Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-04-07
PRESIDENT AT FARGO
Defends Governments Policy
in Philippines.
EULOGIZES GOV. TAFT
SAYS HE Is THE RIGHT SORT OF
MAN.
Declares Natives Are Better Off by
Their Dependence - he
Quotes Rial.

Gay was CleaF ana DTdClIS, anu tle pLo-
gram for the reception and address of
President Roosevelt was carried out ac-
cording to plans. The special train ar
rived here during the early morning, and
at $50 o'clock the local reception commit
tee waited on the President, and after n
brief and informal reception at the train
escorted him in carriages through the
business portion of the city. One of the
features was the welcome accorded by the
children of the city, several thousand of
whom were assembled together where the
President was able to greet them. After
the drive the President was escorted to a
stand in front of the Waldorf Hotel, where
he addressed large and enthusiastic
crowd on the Philippines.
The President said The northwest, whose
sons in the civil war added such brilliant
pages to the honor roll of the republic, like
wise bore a full share in the struggle of
which the war with Spain was the begin
ming; a struggle slight indeed when COM
pared with the gigantic death wrestle which
for four years stamped to and fro across
the southern states in the civil war; but
struggle fraught with consequences to the
nation and indeed to the world. out of all
proportion to the smallness of the effort
upon our part
1Hiee anu d Ildil ScdiS e-SO L iOSiuShe A'AS
Kinley spoke in the adjoining state of Min
nesota on the occasion of the return of the
18th Minnesota Volunteers from the Philip
pine Islands, where they had served with
your own gallant sons of the North Dakota
regiment. After heartily thanking the re-
turned soldiers for their valor and patriot
ism and their contemptuouS refusal to be
daunted or misled by the outcry raised at
home by the men of little faith who wished
us to abandon the islands, he spoke of the
iSla piS themselves a & follows.
That Congress will provide for them
government which will bring them bless
ings, which will promote their material in
terestS as we'll as advance their people in
the path of civilization and intelligence,
confidently believe. They will not be gov
erned vasSals or Serfs or slaves. They
will be given government of liberty, regu-
lated by law, honestly administered, with
out depressing eXactions, taxation without
tyranny, justice without bribe, education
without distinction of social condition,
freedom of religious worship, and protec-
ton in life, liberty and the pursuit of hap
piness.
What he said then lay in the realm of
promise Now it lies in the realm Of posi-
tive performance.
Promise and Performance Compared.
1t is good thing to look back
upon what has been said and compare it
with the record of what has actually
been done If promises violated, if
plighted word is not kept then those
who have failed in their duty should be
help up to reprobation. If, the other
hand, the promises have been subStan-
TALLY made good; if the achievement has
kept pace and more than kept pace with
the prophesy, then they who made the
and are responsible for the other are
entitled of just right to claim the credit
which attaches to those who serve the
nation well. This credit I claim for the
men who have managed so admirably the
y,,Slt ttnr o,,1 bn ojx,il nPPn Pntr nft thn
ippine Islands, and for those other men
who have so heartily backed them in Con-
gress, and without whose aid and support
not one thing could have been accom-
plished.
When President Mckinley spoke, the first
duty was the restoration of order; and to
this end the use of the army of the United
States-an army composed of regulars and
volunteers a1ike-waS necessary. To put
down the insurrection and restore peace to
the islands was duty not only to ourselves
but TO the islanders also. We could not
have abandoned the conflict without shirk-
ing this duty, without proving ourselves
recreantS to the memory of our forefath hers.
Moreover. If we had abandoned it we would
have inflicted upon the Filipinos the most
crIel wrong and would have doomed them
to a bloody tumble of anarchy and tyranny.
1t seems strange. looking back, that any of
people should have failed to recognize
duty so obvious: but there was such fail
urc, and the government at home, the civil
authorities in the Philippines. and above all
gallant army, had to do their work
amid storm of detraction. The army in
especial was attacked in way which final
ly did good, for in the end 1t aroused the
hearty resentment of the great body of the
American people. not against the army,
buI against the army's traducers.
Offenses Were the Exception.
But these offenses were the exception,
and not the rule. AS a whole our troops
showed not only signal courage and etti-
cheney. but great humanity and the most
sincere desire to promote the welfare and
liberties of the islanders In series of
exceedingly harassing and difficult cam
paigns they completely overthrow the
enemy, reducing them finally to a condi-
ton of mere brigandage; and wherever
make way for the rule of the civil govern
ment. for the Introduction of law and OF
liberty under the law When. by last July,
the last vestige of organized insurrection
nao disappeared, peace and amnesty were
proclaimed.
As rapidly as the military rule was ex
TENDED over the islands by the defeat of
the insurgents, just so rapidly was II re-
placed by the civil government. Al the
present time the civil government is SUI
preme and the army in the Philippines
mas been reduced until 1t is sufficient mere
trouble. Va
In Governor Taft and his associates we
n,, zen. 70 the fiipinos as upright. con-
trators as ever any country has been
blessed with having. With them and under
them We have associated the best men
among the Fflipinos, so that the great ma
J0rity or the officials including many of
the highest rank. are themselves natives of
the islands. The administration is incor-
ruptibly honest; justice is as jealously safe
guarded as here at home The government
IS conducted purely In the interests of the
people OF the islands: they are protected In
their reng1ous and civil rights: they ha ve
Deen gwen an excellent and well-adrnin-
Iseered school SYSTEM. and each of them
now enjoy rights to life, liberty and the
pursuit or happiness such as were never
EeIors known In all the history of the
Aid for the Destitute.
Moreover, Congress appropriated Il OOO
GOO. following the precedent it set when the
people of Porto Rico were afflicted by sud
osn disaster; thu money to be used by the