The San Francisco call., 1904-09-12
From Page 2. Column :


real intention of putting their promise into
effect. II this is the case it, in other words,
they are insincere in the promise they make,
II rs only necessary to say again that it is
unwtse 10 trust men who false in
thing to deal with anything. The mere con-
sciousness Of broken faith would hamper them
ili continuing policy in the islands, and
only by continuing unchange this policy can
the honor OF the country be maintained, or
the interests of the islands subserved. II, on
the other hand, our opponents came into power
and attempted to carry out their promises to
the tIhpInos by giving them independence and
Withdrawing American control from the is
lands the result would be frghtful calamity
10 the Filipnos themselves and in its larger
Anarchy would follow, and the most violent
ai.archic forces would be directed partly
against the civil government, partly against
all forms of religious and educational civilIz-
alton. Bloody conflicts would inevitably en-
sue in the archipelago and just as inevitably
the Islands owuld become the prey Of the FIRST
power which I'm its own selfish interest took
UP the task we had cravenly abandoned. or
course the practical difficulty in adopting any
such course of action-such a policy Of
scuttle, as President Mckinley called It.
Vould be found we'll nigh insuperable. II Ii
is morally indefensible to hold the archipelago
a whole under our tuteiage in the interests
% IT'S own people, then il is morally indefen-
what right have to keep coaling station?
What right TO keep control over the Moro
peoples? What right to protect the Igorrotes
from their oppressors? What right TO protect
the law-abiding friends Of America in the is
idlQS IfOIn lTSdCHerN, rODDeTy afsQw fnuruer.
Yet, to abandon the islands completely. with
retaining a coaling station, would
mean to abandon the position in the compet-
ton for the trade of the Orient which
have acquired during the last six years. and
what is far more important. 1t would mean
irreparable damage 10 those who have become
the wards OF the nation. To abandon all con-
troll over the Noros would amount to releasing
these Moros to prey upon the Christian Fill
pirOs, civilized or senii-civilized, we'll
upon the commerce of other peoples. The
Moros In large part still in the stage OF
culture where the occupations or the bandit
and the pirate are those most highly regarded,
and 4 has not been found practical 10 give
them self-governInent in the sense that we
have been giving IL to the Christian inhabi-
tants. To abandon the Moro country, our
oIIonents propose in their platform, would be
precisely as n twenty-five years ago had
withdrawn the army and the civil agents from
within and around the Indian reservations In
the West at a time when the Sioux and the
Apache were still the terror of our settlers.
1t would be a criminal absurdity; and yet
our opponents have pledged themselves thereto
II successful in the coming election they would
either have 10 break faith or else to do
act which would leave an indelible stain upon
our national reputation for courage and for
-ood sense. During the last five years more
has been done for the material and moral we'll
beir- OF the Flipinos than ever before since
the islands first came within the ken OF civ
fiizcd man. We have opened before them a
vista OF orderly development in their own
Interest and not a policy of exploitation. Every
effort is being made to fit the islanders for
self--overnment and they have already in
iar-e measure received it, while for the first
time in their history their personal rights and
arc 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