The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-09-12

It may be that our opponents nave no lreal intention of putting their promise Into effect. If this is the case, if in l
 other words, they are insincere in the lpromise they make, it is only necessary
 to say again that it is unwise to trust
 men who are false in one thing to deal
 with anything. The mere conscious lness of broken faith would hamper them in continuing our policy in the
 islands; and only by continuing un- lchanged this policy can the honor of Ithe country be maintained, or the ln- lterests of the islands supserYed. VT, lon the other hand, our opponents came Unto power and attempted to carry out Itheir promises to the Filipinos by giv- ling them Independence, and wlthdraW- ling American control from the islands
 the result would be a frightful eaiaml- lty to the Filipinos themselves, and in lits larger aspect would amount to an international crime, Anarchy would Hollow; and. the most violent anarehic forces would De directed partly against 1.-the civil government, partly against all forms of religious and educational civ- lilization. Bloody conflicts would lnev-
 Iitably ensue in the archipelago, and liust as inevitably the islands would be- Icome the prey of the first power which lin its own selfish interest took up the ltask we had eravenly abandoned. Ot lcourse the practical diculty in adopting iany such course of action-such a pol Hey of scuttle," as President Mckinley lcalled it-would be found well nigh in
 superable. If it is morally indefensible
 to hold the archipelago as whole un-
 lder our tutelage in the interest Of It's
 own people. then it is morally inde-
 Ifensible to hold any part of it, Tn such lease what right have we to keep a
 ,eoaling station? What right to keep
 control over the Moro peoples2 What
 right to protect the Igorrotes from their
 oppressors? What right to protect the
 lIaw-abiding friends of America in the
 islands from, treachery, robbery and
 murder? Yet, to abandon the islands
 Icompletely, without even retaining a
 Icoaling station, would mean to aban7. don the position in the competition for
 the trade of the Orient which We have
 lacquired during the last six years; and
 what is ia rmore important, it would
 lmean irreparable damage to those who
 lhave become wards of the Nation. To
 abandon all control over the Moros
 would amount to releasing these Moros
 F to prey upon the Christian Filipinos, lcivilzed or semi-cvilized, as well as
 upon the commerce of other peoples.
 The Moros are in large part still in the
 lstage Of culture where the occupations
 of the bandit and the pirate are those most highly regarded;and it has not
 been found practical to give them self
 government in the sense that We have
 been giving It to the Christian irihabi-
 tants. To abandon the Moro country as our opponents propose in their plat
 form, would be precisely as if tWenty- !, live years ago I've had withdrawn the , larrny and the civil agents from within , and around theS Indian reservations in . the West, at a time when the Sioux and
 Apache were still the terror of our set- tlers It would be a criminal absurdi- , lty; and yet our opponents have pledged
 themselves thereto. If successful in the
 coming election they would either have to break faith or else to do an act
 l , upon our national reputation for cour- ] age. and for good sense. During the ' Hast five years more has been done for l the materiali and moral well-being of : the Filipinos than ever before since the l lislands first came within the ken of } civilized man. We have opened before ,, them vista of orderly development in their own interest, and not a policy of exploitation. Every effort is being Z made to fit the islanders for self-gov- ernment, and they have already in large measure received it, while for the first time in their history their personal , rights and civil liberties have been : guaranteed They are 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 giv- . len courts in which they receive Justice as absolute as it is in our power to guarantee. Their individual rights to life. liberty and the pursuit of happi- ness are now by act of Congres jeal- ? ously safeguarded under the American flag and if the protection of the flag
 l WGtc WiLidIaWli lIltkI4 TISllS sWuulQ Ue lost, and the islands would be plunged back under some form of vicious tyran- : Thy. We have given them more self
 government than they ever before had; 7 we are taking steps to increase It still further by providing them with an } elected legislative assembly; and sure : ly we had better await the results of this experiment. 1t is a wholly new
 experiment in Asia--before we make promises which sa nation we might he forced to break, or which they might interpret one way and we in another. . It may be asserted without fear of suc- 5 oessful contradiction that nowhere else , in recent years has there been as fine , an example of constructive statesmatl- ship and wise and upright Admiriistra- | tion as has been given by the civil au- thorities, aided by the army, in the Philippine Islands We have admin 7. istered them in the interest of their own people; and the Filipinos them . selves have prof1ted more by our pre-
 sence in the islands; but they have also . been of very great advantage to us as ' a nation.
 s So far from having ''sapped the foun. f da,tions" of free popular government al 4 home by the eolIrsa taken in the Philir.