The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-11-21
Mr. Roosevelt Makes One Thing Clear

| Il crime, deserving OF punishment.
Mr.. Roosevelt Makes One Thing Clear
In his first annual message TO the Con-
gress, submitted on December 3 of last
year, the President referred to the future
relations between the United States and
! the Philippines in terms which left in
some minds doubt as TO his exact mean
ing. He then said:
| our csrncs, crort is to help these people up
! ward along the stcny and dlf,cu path that lcaes
TO self government We hope to make our adm IN
stra,lon OF the Islands honorable to our nation by
making ofthc highcs, bench, TO the FlllinoS them
selves. and as an earnest Of what We intend to do.
| We pin, To what We have done. We hope
10 do for them what has never before been done for
any people Of the troplcs-to make them nj for self
government, after the fashion of the really free
| nations"
This passage and similar expressions
, In the message were at once seized upon
and exhibited by the self-styled Anti
lmperialists to show that President
ROOSEVELT shared their own views and
/ hopes as to the ultimate destiny of the
! Philippines. What he said about self
government after the fashion of the
really free nations was interpreted by
them TO signify self-government indie
pendent Of American sovereignty not
; freedom under the American flag, but
freedom with the American flag wholly
withdrawn
The next important utterance of the
President upon this subject was in his
address at Arlington on Memorial Day
in May last, Then he said, among other
things:
We believe that we can rapidly teach the people
Of the Philippine Islands not only how 10 enjoy but
how to make good use OF their freedom. and with
their growing knowledge their growth In self gov
eminent SHa! keep steady pace. Whcn they have
thus shown their capacity for real freedom by their
power OF self government, then. and not til then
VIII II be possible TO decide whether they are to
cSs, Independently OF US or he knit TO BY ties of
common friendship and interest"
This was promptly noted by the advo-
Gates of the REIMBURSEMENT of American
sovereignty over the Philippines As evil
dence of progressive sympathy on the
part Of Mr., ROOSEVELT with the opinions
of men like President SCHURMAN and
Senator HoAR His favorite phrase real
freedom as applied to the Filipinos was
construed to mean absolute separation
from the American system and such in
dependence of American institutions "a
is possessed by the people Of Switzerland,
for example: rather than the real free
dom enjoyed under the Stars end Stripes
by the inhabitants of Arizona or Utah
or Idaho.
Furthermore the Anti-Imperialists
found much comfort in Mr.. RoosEvELT's
academic remarks about the mpossi-
bility of deciding at present the ultimate
status of the Philippines. The Presi-
dent is with us already in considering
it an open question:, they cried: his
next step will be to come out for the
policy Of scuttle
The straightforward declaration Of Mr..
ROOSEVELT in his speech at Memphis
on Wednesday night ought to sink these
unwarranted hopes to the bottommost
depths of the Anti-Imperialist mind
The events Of the past four Yeas have den
nltely decided that whether We wish to or not We
must hereafter play great part 10 the world We
cannot escape facing the duties We may shlrk
them u We are built Of poor stun or We may take
hold and do them II are ut sons OF our sireshu,
face them we must, whether We will or not Our
duty In the Philippines has simply been one of the
duties tina, thus have come upon us We are there
and To, can no more haul doun our ni0 and abandon
ths Islands than IRE could nor abandon Alaska"
The entire speech celebrating Gen.
WEIGHTS part in the work of educating
and elevating the Filipinos contains not
one word about future independence
The self-government that is so rapidly
being achieved is self-government &C.
cording to American institutions. The
real freedom that the Filipinos are pre-
pairing themselves to enjoy is freedom
under American sovereignty and be-
meath the flag Of the United States.
If the Anti-Imperialist theory of the
Presidents secret convictions were well
founded, now would be the time for him
TO accompany his recital Of what has al
ready been accomplished with still
more definite avowal OF his belief that
the Filipinos must be abandoned to
their own destinies as soon as their edu-
cation in self-government seems COM
plete Nothing of the kind can be found
in the lines Of his. speech, or between
or behind the lines. While announcing
with sincere satisfaction that in no
other Oriental country, whether ruled by
Asiatics or Europeans is there anything
approaching to the amount of individual
liberty and of self-government which
our rule has brought to tho Filpinos.
he declares, without qualification. tina,
we can no more haul down our flag
there than we can in Alaska"
The country. we believe, is with the
PrAsidnni In Ahia liam - L.