The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-04-22

| fContinued from Page 19)
 tarv force. Where all the people vote | the intelligent man has more influ, 1 ence than the unintelligent one, and l where there Is an obvious inequallty'
 a suffrage qualification, usually eX-
 cludes the more ignorant l Take the case of the Japanese, TOT | instance. no one is disposed to question their ability to govern themselves anu | vet the suffrage oualincatiohs are
 such that less than one-tenth Of the l admit males are permitted to vote | Nine-tenths of the Japanese have no mart in law-making, either directly or | through representatives, and still Ja- | nan is the marvel of the present gem i eration. In Mexico the gap between | the educated classes and the peons IS | fully as great if not greater than | the gan between the extremes of Fill nino society. and yet Mexico is main l taIning a stable government, and no l nartv in the United States advocates | our making a colony of Mexico on the 1 theory that she cannot govern her- ] self. , Those who question the capacity or , the Filipinos for self-government over | look the stimulating influence of sell government upon the people; they for | get that responsibility is an educating influence. and that patriotism raises up | persons fitted for the work that needs l to be done Those who speak con- | temptuously of the capacity of the l Filipino ignore the fact that they were | fighting for self government petore l the majority of our people knew where | inc Philipine islands were. Two years ] before our war with Spain Rizal was l mt to death because of his advocacy or | larger liberty for his people, and when | I witnessed the celebration of the ninth anniversary of his death, I could not | doubt that his martyrdom would De | potent to stir the hearts or coEhhs generations whenever any government, l foreign or domestic, disregarded the rights of the people.
 year before our war with Spaln l the Filipino people were in insurrec- l ton against that country, and they ue- manded among other things "Parlla- . mentary representation, freedom of the press toleration of all religious sects' laws common with hers, and admlnis- tratiye and economic autonomy"
 Here was a recognition of the doc trirre of self government and a recog- hilton of the freedom of the press as the bulwark of liberty. There was also a demand for freedom of conscience and the right to administer their own affairs for their own interests. In the nrocIamation from which I have quoted there was no demand for Independence, hut 1t must be remembered that we | did not demand independence from England until after we found it was | imnossible to secure justice under a colonial system
 Whether by the demand for laws | common with hers the F1liplnos mean that they wanted the protection | of laws made by the Spanish for them 1 selves. I do not know. If that is the meaning of their demand, they must | be credited with understanding the inn | portance of a principle to which some | of our own public men seem to be | blind. The evil of a colonial policy | the gross injustice of it, arises largely | from the fact that the colony Is gov | erned by laws made for it, but not | binding upon the country which makes 1 the laws. The Mexican who does not
 participate in the making of the laws | of his country has at least the protec-
 tion of living under laws which bino | the maker as well as himself. Sc l with the Japanese who does not vote
 the laws which he must obey mus,
 be obeyed by those who do vote anc
 the taxes he pays must be paid aIsC
 by those who enjoy the franchise.
 | But under a colonial system the SUD
 ject must obey a law made for hlm bl
 one who is not himself subject to tff'
 law. The distinction is so plain that l
 ought to be apparent to anyone upoi
 a moments thought.
 | It is objected that but small pro
 portion of the Filipinos are educated
 it may be answered that the numbe
 Of the educated is increasing ever!
 day. The fact that the Filipinos sup