Evening star., 1908-01-27

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yided that no one should advocate in-
dependence, even by peaceable means. be-
cause agents of insurrecticn were melting
actual violence under the guise OF sucn
peaceable propaganda. With the coming
Of peace, the statute ceased to have ef-
corpus runs without oDstructlon. Ina
liberty of the press and Of free speech
is real. There Is no eeneeFshiP 81 the
press and no more Limitation upon It's edi-
tors than there is in the city Of Wash:
ington. The publication OF criminal libel
or seditious language calculated ana mr
tended to cause public riot and disturb
anee is punishable in Manila and ths
Philippines as it Is in many OF the states
sion and this opportunity to cFiticise the
government, educate the people In po'
litieal way and enable them mare tneefi.
gently to exercise their political rights.
lfany successful candidates for the as
ssmbly seem Id haye embraced the cause
OF the inmed!atistas without having
thought out deliberately any plan oy
which policy Of immediate inoepeno.
ence could be carried out. They toinea
the party and united in its crysheeahse
it was a pepuiar enc ard because they
thought that this was an easy metnoa
Of being elected, or rather because tney
Thought that without this election Souin
be difficult. When the assembly met u
was quite apparent that the great ma
jority we're much more anxious to vnai-
cate their election as dignifed. canlnen-
sense. patriotic branch of the legislature
by q conservative course than to MAINTAIN
consistency between their acts as issist
lators and their ante-election decfaFa-
tions There are. of course, some nem-
bers who are likely at times to maze
speeches containing violent Language, eu.
on the whole there seemed to be durM
my stay in the islands. OF two OF thIss
weeks after the organization Of the as
sembly a very earnest wish tnat she
assembly should show the conservatism
which many Of us believe exists IN ena
Philippine people. rather than sheuIu
give weapon to the enemies Oh sns ~.
pie and popular government by extresa-
gance and useless violence or speech.
After One Generation.
1t seems to me reasonable to say tbat
such condition cannot be reached unth
at least one generation shall have been
subjected to the process Of primary ans
Industrial education, and that when II
is considered that the Lee2le are DIVIDED
into sraups speaking from ten to ffteeR
different DIALECTS, and that they must
acquire common medium Of conamunica-
tion, and that one Of the civilized LAM
suages, it is not unreasonable 10 extend
the necessary period beyend a generation.
By that time English will be the LAM
quage Of the islands, and we can ba rear
senabiy certain that a great majority of
these living there will not only sneak and
read and write English. but will be af-
fected by the knowledge Of free institu-
tions, and will he able to understand their
ri iUhta 81 ,ern3epFa ~ the com nluNitV' and
to seek to enforce them against the rer-
nicious system of caeiquisRl and ieeal
hessism, which ! have ATTEMPTED In this
report to describe.
the people desire immediate Independence
! am not prepared to say that II the real
wish of the majority OF all the neo1e,
men. women and children. educated and
uneducated. were to be obtained. there
would not be q very large majority In
favor Of immediate independence. Fl wouid
not, however. be an Intelligent Judgment
based on knowledge of what iHdepend-
ence means, of what Its responsibilities
are or OF what popular government in its
essence IL. But the mere fact that a ma
j0rity Of all the people are in favor OF Inn
mediate in9eoendence is not reason
why that should be granted, II We assume
at all the carreetness of the statement,
which impartial observers cannot but fail
10 acauiesce IN. to Wit: that the Filipinos
are not now fit for self-~orefnnent.
No one can have studied the east with
out having been made aware that in the
development OF China. Ianan and all Asia
are to presented the most important poiiti-
cal questions for the next century. and
that in the pursuit Of trade between the
occident ard the orient the having
such an OUTPOST as the Philippines, MAX
ing the United States an APiat:c power
for the time, will he Of immense benefit
to its merchants and It's trade. While I
have always re.rainsd from making this
the chief reason for the retention Of the
philippines. because the real reason lea
in the obligation of The United States tp
makes this people At for sslf-gcvernnent
and then to turn the government over
70 them. l don't think It improper. in or
der to secure support for the policy. to
state such additional reason. The Sc
we're criticism to which the policy Of
been subjected by English colonial states
men ard students should NOT hinder our
pursuit Of II in the slightest. It is Of
course opposed to the policy usually pur-
sued in the English government In deal
ing with native races, becauAe. In common
with other colonial powers, most of Eng
lands colonial stateaNea have assumed
that the safest course was 70 keep the
native peoples ignorant and quiet. and
that any education which might furnish a
motive for agitation was an inter nerence
with the true and proper course al govern
ment. Our policy is an experinlent. 1t Is
true, and it assumes the risk OF agitation
and sadition which may arise from the
oyereducation of ambitious politicians ar
| misdirected patriots. In order that the
whole body bf the people may acquire suf-
ficient Intelligence ultimately to exercise
governmental eontrel themselves.
How Far Policy Has Worked.
Thus far the policy Of the Philippines
has worked 1t has been attacked on
the ground that we have gone too fast.
that we have given the natives too much
power The meeting Of the assembly and
the conservative tone Of that body thus
far disclosed makes for our view rather
than that Of eur opponents but had the
result been entirely different with the as
sembly. and had there been a violent out
break at first I'm it's deliberations and at
tcmpts at obstruction. | should not have
been in the least discouraged, because ul-
timateiy i should have had confidence
that tire assembly would lsarn now fool
ish such exhibitions were and how little
good they accomplished for the members