The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-01-30
SCHURMAN MAKES
PLEA FOR JUSTICE
TO FILIPINOS
Former Member of Philippine
Commission Again Insists
That We Should Give the
Islands Their Indepen-
dence-Case Analogous to
That of American Colonies.
Special to The Globe.

Special to The Globe.
NEW YORK, Jan. ga largely at
tended meeting at Cooper Union to-
night considered the subject of Pres
ent Duties in the Philippines" Presi-
dent Jacob Gould Schurman, of Cor
nell university made the principal adj
dress, in which he said:
I think no man will charge me with
misrepresentation if 1 say that the heart
rending spectacle on which our latest sun
has just risen in Luzon and the Visayas-
the universal devastation of a long and
ruthless war, the complete obliteration Of
towns and villages the transformation of
fruitful plains and valleys into deSolate
wastes and bowling Wilderness, the vast,
upcounted loss of human life, the destruc-
ton of nearly all farm animals, the an
limitation of capital, the paralysis of ag-
r1culture, trade, and commerce, the de-
rangement of the currency, the dread
SpecterS of poverty, famine, cholera and
the pestilence that Walketh at monday,
men, women and children-brethren of
ours and fellow Christians, per1Shlng ike
wanton flies in summer. and the whole
nation sick at heart, sullen in temper, IN
reconclled to American rule. and though
diSarmed and oVermaStered by force, yet
resolutely determined to achieve national
independence, which we still deny them
this, l say, is an accumulation Of calam-
tiles that must touch our hearts with the
problems that must awaken IN our MINDS
the graVeSt anxiety and concern, not un-
mingled, perhaps, with self-reproach and
even remorSe.
81 do not, however, imply that the mis-
cries of the Filipinos are ali, or principal
ly, of our making, though most of them
have resulted from the war in which the
Filipinos and Americans were so long en-
gagged.
Should Grant Stable Currency.
Still it was in the power of congress
at its last session to have mit1gated the
economic diSasers of the F1l1pmos by
giving them stable currency ana 1reer
trade relations with the United States;
and the inaction of congress has ental!eo
the loss of millions of dollars on the Fiil-
pinos in consequence of the depreclatlon
of silver and the Stagnat1on or trace anu
Il doubt not, however, that If congress
even now acts, industries will in time re-
vive in the Philippines and prosperity
slowly return to the much suffering in
habitants And if the sympath1es or me
American people be aroused, as they VIII
be aroused when they come 70 Know W
edge of the distressing situation OF al
fairs which prevails In the arcnlpelago,
they will compel congress to DO It's duty
without further delay. what Is neeoeu'
free or freer trade with the United states
and a grant of public money to re-estap.
lish agriculture and save the people from
strVatiOn.
TWO Pivotal Facts.
''Now there are two facts which Will
serve to interpret to us the political sentl-
ments of the Filipinos. First, there Is not,
I believe a single man OF them VINO VIII
consent that his country should be per
manently a dependency or colony OF the
United States, which is the policy or our
imperiaIists. This circumstance, Whlcn
all recent information confirms, noted
in the report of the first Philippine com
mission, explicitly stating that even those
Filipinos who were supporting American
sovereignty-the minority, moeeaL ;eto,.,I So
in expectation that, after an interval
of American training and tuteiage the
Filipinos should be granted their indie
pendence.
who were compelled by force to acquiesce
In American sovereignty, thousands nays NAYS
died and hundreds OF thousands are sum
ready to die in the cause or PhlhppIne N
dependence. Here is another crucial TACT.
Our war with the Filipinos has made
nation of them; they are no longer Taga-
logs or ViSayanS or nOcanoS, but one peo-
pie with a single national consclousness
and a single national heart. If the idea
of independence was originally the dream
of Aguinaldo and the Tagalogs, 1t is today
the hope the goal and the resolute de-
termination of nation OF 6,o0O,Ooo united
Filipinos.
Probably No Division.
81 cannot persuade myself that the
American people will be divided on the
final issue which now confronts us-the
have dealt with the Cubans and grant
ing them speedy independence. What
else can we do? There Is but one alter
native. It is the use Of force to keep the
FflipinoS in subsection. Now, as a tenn
porary- expedient, force may be justihable;
but as a permanent policy 1t is the fee
blest and most uncertain thing In the
world, while OF all instruments it is the
most odiouS, the most revolving, and the
most calling to the spirits on whom 1t is
exercised By force the FilipinoS may be
worried and harassed; but force will not
mitigate or destroy their unconquerable
love of independence. Nor could possibly
be convinced that the American people
desire to break the spirit Of the Filipinos;
for it is the same spirit that has made
America.
Can we not go on as we are? Not
unless you can crush the spirit of the
Filipinos. And the prospect is discour-
aging as three years of fighting and a
complete victory for US have nightly
strengthened the national spirit of indie
pinos combined with similar spirit in
our own people that is making the trouble
for our imperialiSt politicians, whose pol
Icy is silence, the inertia Of existing
circumstances, and the unconscious ac-
customing of the public mind to ideas of
the Philippines.
81 say on the other hand, that, in the
political field, we should give the Fill
pinos what they want. Government by
force may be a temporary necessity but
1t is at best a coarse and tawdry make
shift. Government by the consent of the
governed is the old American way, which
has also the goal of history and as our
fathers devoutly believed the purpose of
Providence for all the nations of the
world"
sA6 e