Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-12-06

Cldi 0eNeiOpment OF the Islands has been
made since they
Development were virtually grant
of the Islands, ed t1l. access tsrss to our
ago. with every prospect of increasing
development and diversified industries.
Freed from American control such de-
velopment is bound to decline. Every
observer speaks of the great progress In
public works for the benefit of the Fill
pinos. Of harbor improvements. Of road
and railways. of irrigation and artesian
wells, public buildings and better means
of communication. But large parts Of
the islands are still unreached. still even
uneXplored. roads and railways are need
ed In many parts, irrigation systems are
still to be installed and wells to be driven.
Whole villages and towns are still with
out means of communication other than
almost impossible roads and trails Even
the great progress in sanitation, which
has successfully suppressed smallpox, the
bubOnic plague and Asiatic cholera, has
found the cause of and a cure for bert-beri,
has segregated the lepers, has helped to
make Manila the most healthful city in
the orient. and to free life throughout the
whole archipelago from its former dread
diseases. is nevertheless incomplete in
many essentials of permanence In sani-
tary policy. Even more remains to be
accomplished. If freed from American
control sanitary progress Is bound to be
arrested and all that has been achieved
likely to be lost.
Concurrent with the economic. social
and industrial development of the islands
has been the development of the political
capacity of the people. By their pro-
gressive participation in government the
Fflipinos are being steadily and hope
fully trained for self-government Under
Spanish control they shared in no way in
the government. Under American con-
troll they have shared largely and in
creasingly. Within the last dozen years
they have gradually been given COM
plete autonomy in the municipalities, the
cial governing boards and the lower
house Of the insular legislature. They
have four native members out of nine
members of the commission, or upper
house. The chief justice and two JUS
tees Of the supreme court, about one
half of the higher judicial positions, and
all of the justices of the peace are ma
tives. In the classified civil service the
per cent in 1904 to 81 per cent in 1911.
Thus today all the municipal employees
over 90 per cent of the provincial en-
ployes and GO per cent of the officials
are Filipinos. The ideal which has been
kept in mind in our political guidance Of
the islands has been real popular self
government and not mere paper indie
peHueHCe am happy 10 say tnat the
Filipinos have done we'll enough in the
places they have filled and in discharge
of the political power with which they
have been intrusted to warrant the be-
lief that they can be educated and
trained to complete self-government. But
the present satisfactory results are due
to constant support and supervision at
every step by Americans.
IF the task we have undertaken is
higher than that assumed by other ma
lions, it's accomplishment must demand
even more patience. We must not forget
that We found the Fflipinos wholly I'M
trained in government. Up to our ad-
vent all other experience sought to re-
press rather than encourage political
power. 1t takes long time and much ex-
perience to ingram political habits of
steadiness and efficiency. Popular self
government ultimately must rest upon
common habits Of thought and upon a
reasonably developed public opinion. No
such foundations for self-gOvernment. let
alone independence. are now present In
the Philippine Islands. Disregarding even
their racial heterogeneity and the lack of
ability to think as a nation, 1t is suffi-
cient to point out that under liberal
franchise privileges only about 3 per cent
Of the FilipinOs vote and only 5 per cent
Of the people are said to read the public
press. To confer independence upon the
Filipinos now is. therefore. to subject the
great mass Of their people to the domi-
nance OF an Oligafchical and. probably.