The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1907-09-26
MUST HOLD ISLANDS
Admired Dewey Speaks Abost
Our Foreign Posse<sioas
OUR DUTY TO THE INHABITANTS
escald shs uHtss1 sta,es CIV, TAsa
up. He Says JapaA wsaiA Aessifs
Thsm 10 The DszAavAz;ass ef, Tkss
Country


Washington. Special AAmsral
Dewey strongly ressnis the psUpo@s.oa
ths, has been Discussed in EEssru ar
less academic manner Go snFFwnslrr The
Philippines, ~hieh of al Haen be was
leading factor in hrlagsng andss The
American lisg. In aa insrrxlsw the
admiral set cut clearly The reason.
which impel hm 10 Insist upoa shs
retention 81 the islands S,ngaIaFiy
enough, IN view OF the fact that the
admiral ls 4 man of VAR hy trade, the
strong point of his argument is NJ,
based upon the military og naval ina
portance of the archipelago. bat al
most altogether upon the grvsi value
present aud prospective Of the Philia-
pines Ia America ,n tie EXTENSION Of
our trade with the OrtcgI, which ha
regards "a holding out the beet PROM
Use Of commercial expansion The al.
niral says.
Abandon the Philippine, don Z
believe our country will ever do that.
Certainly il should not because IL bas
altogether too much at stake II Is
only our control over he Philippines
that makes II possible for us to insist
upon the open door ia the last. to-
ward which our diplomacy has been
directed for n number of years. We
want our share Of the enortpaus COM
merce of the East and We can not
keep the door open for 1T, unless We
hold the islands.
Why Did Spain Hold Them.
"Why did Spain for 200 years dom
mate the commerce of the Orients
Just because she had the bay and har-
bor of Manila a. a great commercial
and naval base. That base can he Just
as useful 10 us commercially a. il was
TO Spain. For the past 10 years every
strong European nation has been Try
ing to get a foothold for commercial
and naval purposes in Eastern wa
ters-Germany, England. France and
Russia. Through the forces of war
the United States obtained rightfuily
and without chicanery the best and
most stragetic position possible Civ
ing us superior naval and commercial;
advantages over the other nations.
What sort Of common sense would it
be for us to give up such positioni
"Suppose we should dispose of the
Philippines and Japan should acquire
themi See how the islands stretch
alon ethe coast Here are the jap
anese islands, here is Formosa which
Japan owns, and then come the Phil
ippihcs. If Japan had them, she would
command every gateway to the Orient
and the United States would be COM
peltely shut ont.
Every one comedies that the
Orient is the future great field for the
principal commercial nations Of tie
world. We ought TO be the leaders
hut We must nj least have a share IN
the enterprise and in order to do 50
we must maintain the positions We
have occupied through force of cir
cumstances in that region.
COmmerClal fnase.
az am talking now Of the purely
commercial phase of the question AMI
think il is plain that ve must have
commercial base Of operation such
as Manila furnishes. And then in or
der 10 protect our commerce we must
have a naval base. and at Subig bay,
such base is now being developed.
Congress has recognized our needs IN
the Philippines and has appropriated
literally for fortifying the islands
Modern guns are being mounted q
large dry dock has been located in
Subig bay, troops are stationed in tho
| island of Luzon and in every way con-
gress has shown its desire tc protect
i the islands firm foreign aggression
and also TO establish base for possi-
bic military operations.
alt has been frequently said that
the United States has assumed re<pon-
sibilities in the Philippines which 10
| can not pass over TO other hands.
do not care to discuss this phase Of
| the situation, except 20 say that be-
lieve the American people will never
shrink from such responsibilities az
| were assumed fer them when tie
United States took over the Philip
pines.
| "I want to emphasize my belief
that the United States as world pow
er will always have commercial and
| diplomatic interests in the Far East
and can not maintain itself properly
without base of operations. The
United States can not withdraw from
its present enterprise in the East but
must go forward seeking its share OF
the advantages and sustaining iu