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

Ii The rural free delivery Is OF the
greatest use and convenience to the
farmers. a body OF men who live under
conditions which make them ordinarily
receive little direct return for what
they pay toward the support OF the
government The irrigation policy in
the arid and ssmi-arid regions of the
West is one fraught with the most BEN
eficent f~a--reaching good to the
actual settlers the home-makers, WHOSE
encouragement Is a traditional feature
IN Americas national policy. Do our
opponents grudge the fifty millions
paid for rs Panama Canal? Do thax
tntend 10 cut down on the pensions TO
n veterans of the civil war? Do they
intend TO put a stop 10 the irrigation
poiicy!-or TO the permanent census
bureau? or to immigration Inspection
Do they intend to abolish rural free de-
livery? Do they intend to cut down
n navy? or the Alaskan telegram
system: Do they intend to dIsmant.e
our coast Notifications? II there is To
be a real n substantial cutting down
In national expenditures IL must be in
such matters as sthese.The department
OF agriculture has lone service of in
caIculdble value to the farmers of this
country in many different lines. Do
our opponents wish to cut dow the
money for this service? They can do
1T only by destroying the usefulness of
the service itself.
HONESTY IN THE PUBLIC SERVICE
The public work of the United States
has never been conducted with a higher
degree of honesty n efficiency thar
at the present time; n a special need
OF praise belongs to those officials re-
sponsible for the Philippines and Porto
Rico. where the administrations have
been models of their kind. OF course
wrong has occasionally occurred, but II
has been relentlessly stamped out. We
have known no party in dealing with
offenders, and have hunted down with
out mercy every wrOng-doer in the
service of the nation whom it was pos
sible by the utmost vigilance to detect:
for the public servant who betrays his
trust and the private Individual who
d~ebauches him stand as the worst of
criminals, because their crimes are
crimes against the entire community,
and not only against generation but
against the generations that are yet
to be.
THE PHILIPPINES.
Our opponents promise independence
to the philippine Islands. Here again we
are confronted by the fact that their
ll~reconcilable differences of opinion
among themselves, their proved inabii-
ity to create a constructive policy when
in power. and their readiness, for the
sake Of momentary political expedi-
ency, to abandon the principles upon
which they have insisted as essential,
conspire to puzzle us as to whether
they do or do not intend in good faith
to carry out this promise if they are
given control of the government. In
their platform they declare for inde-
pendence, approximation their Ian
a is a little Obscure-without
publication as to time; and indeed a
qualification as to time is an absurdity
for we have neither right nor power to
bind our successors when it is impossi-
BILE to ~foretell the conditions which
may confront them; while if there Ia
any principle involved in the matter,
1t Is just as wrong to deny indepen-
dence for a few years as to deny it for
an indefinite. period. But in later and
equally Official u~tteranceS by our OPP
ponents the term self-government was
substituted for independence; the
words used being so chosen that in
their natural construction they de-
scribed precisely the policy now being
carried on. The language of the plat
form indicated d radical change of pol
icy. But this caused trouble in their
own ranks; and in a still later, al
though less formal, utterance, the self
government promise was recanted, and
independence at some future time was
promised in its place. They have oc-
cupied three entirely different positions
within fifty days. Which is the prom
Use they really intend to keep? They
do not know their own minds; and no
one can tell how long they would keep
of the same mind, should they by any
chance come to a working agreement
among themselves. If such ambiguity
affected only the American people it
would not so greatly matter; for the
American people can take care of
themselves. But the Filipinos are in
no such condition. Confidence is with
them a plant of slow growth. They
have been taught to trust the word CT
this government because this govern
ment has promised nothing which il
did not perform. If promised indepen-
dence they will expect independence;
moi In the remote future for their de-
scendants. but Immediately, for them
selves. If the promise thus made is
not Immediately fulfilled they will re-
gard it as broken, and will not again
trust to American faith; and il would
be indeed a wicked thing to deceive
them i'm such fashion. Moreover, ever
if the promise were made to take effect
only in the distant future, the Filipinos
would be thrown into confusion there
by. Instead of continuing to endeavor
to fit themselves for moral and mate
rial advancement in the present, they
would abandon all effort at progress
n begin factional intrigues for future
power.
To promise to give them independence
when it is prudent to do so, or when
they are fit for it, of course implies
that they are not fit fg it now, and that
it would be imprudent TO give it to
them now. But rs We must ourselves
be the judges as to when they become
"ft," and when ii would be prudent
to keep such a promise if it were made,
| ut necessarily follows t at to make
such a promise now would amount to a
deception upon the Filipinos.
1t may well be our opponents have
no real intention of putting their prom
Use into effect. If this is the case. If
in words, they are insincere il
the promise they make, il is only neces-
sary to say again that il is unwise to
trust men who are false in one thing
to deal with anything. The mere con
| SciOuSneSS of broken faith would ham.