The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-07-11
What Is Constitutional? Or What
Is Right?

What Is Constitutional? Or What
Is Right?
Since Judge Parker has taken oc-
casion to rebuke his party for coward
ice in lodging the financial question
it is possible that he may have some
thing to say in his letter Of accept
ance as to the Filipino plank in the
platform. That plank looks to the
evacuation of the Philippines when
there can be obtained from the, Fill
ipinos suitable guarantees Of pro-
lection to citizens Of our own and
other countries resident there at the
time of our withdrawal" and insists
that we ought to make now the prom
Use of this withdrawal and the purpose
to set up the Filipino people as free
and independent to work out their
own destiny. In the original draft of
the platform the words "as soon as
can be done wisely and safely for the
Filipinos themselves" were inserted,
but these did not appear in the COM
1T Is our duty to make that promise
now The only effect of this declara
ton will be to encourage the revolu-
tionary element in the islands who
still have a lingering hope that they
can depend upon the democratic party
to give them the chance they hope for
for the exploiting Of their own selfish
ambitions.
Perhaps nowhere is democratic
slavery to precedent, to tradition and
narrow ideas with regard to strict
constitutional construction productive
of more mischief than in the treat
ment Of the Filipino question. Two
notable speeches have recently been
made which illustrate the attitude Of
the republican and the democratic
parties. One was delivered by Judge
Taft at Harvard university before the
Harvard law school week before last.
That speech afforded the best authori-
tative account in existence Of what
the American government has done
and proposes to do in the Philippines.
Judge Taft spoke. Of the liberia
ton of the Filipinos from Spanish mis-
rule, the suppression Of insurrection,
the establishment of American SOW
ereignty, the organization of municipal
and provincial government on basis
so liberal in the matter of autonomy
as to surprise the inhabitants Of the
islands, the suppression of ladron-
ism by native constabulary, the estab-
lishment of public school system, the
inauguration of public works, the Gre
alton of a judicial system, part native
and part American, the bestowal upon
the Filipinos of all the civil rights
mentioned in the bill Of rights, except
the right of trial by jury and the right
to bear arms. He showed that these
| civil rights are not merely theoretical
ly assured, but practically maintained,
and that among them is freedom to
advocate the independence Of the
islands by peaceable means. He ex-
pressed also the confident belief that
linIiess than a decade every Filipino
child can study English and receive
| an elementary education, and declared
| that the present purpose Of the adj
how to govern themselves, to which
| end a general education in English is
| a most important step. It is important,
| as he said, lin creating solidarity
| among, the people and enabling the
| various tribes to understand each
other, bringing them into touch, thru
| the use Of common language, with the
| IIylon
drink in the principles Of civil lib
erty" 81 -
| These are some of the facts &C
complished within six years since the
fall of Spanish power in the Philip
| pines. How much brighter the future
for those islands appears by reason
of American rule it is unnecessary to
even suggest. Fair minded, intelli-
gent Judgment must concede that
American rule has been highly bene-
| fetal. ~
But against this state Of facts our
democratic friends interpose simply
the narrow construction expressed in
the question-Where is our constitu-
ttonal authority? Mr.. Olney, who is
known as one of the ablest men in the
country adhering to democratic prin-
ciples, followed Judge Taft a few
hours later with a speech in which he
declared that 1.-The old order is chang
ing swiftly and vitality; that lawyers
and statesmen of seventy-five years
| ago would have been startled by cur
rent American theories as scientists
of that day would have been by mod
ern scientific discoveries, and that the
new order is revolutionary He said
CT Judge Taft:
Having absolute mastery over the lives
and fortunes of 100000 people. he has
won general admiration and applause by
the Justice and skilfulness of his rule anC
by the tact, patience and humanity Of his
dealings with an alien and subject race
| Yet upon the American lawyer, stepped il
the doctrine and traditions Of the past the
inquiry at once forces itself, What place
has Gcspotism-even the most benevolent
and most inteiligent-in our American po
lit!cal system, and where, by searching
shall we find ii out?
He challenged the existence of any
constitutional authority for purely
philanthropic enterprises, any right
in our government to turn itself into
a missionary to the benighted tribes
in the South seas.
The Outlook, commenting on these
| sDeecheS cites a lecture of George