Delaware gazette and state journal., 1902-12-18
OUR PHILIPPINE ACHIEVEMENT.
New YORK Evening Post.

In MS recent message 10 COnff1es8
President Roosevelt declared, speaking
Of our achievements in the Philippines,
that, taking the work of the army and
the civil authorities together, it may
be questioned whether anywhere else
in modern times the world mas seen
better example of real constructive
statesmanship than our people nave
given in the Philippine Islands. - He
also insisted that mo policy ever en-
tered into by the American people has
vindicated itself in more signal man
ner than the policy OF holding the
Philippines. - For the latter bald
assertion he had no facts to give he
yond tine statement that 1.-THE triumph
of our arms, above all, the triumph Of
our laws and principles, has come
sooner than we had any right to ex>
pect.', All told, the space he gives ii
this message to all the millions of oui
Filipino subjects Is ope-hslf that 40
corded to the navy; and most Of tha'
space is devoted to praise of the cen
querors and Of their forbearance il
having indulged SO little in the wate.
cure and other gentle Christian prac-
tices.
The foreign observer, reading all this
JOY and praise might be excused for
W ultIbtil tlb s7
an ideal state, where our good Ameri
can customs had been introduced as by
an outright miracle overnight. He
would be most struck by the fact that
the Executive had not single recon-
mendation to make to Congress for the
betterment of any Of tho conditions Of
the archipelago. Fortunate islands =
he might exclaim, 81 to be SO prosperous,
SO free from currency evils, from tarin
troubles, and internal dissensions, that
the President need not make even a
perfunctory appeal for legislation.
Ii this observer should then turn 70
tho files Of any newspaper and study
The oispatobes from Washington and
the Philippines he would make the fol-
losing discoveries: an That he
state OF currency is such AS 10 bring
trade and business to standstill in
Manila III that Vice Governor virgins
has made a personal appeal TO the
Senate for such tariff treatment OF the
islands as viii rut stihe all trade pe
tween them and she home country -
tkat thsro hss tseen a practical csssa<
sicn Of agriouitnEe In Luzor owing to-
tho lass III g per cant Uf the iisld
animals; ~ that the islands have been
s1oargsd By cSoisrs and plague; 81
that tas existing fasainc Is so se,a}
oas az 90 force Gov. .afs 70 buy gseSs
supplies of ice in Sian, and lIliias
and (6l that after four and one half
years of Americsn occupation, the
islands are prostrzte as never before I'M
I, sheir history. Would not the foreign
7, observer, tnen, rub his eyes and acsuse
the President of tnc Caited States
either Of tctsl failure to appFeoiateI
the situation Ia the islands, or Ct de-
| liberate d,aingsDuouaressS
Trade anc agricultural demoraliza-
| tion, famine, r7sslienco. and tire wreck
of war--this is airsost the net result of
our holding the Philippines, simply
that part OF the riobes Of the Indies
might come tc US. We say almost
the net result because w wouiG not
overlook the sincere effort 60 fcrrs lie
| Filipinos into adopting tho English
| language, made by the Department OF
Education, however much that may b.
offset by the gagging of free speech
| and the free press by the monstr3ua
| Alien and Sedition act of the Phillip
| zine Commission. Nor would we fail
| to give credit to the Administrator.
| for the proinptness with which II
| turned over the government of thu
| islands to civilian rule. But to t. Z
| general view of thas situation given|
above we must adhere, with the added
fact that, thanks to the partial intra
1 duction of American wage standards
| the labor market has become demOral
ized. One outcome Of this is the do
manc for Chinese labor, made by Vice
Gov. Wright on Tuesday.
To state the facts thus is neither
easy nor pleasant The Filipinos, it
| will be remembered, were declared uniit
Il -. 4An...e.oIxraa f.ft
| alone, anarchy would inevitably result.
Could anarchy include much more than
| starvation, war, the plague, the death
of trade, the failure Of crops. ana the
complete unsettling of the body poiiticY
1t vas impossible, re were tolo in
1888, to givs the Filipinos liberty,
because they could not enforce order
among themselves. But Just this week
comes the news that piracy has been
committed in Manila Bay by Ameri-
cans in American uniforms, that armed
guards must be placed on a transport
to discipline discharged American
soldiers, and that concentration zones
are to be re-sstablisheG in Rizal pro-
vince against the ''robber bandE''
which infest it--as il concentration of
whole people against few robbers
we're not preposterous on its face
| JduueulDg db bQeEe iuCle ANU WI.
quote only from Associated Press dis
patches they are but Of slight signifi-
canoe as compared with the indiif-
erence of the President Congress, and
the public press. In the latter the
Philippine news is treated as OF pre-
cisely the same import as a fire in
Atlanta, Georgig. Congress has, in ita
treatment of the Phi lippine currency
and tariff questions, demonstrated again
that even a nation Of shopkeepers may
go about its search for wealth in the
East in so bungling and short sighted
way as to arouse the ire and indigna-
tion of all its business representatives
in the distant islands. Distressing rs
the situation in the Philippines is, wo
believe it may yet have a good side
in making more and more people realize
the vicious character OF our Philippine
bargain, of the extreme short sighted
ness of the leaders who fastened it upon
the country, and of the humiliation
which is steadily following in its train.
The following pensions have been
granted to Delawareans: Henry II.
Abbott, Milford, ss per month; John
II. Hobbs, Millsboro, SS; James II. G.
Curton, Laurel, sl2.
PhfladeipnIA Aarkets.
Associated Press Dispiteh oF spesial Wires
Philadelnhia. Pa Dec. I7.-wheat. &c lower. Sd.
Pennsyiysnia in export elevator, 77a771 &c; NJ.