BoletiÌn mercantil de Puerto Rico. (San Juan, P.R.) 18??-1918, 1902-03-29
SANJUAN, MARCH %
Fading, Still Fading.

FdQl1X, Otil IouihS'
rhe stars IN their courses are clearly
sgnting against the little band OF anti
eyeryt6ings who are hoping and praying
that peace may not come to the Philippine
Islands. For ths last three months or more
ali the news that has come from the islands
has heen of character to try the souls OF
this band. It has all been in the direction
of peace. of the successful establishment Of
American rule throughout the archipelago,
and of the consequent setting forth of I'll 9
Filipino people on the road toward civillza.
tion. prosperity and ultimate self govern.
ment, What more gloomy prospect could
an anti-jmperialist be asked to confrontY
What he has been lenging for is continued
war. continued refusal to accept American
sovereignty and the final cutting loose OF
the islands to Ego to the devil and take care
of themselves0
Well. there is no longer shadow of hope
that this will be the outcome. Judge
Wright, who is the acting governor OF tine
islands in the absence of Governor TAFT des
troys the last ray in q letter which was ru-
blished last week in the New York papers.
He wrote it toa friend IN Washington,
and the friend has given it to the puolic.
we look to see Judge Wright de.
nounced rou1dly by the ''antis" as an incu'
rsble ssoptimist," s'i 9 :" inbe cile. and to
see the recipient of the letter denounced
as q renegade to the constitution and
traitor to the Declaration of Independence.
What does Judge. Wright say9 Why, that
the reports which come to the States
about an existing insurrection are
"wholly misleading" that the sreal truth
is that in 90 per cent. of the territory OF the
islands there is no insurrection, and Amer.
icars 20 about singly and unarmed with
about as much safety as they would in q
large majority of the states at home !" that
sshere and there in remote sections there are
instances of csttie stealing and occasional
murder and robbery" bat tive are dealing
very energetically the tyranta! with the
lawless elements, and the people, as rule,
are rebuilding their homes where they have
been destroyed, tilling their fields and pursu
ing their ordinary vocations." What a
perfectly helIish picture!
Judge Wright is really shameless In bis
"eptimisn,n and is not whit less unscru
pulous in expressing it than Governor TAFT
himself, He declares that the telegraphiC
dispatches from the islands "generally deal
alone with something sensational, j" and that
ssif any one of us were in q foreign country
and received only news of what was hap
pening in the United States in police cir
cles, we would get about the same idea oi
our own country as many of the people Of
the United States seem to have of this
Well, welli And Judge Wright, before he
went to the Philippines, was as upright and
respectable and as truthful a man as Judge
TAFT was, or as Prof. Worcester was! Now
he is as reckless liar as either one of them
and as hopeless an imbeclle as the mind o
man could conceive. President Schurman
of Cornell University should be cited al
once as proof on both these points. Why,
there are at least dozen men in Boston
and two or three in San Juan who 'sknow,
net merely believe, but know, that every
word Judge Wright says is ludicrously
false. Think of his saying as final sum.
ming up: s.The fact is that the progress VIC
have made in the last year 10 tremendous
and to me very encouraging. While do
not leok for the millennium either here OF
elsewhere speedily, see no reason to doubt
that American authority can be maintained
without more troops than indicated by Gov
ernor Taft"
Theu there is Gen. O.is. He has been
telling the Senate committee many things
that every ssantin knows to be ia Sc. He
says that the FiIipinos have 'sno correct
idsa Of liberty that s.liberty With them
means licenss;n that Aguinaldo was not
trying to set up an Independent government
but despotism; that if the American gov
ernment had NOT taken military control the
islands would have been given over 10 anar-
chy; that when Mabini, who sas president Of
Aguinaldo's cabinet, was captured, s'he had
pile Of New York newspapers with him
which had antagonistd the sovereignty of
the United States in the Philippines and
the ssSenstor Hoar's speeches were eli over
the islandsn. Small wonder that when he
said these thirgs the entire s'snti' contin-
gent on the SeEate committee fairly blaze6
with indignation. They fell upon Senator
Bsyeridgs fer asking questions which
brought ont such replies and declared thar
il ssassailed every one Of them from behind
amasked battery. Why .smsskedn9 TIE
whole ssantp contingent Is out in the open,
whether the battery be masked OF no. There
Il no dsubt about what they have been doirg Z.
The have been keeping the insurrection
alive for two long years, causing the deaths
Of hundreds Of American soldiers 81 scell as
Of hundreds Of Filipinos. Gen. Otis, like
Gen. Funston, sets forth their conduct in its
true light, he will be assailed 90 roundly
for 60 doing, but not amount of Vituperstion
and violent language oan conceal for mo.
uenf the truth as il stands revealed to the
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