihpinos. The nation owes a great
debt to the people through whom this
| splendid work for civilization has been
! achieved, and therefore on behalf of the
/ n nNarkuN to N.ar L