The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1904-09-16

" &tO14 All HAEN VI u LII 80E0 case
what right have we 10 keep a ccalinx
station What right to keep control
over the Moro peoples? What right TO
protect the Igorrotes from their OPP
pressors? What right 10 protect the
~law-abiding friends Of America IN the
stands from treachery. robbery and
murder Yet. TO abandon the Islands
completely. without even retaining a
coaling station. would mean to abandon
he position in the competition for the
trade OF the Orient which We have ac-
Quired the last six years: and whas
Is far more important. IL would mean
~irreparable damage to those who have
become the wards Of the Nation. To
abandon all control over the Moros
would amount TO releasing these Morus
TO prey upo the Christian F~il.pincs,
civilized or semi-ciyilized., as well a.
upon the commerce of other peoples.
The Moros are In large part still in
the stage Of culture where the occa-
pations Of the bandit and the pirate
ere those most highly regarded: and il
has not been found practical to give
them self-government IN the sense that
we have been giving it to the Christian
inhabitants To abandon the Moro
country. a our opponents propose In
their platform. would be precisely as If
twenty-five years G We had with
drawn the army and the civil agents
from within and around the Indian
reservations in the Wes&. at a time
when the Sioux and the Apache were
still the terror OF our settlers. Ii wou4
be a criminal abusurdity;. and yet our
opponents have pledged themselves
thereto. II successful in the coming
election they would either have TO break
faith, or else to do an act which would
leave IN indelible stain upon our ma
tional reputation for courage. and for
good sense. During the last five years
more has sbeen done for the material
and moral well-being of the Filipinos
than ever before since the Islands first
came With the ken Of civilized man.
We have opened before them a vista of
orderly development in their w Inter
est. and not a policy of exploitation.
Every effort is being made 10 fit the
islands for self-government, n they
have already in large measure received
II. while for the first time in their his
tory their personal rights and civil
liberties have been guaranteed. They
are being educated; they have been
given schools; they have been given
libraries; 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 IL
Is in our power to guarantee. Their in-
dividual rights to life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness are now by act OF
Congress jealousy safeguarded under
the American flag; and if the protec-
ton of the flag were withdrawn their
rights would be lost. and the islands
would be plunged back under some
form of vicious yrann We have
given them more. self-government than
they have ever before had; we are TAX
ing steps to increase 1t still further by
providing them with AN elected legis-
L. t,c,1 a-caro h1u. nnd cI1rn1U We had
better await the results of this expert
mentor it is a wholly new experiment
in ASia-befOre we make promises
which as a nation we might be forced
to break, or which they might inter-
pref one way and we in another. 1t
may be asserted without fear of sue
cessful contradiction that nowhere else
in recent years has there been as me
an example of constructive statesman
ship and wise and upright administra-
ton as has been given by the civil au-
thoritieS. aided by the army, in the
Philippine Islands We have admins
tered them in the interest of their own
people,; and the Fflipinos themselves
have profited most by our presence IN
the islands; but they have also been
of very great advantage to US as j ma
ton.
So far from having Slapped the foun-
dations'' of free popular government
at home by the course taken in the
Philippines, we have been spreading its
knowledge. and teaching its practice,
among peoples to whom it had never
before been more than an empty name
Our action represents a great stride
Onward in spreading the principles or
orderly liberty throughout the world.
Our flag has not lost its gift of bene-
diction in it's wide journey to their
shores" We have treated the power
we have gained as a solemn obligation.
and nave used it in the interest OF MAN.
kin; and the peoples of the world and
especially the weaker peoples of the
world, are better off because of the
position We ave assumed. To retracc
our steps would be to give proof OF an
intirm and unstable national
Four years ago. in his speech of ac-
ceptance. President Mckinley said:
I'VE have been moving in untrieu
paths, but our steps nave been guideo
by honor and duty. There will be no
turning aside, no wavering. no re-
| treat. No blow has been struck EXCEPT
for liberty ana humanity. and none will
be. We will perform without fear every
national and international obligation.
The Republican party was dedicated to
freedom forty-four years ago.
1t a been the party of liberty n
emancipation from that hour: not OF
49,
broke the shackles OF four million
slaves. and made them free, and to the
| party of Lincoln has come another su-
| preme opportunity which it has bravely
| met in the liberation of ten millions of
the human family from the yoke of i'm
| perialism. In its solution of great
problems. in its performance of high
| duties. it has had the support of MEM
bers of all parties in the past, and it
| confidently inyokes their cooperation
| in the future"
This is as true now as four years ago.
We did not take the Philippines at will.
| and we cannot put them aside at Will
| Any abandonment of the policy which
| we have steadily pursued in the islands
| would be fraught with dishonor and
| disaster: and to such dishonor and dis
aster / do not believe that the Ameri-
| can people will consent.
THE NEGRO.
Alarm has been professed lest the