The Lafayette gazette., 1902-01-25

that the minority members of tn,
Senate e mmittee have agreed u
submit report outlining tie Dem
ocraiic polIc, with regard TO tn,
Philippines. This report, accord
ing TO the press reports, will diffe
from the position assumed by the
minority in the House and will re
commend:
F,rst-That the United States relinquisf
all claim to sovereignty over the Philip
pines, ''subject 10 the provisions herein SCI
FORTH
Second-That from and after the pas.
sage of the this act, the Philippines Islands
shall be foreign territory, and all goods
entering the United States therefrom shall
be subject to the same duties, customs and
| imports as are now or may be hereafter
prescribed by law for goods entering from
other foreign counties; provided, that dur
ing the temporary occupation of the islands,
all trade between them and the United
States shall be free.
Thrd-That the United States shall con-
tinue to occupy the Archipelago until the
| Filipinos have formed for themselves a
stable government, and uuti sufficient
guarantees have been obtained for the per-
| formancc of treaty obligations with
Spain, and for the safety of thos,. inhabi-
| tants who have adhered to the United
States.
Fourth-That these results
have been accomplished it is declared to be
draw from the Philippines and leave the
government, control and sovereignty there
OF Inhabitants, retaining only such military,
naval and coaling stations may be design
ated by the government of the Uniteo
States.
This is policy which can be en-
dorsed by every sincere Democrat
in the United States without stulti-
ficatIon. and with profit to every
section and every interest Of the
country. 1t is probable that our
authority will never be Withdrawn
from the Philippines until the time
arrives in the future when that coun
try shall grow strong enough to
declare and enfore its independence,
and to make our attempts to holds
it unprofit bic and hazardous; but
the Democratic party should go on
record as being ready to accord
local government to the Fillpihos
as soon as they have demonstrated
their capacity for self-government
and their ability TO afford the pro-
lection necessary to cause life and
property to be secure under their
authority. All sentiment aside, we
must remain there until these results
have been accomplished, for to
abandon the islands now would be
to turn the m over to the forces of
anarchy. and to leave foreign in
teresls, as we'll as those of minority
factions in the islands, at the mercy
of those who wouiI despoil them.
Therefore, until stable govern
ment has been assured and the
rights of persons and property
placed upon safe and permanent
basis the United States are bound
to maintain the authority of this
government there.
1t follows, then logically and as
a matter of justice and legislative |
consistency. that so long as the
archipelago is governed as domestic
territory it should be entitled to
enjoy all the rights and privileges
of American territory. So long as
we enforce the same character Of
authority over it that we enfoce
upon Alaska it is entitled in equity |
to the enjoyment of the same pri
vileges that Alaska enjoys; and we
should no more think of imposing
tariff duties upon its products than
upon these coming from Alaska.
The settled prir ciples of honor and
of Justice that are recognized be-
tween man and man lose none of
that binding force by being applied
to- governments and nations, and
the power Of no nation can be es-
tablished permanently unless it be
grounded upon the eternal princi
pies of righteousness and justice.
1t is too late now 20 discuss the
question of how we got into the
The States has all
along believed that the whole thing
was blunder from start to finish;
that the war with SPAN was pre-
cipitated upon an unwilling nation
and All unwilling president by mar
plots, some with political and others
with commercial axes to grind-but
that is another story. Rightly or
we are in the Philippines
now; we have overthrown the only
that was competent to
m intain order and to carry out the
treaty rights of other natiors in
their dealings with these islands,
and we are in honor bound now to
remain there until we can give to
our own citizens, the citizens of the
and the nations of the
world every assurance of the ex-
istence of stable and competent
in those islands When
we have accomplished this we can
with safety and with honor with