The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-05-31
INDEPENDENCE POSSIBLE.
WORDS BY PRESI-
 DENT ROOSEVELT.
The Philippine Question the Burden
 of His Address to Veterans at Ar-

I
 of His Address to Veterans at Ar.
 lington.
 Washington, May 30.-The Memorial
 day exercises at Arlington cemetery
 were notable for President Roosevelt g
 address, in which he discussed the work of the army in the Philippines. In the
 course of his speech he made a very striking statement as to the possibility of independence for the island. He | said:
 We believe that we can rapidly teach
 the people of the Philippine Islands not only how to enjoy but how to make good use of their freedom; and with their growing knowledge, their growth l in self government shall keep steady ! pace When they have thus sho-in ! their capacity for real freedom by their power of government, then, and
 not till then, will it be possible to de-
 eide whether they are to exist indepen- dently of us or be knit to us by ties of | common friendship and interest" The greater part of the address was plea for the army in the Philippines; a denial that cruelties had been inflicted | upon the Filipinos except in eompara- lively rare instances, and an appeal for common justice in the consideration of
 charges against soldiers who were do-
 ing their duty under peculiarly trying circumstances. The presidents address in full follows:
 It is a good custom for our country to have certain solemn holidays in com
 z t.1est ,1n, md nf
 the greatest crises in our history. There
 should be but few such holidays, To
 increase their number is to cheapen
 them. Washington and Lincoln-the man who did the most to found Union and the man who did most to preserve it-stand head and shoulders above all our other public men and have by com- mon consent won the right to this pre- eminence. Among the holidays which commemorate the turning points in American history, Thanksgiving has significance peculiarly its own. On July 4 we celebrate the birth of the na- tion on this day, the 30th of May, we call to mind the deaths of those who died that the nation might live, who wagered all that life holds dear for the great prize of death in battle, who poured out their blood like water in or der that the mighty national structure raised by the far seeing patriotism of Washington. Franklin, Marshall, Ham ilton and the other great leaders of the Revolution, great framers of the Con- stitution, should not crumble into meaningless ruins,
 You whom I address to-day and your comrades who wore the blue beside you in the perilous years during which strong. sad, patient Lincoln bore the crushing load of national leadership, performed the one feat the failure to perform which would have meant de- struction to everything which makes the name America a symbol of hope l among the nations of mankind. You did | the greatest and most necessary task | which has ever fallen to the lot of any | men on this western hemisphere. Near | ly three centuries have passed since | the waters of our coasts were first fur | rowed by the kees of the men whose | children were to inherit this | fair land Over a century and half of | colonial growth followed the settle ment; and now for over century and quarter we have been a nation.
 During our four generations of na- tional life we have had to do many tasks, and some of them of far-reachng importance; but the only really vital task was the one you did the task of saving the Union. There were other rises in which to have gone wrong would have meant disaster; but this vas the one crisis in which to have gone wrong would have meant not merely disaster but annihilation. For allure al any other point atonement 'ould have been made; but had you ailed in the iron days the loss would lave been irreparable, the defeat ire rievable Upon your success depended II the future of the people on this con inent, and much of the future of man ,ind as whole.
 You left us reunited country. You eft us the right of brotherhood with he men in gray, who with such cour- ge and such devotion for what they eemed the right, fought against you But you left us much more even than our achievement, for you left us the memory of how it was achieved You, Iho made good by your valor and pa rotsm the statesmanship of Lincoln nd the soldiership of Grant, have set S the standards for our efforts in the uture both the way you did your work I war and the way in which when the rar was over you turned again to the 'ork of peace. In war and in peace like your example will stand as the