Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1904-12-07
it would be a,wicked thinr for tho nosA

it would be a'wicked thing for the most
civilized powers. for those with most sense
OF international obligations and with keen.
est anG most generous appreciation of tho
dl1ference between right and wrong. to dis
arm II the great civilized nations of the
present day should completely disarm, the
result would mean an immediate recru
oescence of barbarism in one form or an
other. Under any circumstances a sutf-
Gent armament would have to be kept u1
20 serve the purposes OF International DO
nee; and until International cohesion and
the sense of International duties and rights
are Tar more advanced than at present, a
nation DESTROYS both of securing respect
Tor Itself and of doing good to others must
nave force adequate for the work which
IL reels is allotted to it as it's part of the
general world duty. Therefore it follows
thdt Sel1.reSpecting, just and far-seeing
ndllon should on the one hand endeavOr
ny every means to aid in the development
" tue various movements which tend to
piovioe substitutes for war, which tend to
render nations in their actions toward che
anotner' and indeed toward their own peo-
pies, more responsive to the general senti-
nent or humane and civilized mankind:
ana on the OF her hand, that it should keep
prepared. while scrupulously avoiding
Wrongdolng itself, to repel any wrong. and
III exceptional cases to take action which
~ more advanced stage of International
relations would come under the head of the
exercise of the international police. A
great free people owes it to itself and to all
mankind not to sink into helplessness be-
lore the powers of evil
: Second Hague Conference.
we are lnevery way endeavoring to help
III, wltn Eorulal good Will, every movement
which will tend to bring US into more friend.
~ relations with the rest of mankind. In
pursuance OF this policy l shall shortly Law
oe1ofe the senate treaties of arbitration
with all powers which are willing to enter
into these treaties with us. 1t is not pos
slole 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 1nterparliamentary
union, an eminent body composed of prac-
tlcal statesmen from all countries. | have
asked the powers to join with this govern
ment In second Hague conference at
which it is hoped that the work already so
happlly begun at The Hague may be car
REQ some steps further toward completion
Ihls carries out the desire expressed by
the nrst Hague conference itself,
The Monroe Doctrine.
In asserting the Monroe Doctrine, in ia k
0NoAA oeePo as we nave taken IN regard to
Cupa, Ve1ezuela and Panama. and in en-
deaVorlng 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 as we'll as in the interest of human
lty at large. There are, however, cases in
winch, while our own interests are not
greatly involved, strong appeal is made to
our sSmpathles Ordinarily it is very much
wiser and more useful for us to concern
ourselves with striving for our own moral
ana material betterment here at home tina n
10 concern ourselves with trying to better
the concitlon 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 preiudices
here at home than by passing resolutions
ABOUT Wrongdoing elsewhere. Neverthe-
less there are occasional crimes committed
on so~vast scale and of such peculiar hor.
Hror as to make. us doubt whether it is not
our manlrest duty to endeavor at least to
sho" our dlsapproval of the deed and our
sympathy with those who have suffered bv
1t. The cases must be extreme in whiH
sucn a course is justifable. There must be
no EFFORT made to remove the mote from
our Drothers eye if we refuse to remove
the Deam from our own. But in extreme
cases action may be justifable and proper.
what form the action SHALL take must de-
pend upon the circumst@e of the case:
tnat 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 a stop to in.
tolerahle conditions in Cuba are neces.
sarily very few. Yet it is not to be exDected
that people like ours which in spite al
certain very obvious shortcomings. never.
tneless as whole shows by its consisten,
practice its belief in the principles of civil
and religious liberty and of orderly free.
dom, people among whom even the worst
crime, like the crime of lynching, is neye,
more than sporadic, SO that individuals and
not classes are molested in their funda-
mental r1ghts-it is inevitable that such q
nation should desire eagerly to give express.
sion to its horror on an occasion like that
OF the massacre Of the Jews in Kishineff. O,
when it witnesses such systematic and
long-extended cruelty and oppression as
the cruelty anu 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 continuation OF
the steady progress which has obtained
ever since our troops definitely got the
upper hand of the insurgents The Phil.
1pplne 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 right to hope stand fo1
progress. At present they are utterly
incapable of existing in independence al
all or of building up a civilization OF
their own I firmly believe that we car
help them to rise higher and higher ir
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, If not entirely alone vet If
some such relation to the United States
as Cuba now stands. This end is not We,
in sight, and it may be indefinitely post.
poned II our people are foolish enough tc
turn the attention of the Filipinos ava,
from the problems of achieving mora
and material prosperity, of working TO,
stable, orderly and just government
and toward foolish and dangerous in
trigues for complete independence 70,
which they are as yet totally unfit
On the other hand our people mus
keep steadily before their minds the fac
that the justification for our stay in the
Philippines must ultimately rest chief,
upon the good we are able to do in thu
islands. do not overlook the fact thai
in the development of, our interests ir
the Pacific ocean and along its coasts
the Philippines have played and will pla,
an important part, and that our interests
have been served in more than one wa,
by the possession of the islands. But oul
chief reason for continuing to hold then
must be that we ought in good faitf
to try to do share of the world.
work, and this particular piece OF work
has been imposed upon us by the result:
of the war with Spain.
For Elective Government.
Within. two years we shall be tryin,
the experiment. of an elective lowe1
house In, the Philippine legislature. i
may be that the Filipinos WIN misuse
this legislature, and they certainly will
misuse it II they are misled by foolish
persons here at home into starting ar