Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-07-17

SuCh ny ouI ARMY, lHeTe can De no question
that the war ended because the people
wanted it to end. Through the legislation
OF the civil commission, which put into con-
crete form a scheme of government more
llberal. and more popular than that prom
ised by the Malolos congress, and through
the efforts Of the federal party, whose prin-
clpal plan is peace under American Sover-
eighty, the mass of the people We're fur
nished the incentive and the support which
enabled them to make a stand against the
handful of men in the mountains. With
the people actively upon our side, and their
assistance withdrawn from the insurrectos
the whole movement crumbIed at once. The
great mass of the people are contented with
our government and the protection it af-
lords them. This satisfaction will increase
as time passes. There will never be an
other general uprising. The people will not
stand for 1t, while the leaders, whose prin-
cipal object Is political preferment, will
seek to satisfy their ambitions under our
government rather than lose all by opposing
it. With returning prosperity, the immense
majority OF the people. is the case with
the weather. class today, will prefer the
security OF our government to jeopardizing
their interests under one purely Filipino.
me democrats are sounding a cry which
Will find an echo only among the more
lawless and irresponsible elements of this
people.
Accepting the Situation.
BY the LIST of July the entire archipelago,
with the possible exception of the Moro
SoohtiS' "HiSH Will nave 10 De treated sep
arately. will be under civil rule Already
the military posts throughout the islands
are being rapidly reduced and the troops
replaced by the tnsular constabulary. which
is proving itself amply able to cope with
the ladrone and lawless element The
school teachers are welcomed in every
pueblo and barrio and the people are reach
ing out after our language and our ideas
Life and property are now safer in Manila
than in the large cities in the states. With
a population of 100000 our police court
business is less than 10 per cent that Of
San Francisco. The municipal police and
constahulary, composed of natives, all of
whom are armed, are Jealous in their
duties and there have been few OBJECTIONS.
AS to the Moros. who constitute problem
apart from that of the Filipinos the trou-
BILE which recently portended with them
seems to have passed by. We are painting
no rose-hued pictures. but simply reciting
the facts as they appear to those of US on
the ground. That there are still rough
places in the road. and will be for long is
doubtless true. What we would make plain,
however. is that with the better under
standing which is coming to the people Of
our aims and purposes, with the more in
innate association with them made possible
by the extension Of civil government and
the public schools, with the gradual dying
out of the bitter animosities incident to the
war, and with the cooperation between
the two races incident to business and COM
merce. there Is rapidly developing a homo
early leave the democrats speaking to the
same empty galleries here which character
lie the reception Of their speeches in Wash
ington. BY squirting and prodding the Fill
pinos as the picador does the passive bull
they may succeed in getting a few half
hearted responses from professional agita-
tors and politicians to their deirious ap-
peals.
Sentiment Of the Conservatives.
The mass Of the Filipinos will not be
affected. however, while the conservative
and commercial element. who have finan-
cial interests at stake, will prefer the pres
ent stable government, which accords them
every advantage enjoyed by an American,
to Filipino republic which promises them
liberty" but which would, in fact, subject
them to the caprice and the rivalries of
irresponsible and ambitious leaders with
neither training nor capacity for wise gov
eminent.
The problem has too many sides to touch
them all. but this much can safely be pre-
dfcted: Should the unexpected happen and
our people, frightened by the world move
ment about them, give countenance to the
"scuttle" policy, haul down our flag in the
Philippines and crawl back into their own
little shell, this archipelago would not by
that fact cease to be an American" COM
monwealth. Before that day of "scuttle"
can possibly come American institutions
will have become so firmly implanted in
these islands and the better class of Fill
pinos will have become so imbued with the
justice and fairness. of our institutions that
the reins OF power would not fall into the
hands of scheming Filipino politicians, bent
upon the exploitation Of their own people.
but into the hands Of strong conservative
Americans. who, with their Filipino adj
herents, would guide these islands along
the course of progress to the high destiny
now set them.