The Grit-advocate., 1904-12-09

continue steaolly TO insist the ami,
cation Of the Monroe doctrine 10 ,L
western hemisphere. Uniess our ar,i,nI
in these and all similar matters !,
a mere boastful sham We can NOT -
TO abandon our naval programme o.
voice is row potent for peace, and
potent because We are not afraid O, ~
But our protestations upon beh,. =.
peace would neither receive nor desarys
the slightest attention IL We w,rs
potent to make them good
The Army.
Within the last three years the Trl,.,
States has set an example in stsarr,
ment where disarmament was r-,,
By law our army Is fixed at a rnaytrrr-
of one hundred thousand and a m lrIrn,,a
of sixty thousand men When the-. ,,.-
insurrection in the Philippines "a, To-,
the army at the maximum. Peace am
in the Philippines. and now our army
has been reduced to the minimum =,
which it Is possible to keep it with drs
regard to its efficiency The guns po,
mounted require twenty eight thousand
men. il the coast Notifications are t, h.
adequately manned. Relatively to IN.
nation. it is not now so large as the no.
lice force of New York or Chicago rel,-
lively to the population OF either CITY
We need more officers; there are M.
enough to perform the regular army
work. 1t is very important that the of. .
GERS OF the army should be accustomed
to handle their men in masses. as It IA
also important that the national guard
of the several states should be accus-
toned to actual field maneuvering espe-
cially in connection with the regulars
For this reason we are TO be congEatu-
lated upon the success OF the field ma
enuvers at Manassas last fall. maneuvey,
in which a larger number of regulars
and national guard took part than was
hafo 1aI thnr 10,
of peace. No other civilized nation has. ..
relatively to its population, such d. Il
mnutive army as ours; and while the
army is small we not to be ex-
cused If We fail to keep IL at very high
grade of proficiency.
Great progress has been made in pro-
| tecting our coasts by adequate fortia-
cations with sufficient guns. We should
however, pay much more heed than at
present 70 the development Of an extern
sive system of floating mines Tor use In
all our more important harbors. TheSa
mines have been proved to be most for
miGable safeguard against hostile fleets.
The Philippines.
In the Philippine islands there has
been during the past year a continuation
of the steady progress which has oh.
| tained ever since our troops definitely
got the upper hand of the insurgents
| The Philippine people, or. to speak more
accurately the many tribes, and even
| races. sundered from one another more
or less sharply, who go to make up the
people of the Philippine islands. contain
many elements of good, and some ee
ments which we have right to hope
stand for progress. At present they are
utterly incapable of existing in inde
pendence at all Of building up a civ
| ilization of their own. l firmly believe
that We can help them to rise higher and
higher in the scale of civiliZa ton and
| of capacity for elf-government and I
| most earnestly 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 yet in sight, and it may be in
| definitely postponed If our people are
| foolish enough to turn the attention O,
the Filipnos away from the problems OF
| achieving moral and material prosperity.
of working for a stable. orderly. and just
| government, and toward foolish and dan
| gerous intrigues for complete independ-
| ence for which they are as yet totally
unfit.
On the other hand our people must
\ keep steadily before their minds the fact
| that the justification for our stay in the
| Philippines must ultimately rest chiefly
| upon the good we are able to do in the
| islands. l do not overlook the fact that
! in the development of our interests in
| the Pacific ocean and along it's coasts.
the Philippines have played and will play
an important part. and that our interests
| have been served in more 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. This
| tod 20 i,, ha li,,-
| pine islands is akin to. but not exactly
| like, the problems presented to the other
| great civilized powers which have pos
sessions in the Orient. More distinctly
than any of the powers We are endeav-
| oring to develop the natives themselves
| so that they shall take an ever-increas-
| ing share in their own government. and
as far as is prudent we are already ad-
| mtting their representatives to gov
| ernmental equality with our own. There
| are commissioners, judges, and governors
in the islands who are Flipinos and who
| have exactly the same share in the gov
ernment Of the islands have their COL
| leagues who are Americans, while in the
| lower ranks. of course. the great major
| ity of the public servants are FiipinoA
| Within two years We shall be trying the
| experiment of elective lower house in
the Philippine legislature.
| Meanwhile our own people should re-
| member that there is need for the high
| est standard of conduct among the Amer
| leans sent to the Philippine islands. not
| only among the public servants but
among the private individuals who go
to them. 1t is because l feel this so
deeply that in the administration Of these
| islands l have positively refused to per-
| nit any discrimination whatsoever for
| political reasons and have insisted that
| in choosing the public servants consid-
GRAFTON should be paid solely to Tho
worth of the men chosen and to the
needs Of the islands. There is no high
| er body of men in our public service
| than we have in the Philippine islands
| under Gov. Wright and his associates
So far as possible these men should be
given free hand. and their suggestions
| should receive the hearty backing both
| of the Executive and of the Congress
| There iS NJ Jpi1o pter-