The Bourbon news., 1904-12-09


pby every means to aid in the Development
of the varic3s movements which tend to
j provide substitutes for war, which tend to
| render nations in their actions toward ono
another, and indeed toward their own peo-
! pies, more responsive to the general sentt-
| ment OF humane and civilized mankinds
| and on the other hand, that it should keep
| prepared whie scrupulously avoiding
wrongdoing itself. to repel any wrong. and
| in exceptional cases to take action which
in a more advanced stage of International
relations would come under the head of the
exercise OF the international police. A
| great free people owes it to itself and to all
mankind not TO sink into helplessness De-
| 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 and other nations which
| can be thus arbitrated. Furthermore at
the request of the Interparliamentary
union, an eminent body composed of prac-
4
| asked the powers to join with this govern
| ment in a second Hague conference, at
which it is hoped that the work already so
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
| V0nQZlplq In
oeavorlng to circumscribe the theater ok
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 t0
our sympathies. Ordinarily it is very much
4 wiser and more useful for us to concern
! ourselves with striving for our own moral
and material betterment here at home than
10 concern 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 moro for the general uplifting ss
humanity by striving with heart and soAl
10 put stop to civic corruption. to brutal
/ iawlessness and violent race prejudices
mere at home than by passing resolutions
about wrongdoing elsewhere. Neverthe-
less there are occasional crimes committed
| on so vast scale and Of such peculiar hor-
| ror as to make US doubt whether 1t is not
our manifest duty to endeavor at least to
| show our disapproval of the deed and our
| sympathy with those who have suffered bp
It, The cases must be extreme in which
such a course is justifab.e. There must be
no effort made to remove the mote from
/ our brothers eye If we refuse to removs
the beam from our own. But In extrema
cases action may be tustiiable and proper.
| What form the action shall take must d.
| g ton ~ fha
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 ~
tolerable conditions in Cuba are neees-
| sarily very few. Yet it is not to be expActsd
that people like ours, which in spite OF
| certain very obvious shortcomings. neyer-
| theless as a whole shows by its conuistene
| 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. fs never
| more than sporadic, so that individuals and
| not classes are molested in their funda-
mental rights-it is inevitable that such q
nation should desire eagerly to give express
sion to its horror on an occasion like that
Of the massacre of the Jews in Kishincff. or
| when it witnesses such systematic and
| long-extended cruelty and oppression as
the cruelty and oppression of which the
'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 on
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 for
! progress AT present they are utterly
| incapable of existing in independence al
| all or of building up 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 I 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 yeu
| in sight, and it may be indefinitely post
| poned If our people are foolish enough to-
| turn the attention of the Filipinos away
| from the problems of achieving moral
and material prosperity. Of working for
| stable. orderly and just government
and toward foolish and dangerous i'm
| tr1gueS Tor a complete independence for
| which they are as yet totally unfit.
| On the other hand our people muss
| 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. do not overlook the fact than
| In the development of our interests I'm
| the Pacific ocean and along it's coasts.
the Philippines have played and will plaw
an important part, and that our interests
! have been served in more than one way
| by the possession of the islands. But oun
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. ID
may be that the Filipinos will misuse
this legislature, and they certainly will
misuse II 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
lcrrn