The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1904-12-10

that self-respecting. Just and far-seeins
nation should on the one hand endoavor
by every means to aid In the development
Of the. various movements which tend to
provide substitutes for war. which tend to
render nations In their actions toward one
another. and indeed toward their own peo-
pies. more responsive to the general senti-
ment of humane and civilized mankind;
and on the other hand. that II should keep
prepared. while scrupulously avoiding
wrongdoing itself, to repel any wrong. and
In exceptional cases to take action which
In more advanced stage OF International
relations would come under the head Of the
exercise of the international police. A.
great free people owes II to itself and to all
mankind not to sink into helplessness be-
FORE the powers of evil
Second Hague Conference.
We are In every way endeavoring to help
on. with cordial good WILL every movement
which will tend to bring US into more friend
ly relations with the rest of mankind. In
pursuance Of this policy shall shortly lay
before the senate treaties of arbitration
with all powers which are willing to enter
into these treaties with US. II is not pos
sible at this period of the worlds develop
ment to agree to arbitrate all matters, but
there are many matters of possible differ
ence between US and other nations which
can be thus arbitrated. Furthermore, at
the request OF the Interparliamentary
union, an eminent body composed Of prac-
teal statesmen from all countries, 1 have
asked the powers to Join with this govern
ment In q second Hague conference, at
which 1t II hoped that the work already so
happily begun at The Hague may be car
ried some steps further toward completion.
This carries out the desire expressed by
the hrst Hague conference itself.
The Monroe Doctrine.
In asserting the Monroe Doctrine, in TAX
Ing such steps as we have taken In regard to
Cuba, Venezuela and Panama, and in en-
deavoring to circumscribe the theater Of
war In the far east. and'to secure the open
door In China, we have acted in our own
interest az well as In the interest of human
ity at large. There are. however. cases In
which. while our own interests are not
greatly involved, strong appeal Is made to
our sympathies. Ordinarily 1t Is very much
wiser and more useful for us TO concern
ourselves with striving for our own moral
and material betterment here at home than
to concern ourselves with trying to better
the condition of things In other nations.
We have plenty of sins of our own to war
against, and under ordinary circumstances
we can do more for the general uplifting of
humanity by striving with heart and soul
to put stop to civic corruption, to brutal
lawlessness and violent race prejudices
here at home than by passing resolutions
about wrongdoing elsewhere. Neverthe-
less there are occasional crimes committed
on 30 vast a scale and Of such peculiar hor-
ror as to make US doubt whether II Is not
our manifest duty to endeavor at least to
show our disapproval Of the deed and our
sympathy with those who have suffered by
It, The cases must be extreme In which
such course Is Justifiabie. There must be
no effort made to remove the mote from
our brothers eye II we refuse to remove
the beam from our own. But In extreme
cases action may be Justifiable and proper
What form the action shall take must de-
pend upon the circumstances of the case:
that is. upon the degree Of the atrocity and
upon our power to remedy It. The cases
In which we could interfere by force OF
arms as we interfered to put stop to In
tolerable conditions In Cuba are neces-
sarily very few. Yet It Is not to be expected
that a people like ours, which In spite OF
certain very obvious shortcomings, never
theless as a whole shows by its consistent
practice Its belief In the principles of civil
and religious liberty and of orderly free
dom, a people among whom even the worst
crime, like the crime OF lynching, Is never
more than sporadic, SO that individuals and
not classes are molested in their funda-
mental rights-it Is Inevitable that such a
nation should desire eagerly to give express
sion to its horror on an occasion like that
Of the massacre of the Jews In Kishineff, or
when 1t witnesses such systematic and
long-extended cruelty and oppression as
the cruelty and oppression Of which the
Armenians have been the victims, and
which have won for them the indignant
pity Of the civilized world.
The Philippines.
In the Philippine islands there has been
during the past year a continuation of
the steady progress which has obtained
ever since our troops definitely got the
upper hand of the insurgents. The Phil
ippine people. or, to speak more accur-
ately, the many tribes, and even races,
sundered from one another more or less
sharply, who go to make up the people
of the Philippine islands. contain many
elements OF good, and some elements
which we have a right to hope stand for
progress. At present they are utterly
incapable Of existing in independence at
all or of building up civilization of
their own. firmly believe that we can
help them to rise higher and higher in
the scale of civilization and of capacity
for self-government. and I most earnest
ly hope that in the end they will be able
to stand, II not entirely alone, yet in
some such relation to the United States
as Cuba now stands. This end is not yet
in sight, and II may be indefinitely post
poned II our people are foolish enough to
turn the attention of the Fllipinos away
from the problems OF achieving moral
and material prosperity. of working for
a stable, orderly and just government,
and toward foolish and dangerous In
trigues for a complete independence for
which they are as yet totally unit.
On the other hand our people must
keep steadily before their minds the fact
that the Justification for our stay In the
Philippines must ultimately rest chiefly
upon the good we are able to do in the
islands. 1 do not overlook the fact that
in the development of our interests In
the Pacific ocean and along its coasts.
the Philippines have played and will play
an important part, and that our interests
have been served In more than one way
by the possession Of the islands But our
chief reason for continuing to hold them
must be that we ought Ia good faith
to try to do our share Of the worlds
work, and this particular piece OF work
has been imposed upon us by the results
of the war with Spain.
For Elective Governments.
Within two years we shall DO trying
the experiment of an elective lower
house in the Philippine legislature. II
may be mat the Filipinos will misuse
this legislature, and they certainly will
misuse Il II they are misled by foolish
persons here at home into starting an
agitation for their own independence or
into any factious or improper action. In
such case they will do themselves no
good and will stop for the time being all
further effort to advance them ana give