The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1902-01-31
FUTURE OF PHILIPPINES.

SSuldllNS SlOSS " tHC lllOIV.
FUTURE OF PHILIPPINES.
Omaha Bee: The. address delivered
by President Jacob Gould Schurman
OF Cornell university before the Bos-
ton Reform club last Monday has
created quite a sensation. Mr.. Schur-
man, it will be remembered, was ap-
POINTED by President Mckinley as
special commissioner to investigate
the conditions prevailing in the Phil
ippines Immediately after the con-
United States and Spain, and the pol
icy adopted later eliminating in the
ratification of the treaty of Paris that
provided for the annexation of the
Philippines was in a measure based
on the conclusions reached by Mr..
Schurman after his return from his
tour of observation. In his address
at Boston Mr.. Schurman is quoted
as follows:
LAS it is the policy of the United
States to give the Filipinos liberty at
ter the fashion of the really free ma
lions or an ever-increasing measure of
home rule which cannot but eventu-
ate in independence, SO, however
clearly or however obscurely they
recognize the end in the meantime of
American protection and tutelage, the
ultimate goal and final aspiration of
the Filipinos are of an independent
and sovereign Filipino republic. AS
American and Filipino desire the po-
litical acknowledgment Of the Fill
pino, there can be no issue between
them except in regard to the time
when an independent and sovereign
Filipino republic should be establish.
ed. The obstacles in the way of such
an organization, even for Christian
Luzon and the Vizayas, which in 1898
seemed to me most serious, were a
lack of homogenity, union and inter
course among the divers peoples Of
these islands. In view of the subse-
quent facts and experiences, however,
it may be not only prudent. but de-
sirable, to shorten the period of prep
aration and transition under Ameri-
can sovereignty"
This declaration appears to stimu-
late the democrats in congress-, who
have no well defined policy for the
! government of the Philippines in the
immediate future other than opposi-
ton to every measure presented to
congress by the republican admins
tration. In the discussion of the bill
appropriating $500, 900 for a military
ers on the floor sought to excuse their
obstructive tactics upon the plea that
they were opposed to any measure
contemplating the permanent mill
tary occupation of the Philippines be-
cause they favored the establishment
Of a Filipino republic.
Instead of fastening the day for
Filipino independence and sovereign
W, IuS dLtlJuuS Ol the uCllOCIdLlC I'LL
nority in congress and the u~tterances
of Mr.. Schurman are almost certain
to retard the establishment of. a Fill
Pine republic for an indefinite period.
The government is confronted with a
condition and not a theory. Before
any steps can be taken to insure in
dependence and self-government for
the inhabitants of the Philippine Is
lands they must be fitted for the dut-
les and responsibilities of s~elf-govern'
ment. The first duty of s~elf-goverr-
ment is the preservation of law and
order. Before a republic can be or
ganized in the Philippine Islands the
people of the islands must cease their
warfare upon the American army and
submit peacefully to the beneficent
government the United States is en-
deavoring to establish for them at an
enormous cost.
The most serious obstacle to self
government in the Philippine Islands