The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1912-12-06

I tious and eager to make themselves
thus available and to become an eff
cient national reserve of citizen sol
diery. They are the only force of
trained men other than the regular
army upon which we can rely. The
so called militia pay bill in the form
agreed on between the authorities of
the war department and the represent
atives of the national guard, in my
opinion, adequately meets these condi-
tons and offers proper return for the
pay which it is proposed to give to the
national guard.
| I believe that its enactment into law
would be a very long step toward pro-
viding this nation with first line of
citizen soldiery, upon which its main
reliance must depend in case of any
national emergency. Plans for the Or
ganization of the national guard into
tactical divisions on the same lines as
those adopted for the regular army are
being formulated by the war college
division of the general staff.
| Porto Rico.
Porto Rico continues to show notable
progress, both commercially and in the
spread of education. Its external COM
merce has increased II per cent over
the preceding year, bringing the total
value up to S92, 631, 1856, or more than
| FIVE times the value of the commerce
of the island in 1901. During the year
| $780, 57 pupils were enrolled in the
public schools as against 1858 for
! the preceding year and as compared
with 10000 for the first year Of Ameri-
can administration.
The failure thus far to grant Ameri-
can citizenship continues to be the only
ground of dissatisfaction. The bill
| comforting such citizenship has passed
| the house of representatives and is
now awaiting the action of the senate.
l am heartily in favor of the passage
of this bill. I believe that the demand
for citizenship is just and that it is
amply earned by sustained loyalty on
the part of the inhabitants of the is
! land But it should be remembered
that the demand must be, and in the
minds of most Porto Ricans is, entire
ly disassociated from any thought of
statehood. :s..
---- .-,zszz. The Philippines.
A bill is pending in congress which
revo1utionizes the carefully worked out
scheme of government under which the
Philippine Islands are now governed
and which proposes to render them vir
tually autonomous at once and abso-
lutely independent in eight years. Such
proposal can only be founded on the
assumption that we have now discharg-
ed our trusteeship to the Filipino peo
pie and our responsibility for them to
the world and that they are now pre-
pared for self government as we'll as
! national sovereignty. A thorough and
unbiased knowledge Of the facts clear
ly shows that these assumptions are
| absolutely without justification.
| AS to this / believe that there is no
substantial difference of opinion among
| any of those who have had the respon-
sibility Of facing Philippine problems
| in the administrat ton of the islands,
and l believe that no one to whom the
future of this people Is responsible
concern can countenance policy
fraught with the direst consequences
to those on whose behalf it is osten-
Sibly urged.
In the Philippine Islands we have
! embarked upon an experiment UMPIRE
cedented in dealing with dependent
peoples. We are developing there con-
ditions exclusively for their own well
fare. We found an archipelago con-
tanning twenty-four tribes and races,
speaking a great variety of languages
and with population over so per cent
of which could neither read nor write.
Through the unifying forces of COM
mon education. of commercial and eco
nomic development and of gradual par
| ticipation in local self government we
are endeayoring to evolve a homogen
eous people fit to determine, when the
time arrives, their own destiny. We
are seeking to arouse a national spirit
and not, as under the older colonial
theory, to suppress such a spirit. The
character of the work we have been
doing is keenly recognized in the
orient, and our success thus far follow
ed with not little envy by those who,
initiating the same policy. find them
selves hampered by conditions grown
up in earlier days and under different
theories of administration. But our
work is far from done.
Our duty to the Filipinos is far from
discharged. Over half a million Fill
Pine students are now in the Philip
pine schools helping to mold the men
of the future into a homogeneous peo-
pie, but there still remain more than
a million Filipino children of school
age yet to be reached. Freed from
American control the migrating forces
Of common education and a common
language will cease and tie education
al system now well started will slip
back into inefhciency and disorder
An enormous increase in the com
mercial development Of the islands has
been made since they were virtually
granted full access to our markets
three years ago, with every prospect
of increasing development and 6iversi- |
fed industries. Freed from American
control such development is bound to |
decline.
The ideal which has been kept In
mind in our political guidance Of the |
islands has been real popular self gov
eminent and not mere paper independ- |
ence. am happy to say that the Fill
pines have done well enough In the |