Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-09-13

stantial cutting down in national ex-
penditures it must be in such matters
as these. The department of agricult-
ure has done service of incalculable
value to the farmers of this country
in many different lines. Do our oppon-
ents wish to cut down the money for
| this service? They can do it only by
destroying the usefulness of the serv-
ice itself.
Honesty the Aim.
"The public work of the United
States has never been conducted with
higher degree of honesty and effici-
ency than at the present time; and a
spcial need of praise belongs to those
officials RESPONSIBLE for the Philippines
and Porto Rico. where the administra-
lions have been models of their kind.
Of course wrong has occasionally oc-
CURED, but 1t has been relentlessly
stamped out. We have known no party
in dealing with offenders, and have
hunted down without mercy every
wrong-doer in the service Of the ma
ton whom it was possible by the ut
most vigilance to detect; for the pub
lie servant who betrays his trust and
the private Individual who debauches
him stand as the worst of criminals,
Lecause their crimes are crimes
against the entire community, and not
only against this generation but
against the generations that are yet to
be.
Our opponents promise independ-
,ence, to the Philippine Islands Here
again we are confronted by the fact
that their proved irreconcilable
inability to create and their
readiness, for the sake Of
momentary political expediency, to
abandon the principles upon which
they have insisted as essential, con-
spire to puzzle us as to whether they
do or do not intend in good faith to
carry out this promise if they are given
control of the government. In their
platform they declare for independence,
approximation their language is a
little obscrre-without qualification as
to time; and indeed & qualification as
to time is an absurdity, for we have
neither right nor power to bind our
successors when it is impossible to
foretell the conditions which may con-
front them; while If there is any prin-
ciple involved in the matter, it is just
as wrong to deny independence for a
few years as to deny it for an indefin-
lite period. But in later and equally
official utterances by our opponents
the term self-government was sub
stituted for independence; the words
used being so chosen that in their
natural construction. they. described
precisely the policy now being carried
on. The language of the platform in
Dictated a radical change of policy;
the later utterances indicated a contin-
uance of She present policy. But this
caused trouble in their own ranks; and
in a still later, although less formal,
utterance. the self-government promise
was recanted, and independence at
some future time was promised in it's
place. They have occupied three en-
tirely different positions within fifty
days. Which is the promise they real
ly intend to keep. They do not know
their own minds; and no one can tell
how long they would keep of the same
mind, should they by any chance
come to working agreement among
themselves. If such ambiguity affect
ed only the American people it would
not so greatly matter; for the Ameri-
can people can take care of them
selves. But the Filipinos are in no
such condition. Confidence is with
them plant of slow growth They
have been taught to trust the word of
this government because this govern
ment has promised nothing which it
did not perform. If promised indie
pendence they will expect independ-
ence; not in the remote future, for
their descendants, but Immediately,
for themselves. If the promise thus
made is not INN ediately fulfilled they
will regard it as broken, and will not
again trust to American faith; and it
would be indeed wicked thing to de-
ceive them in such fashion Moreover,
even if the promise were made to take
effect only in the distant future, the
F'ilipnos would be thrown into con-
fusion thereby. Instead of continu-
ing to endeavor to fit them selves for
moral and material advancement in
the present, they would abandon all
effort at progress and begin factional
intrigues for future power.
ITO promise to give them independ-
ence when it is prudent to do SO, or
when they are fit for it, of course i'm
plies that they are not fit for it now,
and that it would be imprudent to give
1t to them now. But as we must our
selves be the judges as to when they
become 'fit.' and when it would be
prudent to keep such promise if it
were made, 1t necessarily follows that
to make such a promise now would
amount to a deception upon the Fill
pinos.
1T may well be that our opponents
have no real intention of putting their
promise into effect. If this is the case,
if, in other words, they are insincere
in the promise they make, it is only
necessary to say again that it is I'M
wise to trust men who are false in one
thing to deal with anything. The mere
consciousness Of broken faith would
hamper them in continuing our policy
in the islands; and only by continu-
ing unchanged this policy can the
honor of the country be maintained, or
the interests of the islands sUhsaryad