The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-06-08
THE PHILIPPINES PROBLEM.


To the Editor of the Indianapolis Journal:
The reply of Captain English to the alb
surd circular of the emasculate Welsh is
very nice reading for a red-blooded Ameri-
can citizen. The best that can be said for
the circular is that it exhibits haste and
gross ignorance. The worst would be i'm
proper language here. But it moves one
to ask again, what would Mr.. Welsh and
his congeners have done which was not
done. and what would they do which is not
doing in the Philippines, which would have
made and would make better conditions for
the islanders and for the world at large
than the things that have been done and
are doing by our people, have made and
are making?
No one will say that things that never
should have been done anywhere have not
been done by our people in the Philippines.
No one will say that such things have not
been done in the United State, meantime.
either. And even in Mr.. Welsh's Pennsyl-
vania not very long ago, some gentlemen
who announced themselves the vicegerents
OF God for the management of certain OF
His properties behaved improperly it was
mans malfeasance excuses another mans.
But I'VE are all poor critters and should
therefore not hastily or ignorantly con-
DENIM lest out of our own mouth follow
our own condemnation.
Now. these gentlemen cannot believe that
1t Is not better for the Philippines under
the flag Of the United States than ii was
under the flag of Spain. They cannot be-
lieve that 1T is not better for them under
the tutelage of Judge Taft than 1t would
be under the best state of affairs that they
themselves could maintain For Judge
Taft escaped being a mugwump only be-
cause he was wiser and better and greater
than the mugwump. and as the antrim
perialist is the natural son of the mug
wump and so cannot be on a higher plane
than his progenitor; and yet certainly
would insist that he is on a higher plane
than the Filipino. since he considers him
self on higher than that of the President
and his cabinet officers and the generals of
the army Of the United States, and so on
why, he must concede that Judge Taft.
ceased progenitor was is better fitted to
govern the Filipinos than the Filipino is
to govern himself AS the Filipino is at
this time, and as conditions now are over
there. that Is to say for the future-'but
the future is to come" as graduation
essays all over the land are telling us just
now. They can doubtless take care of ii who
here when it arrives; the better. how
ever. IL we OF the present work on broad
and just lines.
And as to these broad and just lines. the
narrow and inadequate conceptions of
self-instituted reformers regarding them
are surprising and, TO many, discouraging.
They get their eye on single evil that
needs to be cured and, for the time being.
all there Is of them Is concentrated there.
There are moments when 1t is we'll to be
intense, ii is true but even at such mo-
HitlllS HedsuIt VI lilltlilSeNce Is dH du-
vantage. And that is precisely what the
average reformer conspicuously lacks.
measure of intelligence TO tit him to grasp
the widespread relationships that bind man
TO man and make effective reform on one
only lire impossibility.
This Philippine incident of our yields us a
striking illustration of the universally
of the interests and relationships of
men. For IL was but an incident or, as
many doubtless would call 1t, an accident
not at all within our purview of our late
war with Spain. That war, or some sort of
a contention with Spain regarding Cuba
had been impending for many years. more
than a generation. At last the people of
the United States thought that Gods good
Who can doubt that they were right. or
that the something not ourselves that
makes for righteousness that stands be-
hind existence-God is a good name for
it-inspired them. Out of the action born
of that inspiration came the Philippine in
cicent, which. therefore, was within the
purview of the inspirer. The beneficent in
fluence which we have. since our estab-
lishment over them. exerted upon the for
tunes OF other peoples nearby which We
could by no means have exerted IL we had
not been fixed there in permanency, is
proof positive to those who believe that
God maintains a supervision over this uni
verse that we are there in fulhllment in
some part of His plans.
When one has come TO clearly under
stand that the total substance Of the mes
sage of Jesus TO the world is embodied in
his announcement of the brotherhood OF
man, and then realizes how markedly an
application OF that principle in the con-
duct OF affairs was advanced by our course
made possible for US by our dominance In
the Philippines. why. then. how small In