Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-06-21

such disguise in the Philippines?
There is as much patriotism and national
sentiment in the Filipino thugs and assas-
sins as there was of true religion in the
Thugs of India and the Assassins of Per-
STA.
The independence" sought by the Filipi-
nos in arms has not been and Is not that
of Washington and the forefathers. but that
of the Old Man of the Mountain and his
subject Assassins. Their dominating spirit.
as Witness Schurman has well said. Is not
national sentiment, the love of country, but
the spirit of brigandage, cruelty and oppres-
sion.
Would Schurman's new Asiatic nation thus
founded and erected be "a daughter repub-
lie of ours an exemplar of American in
stitutions, a creditable offspring, to be ac-
knowledged proudly before all the world, "a
new birth of liberty the other side of
the Pacific which shall animate and ener-
gize those lovely islands of the tropical
sea and rearing it's head aloft stand as
monument of progress and beam of hope
to all the oppressed and benighted of the
Asiatic continent?
Would it even be "any decent form of gov
eminent" of Filipnos by Filipinos. which
Schurman prefers to American control? Could
| we dDdHuOH the pedCe-lONIiiS class
of Filipinos to this carnival of crime, and
protect the organized criminals against just
ly exasperated foreign powers?
Witness Schurman conclusively refutes
Advocate schurman's argument for the i'm
mediate converting of Filipino assembly to
decide the question of independence for a
| Filipino nation" erected on these i'm
moral and unenlightened Foundations
The testimony of Schurman and Chaffee
and Taft is in perfect agreement on this
point. The latter says in his Outlook arti-
cle:'
'The independence under present condi-
lions of the Philippine Islands will mean
the subsection and not the liberty of it's
people. 1t will mean internecine warfare
and will be followed by absolute gov
ernment.'
Peace, Not War, Will Bring Self
Government
Very clearly the Filipinos have not
reached the goal Of desire and fitness for
independence and the genuine spirit of
nationality by the anti-American, brigan-
dage and assassination route 1t is a Islander
upon the people a whole to believe that
| they have yielded generally to the murder
| conspiracy. Their progress toward self
| government is plainly along the other path
| which the majority Of the Filipinos, and
| especially the educated natives, are now
| pursuing. 1t is the path of acceptance of
| American sovereignty. training and benefits
and of peaceful development materially, in
| tellectually, morally and politically. 1t
leads to ultimate self-government, either
| as an integral part of the American repub-
| lie, or as an Independent nation, the first
| republic in Asia
TT,rr,, nonl hot
| ture when the Filipinos are fitted for gov
| eminent of the people. by the people and
! for the people," If we are unwilling to ad-
init them to statehood, and if they desire
| independence, the Filipino republic, COM
| prising fraction of the Philippines as yet
| undetermined, will come into being
| This statement implies that American SOW
| ereignty in the Philippines is undisputed:
| that, exercising this sovereignty, the re-
| public will overcome all armed opposition
| in the archipelago; that after pacification
America will train the Filipinos in self
| government on republican lines, and that,
| finally, our government will graduate the
| Asatic pupil either into statehood or sepa-
| rate independence, the length and charac-
| ter of the curriculum and the destination
| of the pupil to be determined according to
| the judgment of the instructor.
| Our present mission Is to foster Filipino
| development in civilization. in. fitness for
self-government and in material prosperity,
and to protect the peaceful, abiding
natives both against white Adventures
who would prey upon them and against
| the murderous robber bands of their own
| countrymen. Severity toward the latter is
mercy toward the Filipinos as people.
| During the probation period Of American
| tutelage which lies Immediately before the
Eilipinos we must exercise the powers In
trusted to US as guardians In good faith for
| the welfare both Of the Filipino and Ameri-