The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-01-19


 | and incidentally it meant dreadful wrong l and injustice within the state themselves. l Algiers is far better off in every way under French rule than it was 80 years | ago, before the French came into the | land, and it is far better off in every way than is the neighboring state of Morocco | at the present time; and this simply and | solely because the neighboring state Of |, Morocco continues to enjoy much the | same kind of independent self-government l that Algiers enjoyed until the French l went there.
 Conditions In India.
 | In India we encounter the most colossal l example history affords of the successful administration by men of European blood ] of thiclxly populated region in another l continent. It is the greatest feat or the | kind that has been performed since the | break-up of the Roman empire. Indeed, | it is a greater feat than was performed | under the Roman empire. Unquesuonapiy mistakes have been made; 1t would liloi- | cate qualities literally superhuman If so ! gigantic a task had been accomplished 1 without mistakes. It Is easy enough 10 point out shortcomings; but the fact re- | mains that the successful administrator | of the Indian empire by the Enghsh mas | been one of the most notable and most | admirable achievements of the white race l during the past two centuries. on .ne whole fl has been for the immeasuraple ! henent of inc natives of India themselves 1 Suffering has been caused in parlicuiai l cases and at particular times to these ma 1 lives. much more often, believe by we'll l intentioned ignorance or pad Juoshhen' i than by any moral obliquity But on the 1 whole there has been far more resolute effort to do justice, far more resoiueo effort to secure fair treatment TOT .he | humble and the oppressed ourihs ny | days of English rule in India than during ,., othar neriod of recorded Indian his 1 tory. e-o,, England does not draw penny rom l India for English purposes; she spenos l for India the revenues raised In lnoia' and thev are spent for the benefit of the Indians themselves Undoubtedly lnoia is a less pleasant place than formeriy for the heads of tyrannical states. There is now little or no room in it for success ful freebooter chieftains, for the oespots who lived in gorgeous splendor while un- der their cruel rule the immense mass ! of their countrymen festered in sodden misery But the mass of the people nave i been and are far better of than ever before and far better off than they would | now be if English control were overthrown
 
 1 were now withdrawn from India, the 1 whole peninsula would become a chaos ] of bloodshed and violence; all the weaker peoples and the most industrious and 1 law-abiding, would be plundered and | forced to submit to indescribable wrong i and oppression and the only benehciaries 1 among the natives would be the lawless, violent and bloodthirsty have no ques- ton that there are reforms to be ad- ic n1ar of saying that the government has been human 1 have also no question that there is being made and will be made a suc- cessful effort to accomplish these re- forms But the great salient fact is that the presence of the English in India, like the presence of the English in Egypt and the Soudan. of the French in Algiers, of the Russians in Turkestan, of the Ger mans in southwest Africa and east Africa 1 (and of all these peoples. and of other white peoples, in many other places) has ! been for the advantage of mankind.
 Example In Philippines.
 ] Finally. take our own experience in the i Philippines. Spain finally lost power to be of benefit to the islands; but do not i forget that Spain accomplished very, very l much for them during more than two centuries; and that the islands owe their | present possibilities to the fact that the ! Spaniards took possession of them. Then We came in. l am sure that when in ternatonal history is written, from the standpoint of acclaiming international jus tiee, one chapter will tell with heartiest praise what our people have done in the ! Philippines. Exactly as in the Carib- ! bean sea we have endeavored to give gen ! uine and disinterested help to the inde- pendent peoples of Cuba and San Domingo. 1 so, in the same spirit-though the task is ] of quite different character-we are en- 1 deavorng to educate and train the native races under our sovereignty in the Phil l ippines. In our treatment of the F'llipinos we have acted up to the highest standard that has yet been set as. marking the proper way in which a powerful and ad- vaneed nation should treat weaker peo- pie Cuba we are at this moment leaving for the second time. to work out destiny , which we now hope and believe will be one of stable and orderly independence and prosperity. In the Philippines we are constantly giving an increasing meas : ure of self-government. Of course. in one sense of the world self-government can never be bestowed by outsiders upon any people. It must be achieved bv themselves It means in this sense prj- mariy self-control, self restraint and if those qualities do not exist-that is. if the people are unable to govern them
 
 ment somewhere, it has to come from ont slde. But we are constantly giving to the people of the Philippines an increas Ing share in, an increasing opportunjtv to learn by practice, the difficult art of self-government. If we had abandoned them at the outset to their own devices. 1T We had shirked our duty and sailed ont of the islands, leaving them in q bloody weiter of confusion, the chief sufferers would have been the Philippine peonIe themselves We are leading them for ward steadily in the right direction. and we are doing 1t because our people at home desire that they shall be treated 1 right, and because our people in the isl ands, in the civil government in the army, and among the missionary renre sentatives of the various creeds work primarily for the advancement of the people among whom they dwell. I be- lieve that I am speaking with historic accuracy and impartiality when sav that the American treatment of and et titude toward the Filipino people, in its combintion of disinterested ethical pur