Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-09-12

! IL eS nave occupied three entirely Ol1erent
! positions within fifty days. Which is the
| promise they really intend to KEEP? They dc
| 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
| a working agreement among themselves.
| If such ambiguity affected only the
| American people it would not so greatly
| matter; for the American people can take
care of themselves. But the Filipinos are
III no such condition. Confidence Is with
| them a plant of slow growth They have
| been taught to trust the word of this gov
| eminent because this government has prom
| ised nothing which it did not perform. II
promised Independence they will expect in
| dependence; not in the remote future. for
| their descendants. but Immediately for
| themselves. II the promise thus made is
| not Immediately fulfilled they will regard it
| as broken and will not again trust to
| American faith; and it would be indeed a
| wicked thing to deceive them in such fash
! ion. Moreover, even If the promise were
| made to take effect only in the distant fu-
! ture, the Filipinos would be thrown into
| confusion thereby. Instead of continuing
| to endeavor to fit themselves for moral and
| material advancement In the present, they
| would abandon all effort at progress and
| begin factional intrigues for future power
To promise to give them independence
| when it is prudent to do so, or when they
| are fit for it. of course implies that they
! arc not fit for ii now, and that 1t would be
| imprudent to give 1t to them now. But as
| we must ourselves be the judges as to when
! they become fit, and when 1t would De
! prudent to keep such promise If it were
| made. ii necessarily follows that to make
such promise now would amount to de-
| ception upon the FiliDinoS.
| 1t may we'll be that our opponents have
! no real intention of putting their promise
| into effect. If this is the case, II, In other
| words, they are insincere in the promise
| they make. it is only necessary to say
! again that 1t is unwise to trust men who are
| false in one thing to deal with anything.
| The mere consciousness OF broken laitn
| ,l,r,.. t, I'M
! In the islands; and only by continuing IN
| changed this policy can the honor or the
country be maintained, the interests or
| the islands subserved
Result of Independence.
| If on the other hand. our opponents
| came into power and attempted to carry
| out their promises to the Filipinos by giving
| them independence, and withdrawing
| American control from the islands, the re-
| suit would be a frightful. calamity to the
Filipinos themselves and in its larger as
pect would amount to an international
| crime Anarchy would follow; and the most
| violent anarchic forces would be directed
partly against the civil government, partly
against all forms of religious and educa-
| tional civilization. Bloody confilcts would
inevitably ensue in the archipelago and just
as inevitably the islands would become the
prey of the first power which in its own
selfish interest took up the task we mad
| cravenly abandoned.
OF course the practical difficulty In adopt
| ing any such course of action such pol
| icy of scutte" President Mckinley
| called it-would be found well nigh in
! superable. If it is morally indefensible to
hold the archipelago as whole under our
tuteiage in the interest of its own people,
| then it Is morally indefensible to hold any
/ part of it. In such case what right have
| we to keep a coaling station! what r!shl
| to keep control over the Moro peoples!
.i,,Lt - no IOnr rom
| their oppreSsorS? What right 10 protect
| the law-abiding friends of America IN the
| islands from treachery. robbery ana muir
| der? Yet, to abandon the islands complete
| ly. without even retaining a coaling sta
| ton would mean to abandon the position in
| the competition for the trade of me ORIENT
which we have acquired during the last
| six years; and what is far more important,
| It would mean irreparable damage TO those
who have become the wards of the ma
| ton.
Welfare of the Filipinos.
To abandon all control over the Moros
would amount to releasing these Moros to
prey upon the Christian Filipinos, civilized
or semi-civilIzed, we'll as upon the COM
| merce of other peoples. The Moros are in
large part still in the stage of culture where
the occupations of the bandit and the pi-
rate are those most highly regarded; ard
it has not been found practical to give
| them selfgovernment in the sense that
! We have been giving it to the Christian in
| habitants.
To abandon the Moro country as our
| opponents propose in their platform, would
! be precisely as if twenty-five years ago
We had Withdrawn the army and the civil
agents from within and around the Indian
reservations in the west, at time when
the Sioux and the Apache We're still the ter
rOr of our settlers 1t would be a criminal
absurdity: and yet our opponents have
pledged themselves thereto. If successful
in the coming election they would either
| have to break faith, or else to do an act
| which would leave an indeiiDle stain upon
i our national reputation for courage, and
| for good sense. During the last five years
| more has been done for the material and
| moral well-being of the Fiipinos than
! ever before since the islands first came
| within the ken of civilized man. We have
| opened before them vista of orderly de-
| Velopment in their own interest, and not
| a policy of exploitation. Every effort Is
| being made to fit the islanders for SELF
| government. and they have already In large
| measure received it, while for the first
| time in their history their personal rights
| and civil liberties have been guaranteed
| hey are being educated: they have been
| given schools: they have been given libra
! rles; roads are being built for their use
| their health is being cared for; they have
| been given courts in which they receive
! Justice as absolute as it is in our power
| 10 guarantee. Their individual rights 10
! lie, liberty and the pursuit of happiness
| are now by act of Congress jealouslv safe
! guarded under the American flag; and If
! the protection of the flag were withdrawn
| their rights would be lost and the islands
| would be plunged back under some form
| OF vicious tyranny.
We have given them more seIf-govern-
| ment than they have ever before had we
| are taking steps to increase it still further
| by providing them with an elected IegisIa
! tive assembly: and surely we had better
await the results of this exDeriment-fOr
/ 1t Is a wholly new experiment in Asia
before we make promises which as ma
! ton We might be forced to break. or
! which they might interpret one way and
We in another. 1t may be asserted with
/ OFT fear of successful contradiction that
/ nowhere else in recent years has there
/ been as fire an example of constructive
| craftsmanship and wise and upciyht ad-
| minlstration as has been given by The civil
authorities, aided by the army in the
! Philippine Islands. We nave administered
| them in the interest of their own peo-
| pie: and the Filipinos thenlseiv,s III; We
| prorted most by our presence in the is
! lands; but they have also been of very
| great advantage to us a nation.
Steps Guided by Honor.
| So far from having slapped the founla
| tons" of free popular government at home
| by the course taken in the Philippines. we