The Bourbon news., 1904-12-09

nation should on the one hand enoedVOE
'by every means to aid in the development
OF the varic3s movements which tend to
| provide substitutes for war. which tend to
render nations in their actions toward cn6
another and indeed toward their own pe0-
! pies more responsive to the general sentf-
ment OF humane and civilized mankindS
and on the other hand, that it should keep
| prepared wkIe 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 tho
exercise OF the International police A
| great free people owes it 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. 1t 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 a second Hague conference, at
which it is hoped that the work already 50
happily begun at The Hague may be car
| ried some steps further toward completion.
| This carries out the desire expressed by
the first 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-
0eavorlng 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 well as in the interest of human
| ity at large. There are, however, cases "a
which, while our own interests are not
greatly involved, strong appeal is made ta
our sympathies. Ordinarily it 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 copcern 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 sx
humanity by striving with heart and soxl
to put a 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
/ TOR as to make US doubt whether it 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 justifable. There must be
| no effort made to remove the mote from
1 our brothers eye If we refuse to removs
| the beam from our own. But In extreme
cases action may be justifiable and propey
| What form the action shall take must de-
] pend upon the circumstances of the casa.
! that is, upon the degree Of the atrocity ard
| upon our power to remedy it. The cases
| In which we could interfere by force OF
arms as we interfered to put stop to ID
! tolerable conditions in Cuba are neees-
| sarily very few. Yet it is not to be expActed
that people like ours, which in spite OF
certain very obvious shortcomings NEVER
theless whole shows by it's conuistenf
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 never
more than sporadic, so that individuals ana
| not classes are molested in their funda-
mental rights-it is inevitable that such q
| nation should desire eagerly to give express.
sion to it's horror on an occasion like that
| of the massacre OF the Jews in Kishineff or
| when it witnesses such systematic and
long-extended cruelty and oppression az
the cruelty and oppression of which tho
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 tha
| 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 peoples
of the Philippine islands, contain many
elements of good, and some elements
| which we have right to hope stand fon
! progress At present they are utterly
! incapable of existing in independence az
| all or of building up a civilization Of
| their own I firmly believe that we can
| help them to rise higher and higher In
| the scale of civilization and of capacity
for self-government, and 1 most earnest
ly hope that in the end they will be able
to stand, If not entirely alone, yet in
some such relation to the United States
as Cuba now stands. This end is not yer
in sight, and it may be indefinitely post
poned If our people are foolish enough to
turn the attention of the F'ilipinos away
from the problems of achieving moral
| and material prosperity of working for
stable, orderly and just government.
and toward foolish and dangerous In
trigues for complete Independence foz
which they are as yet totally unfit.
On the other hand our people muse
| keep steadily before their minds the facs
! that the justification for our stay in the
| Philippines must ultimately rest chiefly
upon the good we are able to do in the
islands. I do not overlook the fact that
| In the development OF our interests I'm
the Pacific ocean and along it's coasts.
the Philippines have played and will plav
an important part, and that our interests
have been served in r.ore than one way
by the possession of the islands. But our
chief reason for continuing to hold them
| must be that we ought in 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 Government.
Within two years we shall be tryinz
the experiment of an elective lower
house in the Philippine legislature I'd
may be that the Filipinos will misuse
this legislature, and they certainly will
misuse It If they are misled by foolish
persons here at home into starting an
agitation for their own independence on
into any factious or improper action In
such case they will do themselves no