New-York tribune., 1903-05-02
pR4cTJC4L COLONIAL GoTERNMENT.


President Roosevelt in his speech at St Louis
gave a definition of the methods of the United
States in governing new territory which is
worthy of the thought of theorists who Imagine
there is something wrong in governing any part
of our domain even temporarily under any dIf-
ferent rules than those we have found it con-
venient to apply in recent years to New-Mexlco
and Arizona but, by the way, have never YET
applied to Alaska. He said:
Being a practical nation, we have never tried
TO force on any section of our new territory an
unsuitable form of government merely because
it was suitable for another section under dlf--
ferent conditions. OF the territory covered py
the Louisiana Purchase a portion was given
Statehood within few years Anotner poTuon
has not been admitted to Statehood, although
a century has elapsed-although Doubtless II
soon will be In each case we showed the pfac-
tjcal governmental genius Of our race by devils
ing methods suitable to meet the actual exist
ing needs; not by insisting upon the application
Of some abstract shibboeth to all our new pos
sessions alike. no matter how incongruous TINS
application might sometimes be.
That is something that opponents of later ex-
pansions and the administration which their
situation requires have habit Of forgetting.
The territory acquired in 1903 was made into
States and Territories simply because its de-
velOpment and the character Of the inhabitants
who settled there rendered this arrangement
convenient, and ii done only when in one
place after another it did become convenient.
If American citizens accustomed to local self
government and participation in the national
government had not in large numbers gone into
the country beyond the Mississippi, so that it
was possible to intrust TO them these political
powers, the centralized government dependent
entirely on Washington would have continued
all over the region as il continues in NewMeXi-
co to-day The first government established by
Congress for Louisiana was just as much
colonial administration outside the Constitution
as is that existing at Manila. Gradually
the privileges of local seIf-government were in
creased as the grant was seen to be safe, just
as is being done now in the Philippines. The
needs of the two regions are very different; their
development must be on different lines, but we
are no more exploiting the Filipinos than we
exploited the French of New-Orleans, the Mex1-
cans of Santa Fe, the Mission Indians of Cali
fornia or the Aleuts Of Alaska. No doubt all
these peoples suffered some wrongs from being
brought under the dominion of a strange race
Some individual Americans and some American
laws doubtless were unjust to them. Yet in no
case was there any national policy of oppres-
sion or exploitation" ane in every case the
tendency has been to adapt our government as
fast as we could TO their needs, and help them
as fast as we could to manage their local affairs
We are now. as we have ever been, holding
the middle ground between the evils of Roman
and Greek expansion. We give, as the Romans
did not, the people of our acquisitions, be they
Frenchmen in 1863 or Filpn0s in 1903, the
freest possible local self-gOyernment consistent
with law and order and national supremacy
But we, as the Greeks did not do hold our ac-
Quisitions in bond of unity subject on matters
pertaining TO the common good to one national
will and we brook disobedience to that au-
thority whether by white men who want to es-
tablish a slave empire in Louisiana or brown
man who wishes TO establish a dictatorship IN
LuzOn