The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1904-08-12

with the duty OF enforcing the law
10 take the necessary procedure 10
procure the judgments oI the courts
in ;he appropriate Jurisdiction. coup
led with the fact that the Legislative
departr.entS OF some Of our state gov
ernnncntS. as we'll as congress in the
matter already referred to, have, by
legislation, encouraged their propaga-
ton. What is needed--in addition
10 n" passage of statute revising
the tariff duties 20 reasonable
haSis--is not so much other and dif-
Ie7ent laws, as officials having both
the disposition and the courage to
enforce existing law While this is
my view OF the scope of the COM
mon law. # it should be made to ap-
pear that it is a mistaken one, then
I favor such further legislation with
in constitutional limitations as will
give the people just and full meas
ure OF projection.
1t is difficult TO understand how any
citizen OF the United States, much less
a descendant of Revolutionary stock,
can tolerate the thought OF perma-
nently denying the right Of self-gov-
ernmenr to the Filipinos. Can we
hope to instill into the minds of our
descendants reverence and devotion
for government by the people,
while denying ultimately that right
to the inhabitants Of distant coun-
tries, whose territory we have ac-
quired either by purchase or by force?
Can we say to the Filipinos, "Your
lives, your liberty and your property
may be taken from you without due
process of law for all time" and ex-
pect we will long glory in that fea-
ture of Magma Charta, which has be-
come incorporated, in substance and
effect, into the constitution of every
state, as we'll as into the Fourteenth
Amendment to the constitution Of the
United States? Can we hope for the
respect of the civilized world, while
proudly guaranteeing to every citizen
of the United States that no law shall
be made or enforced which shall
abridge the privileges or immunities
Of citizens of the United States, or
deny to any person the equal protec-
ton of the laws, and at the same time
not only deny similar rights to the
inhabitants of the Philippines, but
take away from them the right Of
trial by jury, and place their lives and
the disposition of their property in
the keeping of those whom we send
to them to be governors? We shall
cel ,ainly rue it as a nation if we make
any such attempt. Viewing the ques-;
tion even from the standpoint OF nat
ional selfshness, there is no prospect
that the twenty millions of dollars
expended in the purchase of the is
lands and the six hundred and fifty
millions said to have been since dis
bursed will ever come back to US. The
accident Of war brought the Philip
pines into our possession and we are
not at liberty to disregard the respon-
sibility which thus came to us, but
that responsibility shall be best sub
served by preparing the islanders as
rapidly as possible for self-govern-
ment and giving to them the assur-
ances that it will come as soon as
they are reasonably prepared for it.
There need be no fear that the asser-
ton so often made OF late, that we
have now become a world power, will
then be without support. Ours is
world power, and as such it must be
maintained, but I deny that it is at
all recently that the United States has
attained that eminence Our coun-
try became world power over a
century ago, when, having thrown off
foreign domination, the people estab-
lished a free government, the source
OF whose authority sprung, and was
continuously to proceed, from the will
nf the nenn1a them selves Il grew