The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1902-06-13

Reasonable Results Of the Admiuas.
trstion's Biunder Ia the Hand
ling Of Philippines.

President Roosevelt, Secretary
Moody and every republican that I'M
dertakes 10 defend the work Of the
army or justify the policy Of the gov.
eminent in the Philippines. can now
appreciate the far-reaching effects Of
the biunder the administration made
when IT permitted the establishment Of
a military censorship. The evil that
institution did has lived after H. The
good, If there was any, has been in
tered with its bones, says the Detroit
Free Press.
When the administration authorized
a censorship tina. suppressed news.
distorted news and invented news, it
succeeded in setting the seal Of dis
righteousness upon all information
emanating from the Philippines or re-
lating to the Philippines. II was many
months before the American people
came TO understand that their govern
ment did not consider them fit TO know
the truth about their own business;
but having once comprehended ii, they
are slow to forget il. As result Of the
administrations folly, the country as
a whole believes nothing that any Of
ficer OF the government, either civil or
military, may say in regard to the
conditions in the archipelago.
When a man like GOV. Taft says
that this thing is so or that his testi-
mony ought 10 be conclusive. 1t is not.
While nobody charges the governor
with deliberate misrepre- entation, his
statements are accepted at their face
value only by persons that prefer TO
believe them. For the rest there is
Struggling of shoulders. insinuations
as 10 the pleasures Of rainbow chasing,
an Offset Of contradictory testimony
given by Others, and a general evil
dence Of polite distrust. Theodore
Roosevelt. whose reputation for truth
and veracity is certainly as good as
that Of anybody in the United States,
10 the victim Of the censorship evil,
too. When the president declares that
the army has not violated the rules Of
war and that individual cases have
been urged to the disgrace of all the
troops, nobody seems to believe TINS
because the president has said il. Ad-
ministrationists accept it. because II IS
in the interests Of their party. Demo-
Gratis sheer at it. Persons that are try
ing to learn the truth assume that
the president OF the United Safes
must be reliable. and yet they recall
how Mr.. Mckinley seemed to be badly
informed at times in regard to the
insular matters that he discussed.
And thus ii goes.
There can be no general credulity IN
an atmosphere of dis,rust, and this
atmosphere Of distrust was created
when the administration went into the
business of suppressing information
through the medium Of 4 military cen
sorship. 1t Is unfortunate now that
the democrats in congress, in order tc
make campaign material for theil
party, should misrepresent conditions
in the Philippines. and possibly circu
late falsehoods about the atrocities
committed by the troops. But we mus
remember that il was the government
Of the United States that first begar
the business II lying about the Philip
pines. The administration did not
call 1t lying: but it was lying. and is
own folly has survived 10 plague ths
4 marty