River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1904-09-01
OUR FILIPINO WARD S.
DEMOCRATS NOT SINCERE IN
PROMISING INDEPENDENCE
Republican Policy of Educating the
LonG-Oppressed People Toward Self
Government Is the Only Safe One
Recent Incident at the Worlds Fair.


Government Is the Only Safe One
Recent Incident at the Worlds Fair.
Washington, d. c., August 26-In no
other country in the world but this could
one see the Speaker of the National
Legislature sitting on the grass just out
side the Office of the Chief Executive,
telling funny stories to the Secretary of
War, and both of the men absolutely
unconscious of the exquisite democracy
of their attitude. SO long as such things
as this can take place just outside the
White House, the American people may
well be assured that their lives and their
liberties are in good hands. Foreigners
who come here always fail to recognize
the real democracy of the public men
of America, and frequently they so
away with the impression that the Amer
lean citizen worships only the dollar, be-
cause they do not realize that the men
they run up against on the street cars or
the people they jostle on crowded cor
ners are the elected rulers of the Amer
lean people who step up one day and
down the next, and who are not injured
either by their elevation or by their
period of subsequent retirement.
Speaker Cannon and Secretary Taft.
Joseph G. Cannon, the Speaker of the
House of Representatives, is an excel
lent type of the sturdy western agricul-
tural class. He has not a stuck-up hair
in his head, and while he never does
things which are out of place, he is
never afraid to do things for fear some
one might accuse him of q lack of dig
nifty. 1t was perfectly natural in him
when coming out of the White House
the other day to plump himself down
on grassy terrace for the express pur-
pose of telling a series of funny stories
to his companion who happened to be
Secretary Taft. The Secretary of War
is big man in every sense of the word,
physically as well as mentally. 1t was
no easy job for him to get his $50
pounds down on the White House lawn,
and so he leaned against convenient
tree, and the passers-by who saw two
ordinary Americans laughing over a good
story had but little idea, perhaps, that
these were two of the great men of the
country who had been intrusted by the
people with vast power, but who never
theless had lost none of their Republican
simplicity.
Secretary Taft but year ago was the
Governor of the Philippines. He re-
signed that Office to accept the position
he now holds only because he believed
that as Secretary of War he could do
more for the Filipinos, the little brown
people he had come to look upon as his
own children, and who in their turn be-
leve Taft is their best friend. 1t was
the Secretary of War who declined a
position on the Bench of the Supreme
Court of the United States because he
wished to finish his work for the people
Of the PARKWAY Pacific Islands, and he
would not abandon their interests even
to accept an office to which he had hon
estly aspired every since the day when
he rowed with the crew at Yale and was
known as the strongest athlete in that
great University.
1t was perfectly natural therefore af-
ter the funny stories had been told, and
the last hearty laugh of the big-chested
Secretary of War had foated around the
White House corner, that the CONVERSE
ton should drift toward the subject of
the Philippines.
Would Haul Down the Flag.
II wish we could make the campaign
on the Philippine ISSUE" said Mr.. Can
non. ''The Democrats in their platform
have pronounced for the ultimate indie
pendence Of the Filipino. They have
denounced us for endeavoring at the
present time to improve conditions in the
Island, and they have in effect declared
that if they had the power they would
haul down the American flag at the first
opportunity. l think | know the peo-
pie of this country. / know they are
in hearty sympathy with the policy of
the Republican party in regard to the
Philippines. They know the work you
did out there, and they know the work
your successors are doing. They have
no notion of giving up the Philippines at
the present time, but they intend to APP
ply American institutions, American
ideas, and American civilization to the
people of the Island. 1t is not a ques-
ton of independence at all at the pres
ent time, but Of civilization. If we could
make the campaign on this one issue of
Imperialism so-called, taking the Repub
lican platform and the Democratic plat
form tust as they stand, Roosevelt would
defeat Parker by an Extraordinary ma
jority, and the people would repudiate
the reactionary policy of the Democrats
quite as completely as they repudisted
their financial policy Of four and eight
years ago"
This casual talk between the Speak
er and the Secretary of War, and their
firm confidence in the good sense Of the
American people, as well as in their
good faith toward the F'ilipinos, merely
adds a point to a curious incident at
the ST. Louis Exposition the day after
the adjournment of the Democratic Con
vention in that city.
The Philippines Exhibit.
Everyone knows now that the most in
teresting and the most instructive ex-
hibit of the great Worlds Fair in st.
Louis is in the reservation devoted ex-
to the products and the people
of the Philippine Islands. 1t is a Gu
rious exhibit because it represents with
utmost fidelity, not only the best, but
the worst features, of life in the Phil
ippine Islands. Within the boundary Of
the reservation one may get fairly &C
curate idea Of the possibilities Of
achievement by the educated few among
the Filipinos, and at the same time the
student and casual visitor has impress
ed upon him the vastness Of the work