Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-06-09
The Spark That viii Not Out.

In his address to the house Of rep
resentatives accompanying the pre-
sentation of memorial to con-
gress from his people, Manuel L.
Quezon, the Filipino delegate, acknowl-
edged all the good works done by the
provisional government in the islands,
saying:
They have established provincial
and municipal governments, almost
completely autonomous, supervised
only by a very able and handwriting
man, Mr.. Carpenter.
They have created a body of con-
stabulary, whose duty is to cooperate
with the municipal and provincial Of
ficials in the maintenance of public
order The chiefs of this body-Gen-
eral Bandholtz, Colonel Harbord and
the others are very brilliant men,
carefully selected from the officers of
the regular army By their tact and
their love for the islanders they have
converted the organization, once really
unpopular, into one of the most useful
and praised of the official organiZa-
tons.
They have built up system of
education which offers equal opportun-
tiles for learning to the poor and to
the rich.
They have given us supreme court
worthy to be compared to any other
tribunal in the world. The chief JUS
tice, Hon. Cayetano Arellano, is a man
of wide learning and with reputa-
ton in his profession extending far
beyond the confines of the islands.
'"They have secured for us an as
sembly which, although it has very
limited power. answers, at least, to
the purpose of expressing the will of
the people and showing its governing
capacity. Osmena and his colleagues
of the first and second assembly have
made living proof of my countrymen's
fitness for self-government.
They have beautified the city OF
Manila, the capital of the archipelago,
improved its sanitary conditions, COM
pleted its harbors works, and provided
it with a trolley system.
They have constructed all over the
islands more than 500 miles of high
ways and roads, hundreds of steel and
concrete bridges and thousands of
concrete culverts.
'SThey have multiplied the number
of lighthouses and knitted the islands
with lines Of telegraphs and tele-
phones.
They have provided a great number
of towns with artesian wells, and built
school houses even in almost inacces-
sible parts of the archipelago.
"Of course, Mr.. Chairman, it is fact
that the Filipino people have paid for
all these things from the revenues of
the islands; but none the less it is
true that the insular government
should have the main credit for it,
There has been much done, and for
their directing guidance the Filipinos
are grateful to the American nation.
But, still, is there unhappiness in the
islands. Gentlemen" the delegate
continued, "in reading this memorial,
by which, though its language be in
adequate, over 100000 people seek
from you that which it will cost you
nothing to concede, l beg of you to
remember that they ask of you some
thing which is, and ever will be, more
20 them than wealth and life-their
liberty"
1t is the spark that will not out,
which burns in the breasts of the Fill
ipinos NO matter how easy may be
the yoke of a foreign power" said
Daniel Webster, mo matter how light
" it sits upon the shoulders, If it is
not imposed by the voice of his own
nation. and of his own country, he
will not, he can not, and he means not
TO be happy under it's burden
What are we going to do about it?
Already the islands have cost us in
money alone in excess of 5000, OG0, 900,
and in human lives no less than 1G.-
600. Is it to be assumed that We can
continue the great moral wrong
against these subject peoples without
paying a greater price? Our problem
in the Pacific grew out of the Fill
pinos. The staggering cost of our navy,
and of our larger army, grew out of it,
And what is the gain? Nothing of
trade to compensate. and a people I'M
happy.