Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-05-31
CONSENT OF GOVERNED
Mr.. Foulke Applies it to Phil
ippine Question.
A MASTERLY ADDRESS
CONVICTION, NOT IMPULSE, DE-
TERM1NEs CONSENT.
Ideal is Before Us and We Must Seek
to Attain It, He
Declares.

Mr.. William Dudley Foulke, civil service
commissioner, made the principal address
on Memorial day at Gettysburg. In his adj
dress he gave considerable attention to the
Philippine question. Discussing that part
of the Declaration of Independence which
says that government derives it's just pow
ers from the consent of the governed Mr..
Foulke declared that it was not literally
true, any more than the statement that all
men are created equal. If the governed
should always consent there would be no
need of government at ALL
In his application of the principle to the
Philippine question Mr. Foulke in part,
said:
Consent of the Governed.
Before the principle of the consent of the
governed can apply those who are governed
must be able to give an intelligent consent.
The child is governed by the state, and yet
he cannot vote. He is governed by his pa
rents, whether he consents or no. Does any
one propose to change this salutary rule,
and to make the infant as independent as
the adult? Such a change would result in
the destruction of the children and In the
final extinction of the human race. Does
any one claim that such a construction
independence?
The Filipnos, says Prof Worcester.
are large children who have to be treated
like little ones To promise them indepen-
dence before they can walk alone would be
followed by their Inevitable ruin. AS fast
as the child grows up and becomes self
sufficient You grant him first little liberty,
and then more; you let him play in the
doOr-yard before you permit him to go into
the street; and even then he may be at lib
erty in the daytime long while before you
would think it wise to trust him with
night-key.
$50 it is with those child nations that are
just emerging from the darkness of saw
agery They should first have the power
to manage their local communities, their
villages their towns. When they show their
capacity for this then let them control the
districts, finally the islands, and then per-
haps the archipelago. In this we must fol-
low the law of nature-first the blade, then
the ear. and after that the full corn in the
ear. Moreover it is not every temporary
impulse which determines consent. 1t Is
conviction. 1t is not mere feeling; it is the
conclusion of ripe Judgment
Comparison With South.
"In our civil war we imposed upon the
states of the south government to which
they by no means consented. and yet today
they tell us that they are glad that we
compelled them tC remain in the Union.
Their permanent conviction has justified
the coercion which we exercised against
their temporary desires.
Can it be doubted that after American
institutions have been established in the
Philippine Islands the descendants of those
who are now seeking to wage war against
us will in like manner justify and approve
the act by which we compelled their ances-
tors to remain under the protection of our
flag?
''It is insisted that we have no right to
determine whether the Filpinos capa
BILE of self-government. But who, then.
shall determine it? AS between the child
and the adult. is it the child who is to be
the Judge of his own capacity? 1t must al
ways be the present possessor of political
power who has to decide whether any
other class or community shall be admitted
to the exercise of government.
I'm Massa chusetts none can vote but
those who can read and write, and it must
be they who shall decide whether the il
literate shall be admitted to the fran
chise. In most of our states men only vote,
and it will have to be for the men to de-
eide whether women shall be admitted to
the ballot. In all our states the adults
alone are invested with the power of gov
erning. and it is for them to say at what
age and under what circumstances children
may participate in any Of it's powers.
American People Must Decide.
$50 ii is with the Philippines. The Amer
lean people possess today the political
power in these islands, and we must de-
eide, according to our best judgment, when
and to what degree the inhabitants shall
be admitted to political rights.
I'VE are told that there is no line which
can be drawn between the principle of the
consent of the governed and the rule of
there is no line which can be drawn be-
tween anarchy and despotism, and yet We
know that all orderly government in the
world lies somewhere between these ex-
tremes.
THE fact is that the construction claimed
for the doctrine of the consent of the gov
erned leads to 'reductio ad absurdum.'
Jefferson's maxim. like all other great gem
civilizations, must have a reasonable in
terpretatio
TT does not apply to heterogeneous
masses of humanity that have never yet
developed a national life. 1t does not ap-
ply to the child nations of the world. 1t
presupposeS some apprenticeship in free
institutions. 1t is an ideal which must
be modified by practical conditions.
Has it. therefore no value to us in set
ting the Philippine question? On the con-
trary, it has the very highest value. 1t is
the ideal toward which We should strive
in molding and developing the people of
the islands Today they have no national
existence. 1t is our duty to develop among
them common spirit by means of COM
mon Institutions, common laws and COM
mon purposes Today they are political
children. 1t is our duty to bring them up
TO mans estate.
Must Seek to Attain the Ideal.
The ideal is set before u.s. and we must
seek to attain it, even though generations
may be required before it's realization. The
maxim tells us, right at the beginning of
our enterprise, that the people Of the Pailip-
pines are not to be exploited for our bene-
fit after the manner Of the Spanish gov
eminent from which we have delivered
them, but that their welfare and their de-
sires are both to be considered, and that
the largest measure of government CON-
sistent with their welfare and our duties
shall be secured to them by law.
by this means will We realize in the
most beneficent and practical form posi-
bic under present conditions the real mean
ing of the maxim Of Jefferson, that gov
eminent derives its just powers from the
consent of the governed
Mounting a Wheel.
From the London Chronicle.
A careful bicyclist learns to mount from