The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-04-22

foreign or domestic, disregarded the
rights of the people
\ year before our war with Spain
the Filipino people were in insurrec-
ton against that country, and they de-
manded among other things 'Parlia-
mentary representation, freedom of the
press, liberation of all religious sects,
laws common with hers, and admins
trative and economic autonomy
Here was a recognition of the doc
trine of government and a recog-
milton 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
proclamation from which 1 have quoted
there was no demand for independence,
but 1t must be remembered that we did
not demand independence from Eng
land until after we found it was i'm
possible to secure justice under a CO.
lonial system.
Source of Colonial Evils.
Whether by the demand for laws
common with hers" the Filipinos meant
that they wanted the protection of laws
made by the Spanish for themselves, I
do not know. If that is the meaning Of
their demand. they must be credited
with understanding the Importance of
q principle to which some of our own
public men seem to be blind The evil
OF colonial policy, the gross injustice
Of it, arises largely from the fact that
the colony is governed by laws made
for it, but not binding upon the coun-
try which makes the laws. The Mex
lean who does not participate in the
making of the laws of his country has
at least the protection of living under
laws which bind the maker as we'll as
himself. So with the Japanese who
does not vote, the laws which he must
obey must be Obeyed by those who do
vote, and the taxes he pays must be
paid also by those who enjoy the fran
cbise.
But under a colonial system the sub
Ject must obey a law made for him by
one who is not himself subject 10 the
law The distinction is so plain that
1T ought to be apparent to anyone upon
a moments thought.
1t is objected that but a small pro-
portion of the FiliDinOs are educated;
1t may be answered that the number
of the educated is increasing every day.
The fact that the F'ilipinos support the
schools so enthusiastically, even when
those schools are established by out
slider and when the teaching is in a
language strange to them, speaks elo-
quently in their behalf. Nor is this a
newborn zeal. The AguinaldO govern
ment provided for public schools and,
cOck-fghting being prohibited, cock
school
houses IN some sections over which the
authority of his government extended
It Is objected by some that the in
telligent FiliDinos would under indie
pendence use the Observation-Disclosures of
government to tyrannize over the mass
es. This is not a new argument; it is
always employed where an excuse for
outside interference is desired but
there is no reason to believe that the
F1ipinos would be less interested in
the people of their own race and blood
than are aliens whose salaries are such
as to make it impossible for them to
claim that they serve from. purely al
truistic motives.
What Washington Proposes.
That those in power in Washington
contemplate independence must be ad-
mltted, unless those who speak for the
administration intend gross deception.
In his speech ON the evening of Rial
day, December last, General Smith one
of the Philippine commission and head
of the educational department said:
Popular self-government for the Phil
ippines is the purpose of both peoples.
If either seeks to achieve it indepen-
dent. of the other, the experiment is
doomed to failure If both work for If
tremendously, there is no reason WHY
it should not be accomplished If il IS
accomplished. the history of the Phil
that which recites the struggle of a
simple people to fit themselves for in
dependent government. If it is accom-
plished, the fairest page in American
history viii be that which records the
creation of a new nation and the nm
selfish development of an alien race"
If this is not promise of ultimate in
dependence, what possible meaning can
the language have? If the administra-
ton does not intend that the Filipinos
shall some day be independent, its rep
resentatiVeS should not hold out this
hope.
But there is even higher authority for
the hope of Independence When the
so-ealled Taft party" visited the Phil
lppines last summer, Secretary Taft
made a speech in which he assumed
to speak for the president Referring
to the presidents opinion, he said: He
believes. as 1 believe, and as do most
Americans who have had great famiI-