The Billings gazette., 1902-11-25

tion between state of war and a
state of peace, at the time that is
sued proclamation declaring that
the state of war was over and that the
civil government was now in complete
command General Wright served as
governor of the archipelago. The
progress of the islands both in mater
ial well-being and as regards order
and justice under the administration
of Governor Wright and his collea-
gues has been astounding.
SeIf-Government in Philippines.
"There is no question as to our not
having gone far enough and fast
enough in granting selfgovernment
to the Filipinos; the only possible dan
ger has been lest we should go faster
and farther than was in the interest
of the Filipinos themselves. Each
Filipino at the present day is guar
anteed his life, his liberty and the
chance to pursue happiness as he
wishes, so long as he does not harm
his fellows, in way which the is
lands have never known before dur
ing all their recorded history. There
are bands of ladrones, of brigands,
still in existence Now and then they
may show sporadic increase. This
will be due occasionally to disaffec-
tion with some of the things that our
government does which are best
for example, the effort to quarantine
against the plague and to enforce nee
essary sanitary precautions, gently
and tactfully though it was made, pro-
duced violent hostility among some OF
the more ignorant natives. Again,
disease like the cattle plague may
cause in some given province such
want that part Of the inhabitants
revert to their ancient habit of brig
andage.
"But the islands have never been
as orderly, speaceful, or as prosper
Gus as now; and in no other oriental
country, whether ruled by Asiaticsa or
Europeans, is there anything ap-
preaching to the amount of individ-
ual liberty and of self-government
which our rule has brought to the
Filipinos. The nation owes a great
debt to the people through whom this
splendid work for civilization has been
achieved, and therefore on behalf of
the nation l have, come here tonight
to thank in your presence your fel-
| low -townsman, because he has help
ed us materially to add new page to
the honor roll of American history.
General Wright, greet you, thank
you, and l wish you WELL"
At midnight the presidential party
left for Washington over the Southern
railroad. No stops will be made en-
route. The train will reach Washing
ton at o'clock Friday morning.
General Wright in responding to
the address of welcome said the crit
icisms of the army and navy were
unjust There might have been iso
lated cases of cruelty deserving cen
sure, but the cases were the excep-
ton, not the rule. On the whole, he
said, the war was conducted in a most
humane manner. The alleged friction
between the civil and military gov
ernment, he said had been greatly ex-
aggerated The Filipinos, he said
!. could never govern themselves with
out being taught to do so. He thought
congress was going too fast rather
than too slow. The Philippine inter
est at present could be subserved by
non-partisan administration of their
affairs, such as existed today. He
said he himself did not know whether
there were more republicans or dem
ocrats in the civil service in the is
11