New-York tribune., 1905-11-29

..so,+b in fhe great principles OF free govern
.sroent has spent its force and the tloe is epO-
..,np fast" He declares that government Oy
.eb+ the world over totters to its fall. and that
when the Car admits that he cannot govern ms
neopIe without their consent no man can nope
and no man need fear that government by brute
force will endure forever.
ssThe best men In the South" he says, are
'rousing themselves to oppose the nnonsIous
"doc+rine that the remedy for colored 1gno-
"rance and brutality is to keep the whole coloreo
..raee ignorant and brutal to deny them the
rights opportunities and education OF whlte
s.rnen In q word, that the way to lift them
.srn is to keen them down. at time ike
ssthIs. when the whole world is moving toward
..freedom. does it not seem passing strange
.sthat this great country, the apostle Of free
''dom, should persist In setting an example OF
astyrannyi" And SO the argument Is deVelopeo.
MIR. Storey does not stop to demonstrate tnst
+he sDread of socialism and the large vote Lor
Mr.. Hearst In this city are also the death kneIl
of American attempts TO put the PhlhppLnes
on the road to civilization and self-governmenI
but some Of his newspaper supporters thus sup
plement him and read In the rising spirit OF de-
mocracy, however manifested. evidence that the
Anti-Imperialist League has come to It's own.
Now. as a matter of fact not one hundred
nersons in the United States ever held the
notions which Mr.. Storey describes as lll-
periaIism The attribution to the people OF ols-
loyalty TO the basic principles OF repuDhcahlSln
handed down In Anglo-Saxon law was on d
nerity with the violent attribution to the great
sbody of Federalists a century or more ago Oh
traitorous and monarchical designs, because
they made a practical business or government
and built a nation without regard to the philo-
sophicaI musings of American disciples OF Rous-
seau. The American people and their officers
are and have been firm believers IN popular
rights and republican principles. The men VINO
were responsible fer the acquisition OF the
PHILIPPINES abhorred the idea Of despodsm as
much as Mr.. Moorfeld Storey, and were as
strongly opposed as he to the denial OF any
opportunities to colored men, The funda-
mental doctrine OF the so-called tmperialtsts
was not repression, but evolution. Their policy
was not to Russianize the Philippines ana
America In turn, as the anhimperialists pre-
tend but to American1ze the Philippines and
make 1t possible for them to enjoy the bless
ings of civil liberty. That was task not TO
be accomplished in day. or to be accomplished
at all by turning over to an array OF ADVENT
urers and bandits the Philippine archipelago.
1t could only be accomplished by putting these
people who had never known any government
but despotism as quickly as possible through
the evolutionary process which the Anglo-Saxon
race had spent centuries in traversing with
no opposition among Americans to giving the
Filipinos the largest liberty compatible with
the order demanded by the civilized world for
which this nation is responsible. 1t is being
enlarged from year to year, and in due time
may mean absolute independence. That is as
far removed from the spirit Of despodsm as
Mr. Moorfeld Storey is removed from anarchy.
Yet, if tried by the touchstone Of the phrase
consent of the governed" which Mr.. Storey
juggles with. Secretary Taft is found to be
despot, then Mr.. Storey himself, if absolutely
true to his motto, must be an anarchist. The
government which he would approve, which
enforced its authority on single criminals or
whole community in revolt, would violate his doc
trine as much as that which Mr.. Taft defends as
the best practical guarantee Of ordered liberty to
the Filipinos.
But it is good to find Mr. Storey and his
friends happy and able to rejoice in Russian
revolution almost as much as in Filipino out
break.