Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1912-12-14


defects, the war department has been ad-
dressing itself during the past year.
comprehensive plan Of reorganization was
prepared by the war college division of
the general staff This plan was thor
oughly discussed last summer at series
of open conferences held by the secretary
OF and attended by representatives
from all branches of the army and from
congress- In printed form 1T has been
distributed to members OF congress and
throughout the army and the national
guard, and widely through institutions of
learning and elsewhere in the United
States In it. for the first time. we have
a tentative chart for future progress
: The National Guard.
Under existing law the national guard
constitutes, after the regular army, the
first line of national defense It's or
ganization, discipline, training, and equip
ment. under recent legislation. have been
assfmilated, as far as possible, to those
of the regular army, and its practical
efficiency. urder The effect of this train
ing has very greatly Increased Our citi-
zen soldiers under present conditions
have reached stage of development be-
yond which they cannot reasonably be
asked to go without further direct
sistance in the form of pey from the fed
eral government On the other hand. such
pay from the national treasury would not
be justified unless 1t produced a proper
equivalent in additional efficiency on the
part of the national guard. The organized
militia today cannot be ordered outside OF
the limits of the United States, and thus
cannot lawfully be used for general mill
tary purposes. The officers and men
ambitious and eager to make themselves
thus available and to become efficient
national reserve of citizen soldiery- They
are the only force of trained men. other
than the regular army, upon which We
can rely. The so-ca1led military pay bill.
in the form agreed on between the au-
thorities of the war department and the
representatives of the national guard, in
my opinion adequately meets these con-
ditions and offers a proper return for the
pay which it is proposed to give to the
national guard. 1 believe that its enact
ment into law would be very long step
toward providing this nation with a 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 tao
teal 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. Mr.. Taft says, continues
to show notable progress and he urges
the senate to pass the bill granting the
Porto Ricans American citizenship
Philippines.
A bill is pending in congress, con-
tinues the message. which revolution
ICES the carefully worked out scheme
of government under which the Philip
pine islands are now governed and
which proposes TO render them Vlrtu-
ally autonomous at once and absolutely
independent in eight years Such a
proposal can only be founded on the
assumption that have now dis
charged trusteeship to the Filipino
people and our responsibility for them
to the world, and that they are now
prepared for self government as well
as national sovereignty A thorough
and unbiased knowledge of the facts
clearly shows that these assumptions
are absolutely with justification. AS
to this. 1 believe that there is no sub
stantial difference of opinion among
any of those who have had the respon-
sibility of facing Philippine problems
in the administration of the islands,
and L believe that one to whom the
future of this people is a responsible
concern countenance policy
fraught with the direst consequences
to those on whose behalf it is osten-
sibly urged.
In tie Philippine islands have
embarked upon an experiment unprece-
dented in dealing with dependent
peoples We are developing there
conditions exclusively for their own
welfare. We found archipelago
containing "a tribes and races speak
ing a great variety of languages. and
which could neither read write.
Through the unifying forces of a
common education, of commercial
and economic development. and OF
gradual participation in local self-govern-
ment endeavoring to evolve
homogeneous people fit to determine,
when the time arrives, their own destiny.
We seeking to arouse national spir-
it and not, as under the older colonial
theory, to suppress such spirit. The
character of the work we have been do
ing is keenly recognized in the Orient,
and our success thus far followed with
not a little envy by those who, initiating
the same policy, find themselves hamp-
cred by conditions grown up in earlier
days and under different theories of adj
n1iniStration- But our work is far from
done. Our duty to the Filipinos is far
from discharged. Over half million Fill
pino students are now In the Philippine
schools helping to mold the men of the
future into a homogeneous people, 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 edu-
cation and a common language will cease
and the EDUCATIONAL system now well start
ed will slip back into inefhciency and dis
order
An enormous increase in the CONNER
cial development of the islands has been
made since they were virtually granted
full access to our markets three years
ago. with e--ery prospect of increasing
development and diversified industries.
Freed from American control such devel-
opment is bound to decline. Every OBJ
server speaks of the great progress in
public works for the benefit of the Fill
pinos, of hartor 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
UNEMPLOYED. roads and railways need
ed in many parts, irrigation systems are
Whole villages and towns 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
beri has segregated the lepers. has help
ed to make Manila the most healthfu1 city