The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-07

forts are under way for the promotion
 of vocational and industrial traning, the
 need of which is particularly pressing in
 the island When the bubonie plague
 broke out last June. the quick and ef-
 ficient response of the people of Porto
 Rico to the demands of modern sanitation
 was strikingly shown by the thorough
 campaign which was instituted against
 the plague and the hearty public opinion
 which supported the governments efforts
 to check it's progress and to prevent Us
 recurrence.
 The failure thus far to grant Ameri-
 can citizenship continues to be the only
 ground of dissatisfaction. The bill con-
 ferring 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 cit
 izenship is just, and that it is amply
 earned by sustained loyalty on the part
 of the inhabitants of the island. But it
 should be remembered that the demand
 must be. and in the minds of most Porto
 Ricans is, entirely disassociated from any
 thought of statehood. I believe that no
 substantial approved public opinion in the United States or in Porto Rico con- templates statehood for the island as the ultimate form of relation between
 us I believe that the aim to be striyen
 for is the fullest possible allowance of
 legal and fiscal self government, with
 American citizenship as the bond be- tween us; in other words, a relation analogous to the present relation between
 Great Britain and such self governing colonies as Canada and Australia. This would conduce to the fullest and most
 self sustaining development of Porto
 Rico, while at the same time 1t would
 grant her the economic and political benefits of being under the American flag.
 Philippines
 A bill is pending in Congress which reyolutionizes the carefully worked out scheme of government under Which the Philippine islands are now governed and which proposes to render them virtually autonomous at once and abso- | luteIy independent in eight years. Such a proposal can only be founded on the assumption that we have discharged
 our 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 natiohal sovereignty. thorough and unbiased knowledge of the facts clearly shows | that these assumptions are absolutely without justification. As to this, l be- Iieve that there is no substantial differ ence of opinion among any of those who have had the responsibility of fac- | ing Philippine problems in the admih- l istration of the islands, and believe l that no one to whom the future Of this people is a responsible concern can countenance a policy fraught with the direst consequences to those on whose behalf 1t is ostensibly urged.
 In the Philippine islands we have em- | parked upon an experiment unprece- | dented in dealing with dependent peo- ples. We are developing there cond1- | tions exclusively for their own welfare | We found an archipelago containing I 24 tribes and races, speaking a great variety of languages and with popu- lation over 80 per cent of which could neither read nor write. Through the unifying forces of a common educa- 1 tfon of commercial and economic de- velopment, and of gradual participation | in local self government we are en- ldeavoring to evolve homogeneous people fit to determine, when the time arrives, their own destiny. We arc seeking to arouse national spirit and | not, as under the older colonial theory | to suppress such spirit. The charac- 1 ter of the work we have been doing | is keenly recognized in the orient and l our success thus far followed with not
 little envy by those who initiating | the same policy, find themselves ham, pered by conditions grown up in earlier I days and under different theories Of | administration. But our work Is faf from done. Our duty the Filipinos is | far from discharged. Over half mil | lion Filipino students are now in the
 Philippine schools helping to mold the
 men of the future into homogeneous
 people but there still remain more thar
 a million Filipino children of school age yet to be reached. Freed from Ameri- can control the integrating forces of z common education and a common Ian | guage will cease and the educational system now well started will slip back
 into inefficiency and disorder.
 | An enormous increase in the conner cial development of the islands has beer | made since they were virtually granted full access to our markets three years 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 | ipinos, of harbor improvements, of
 roads and railways. of irrigation and artesian wells, public buildings, and better means of communication. But large parts of the islands still un- reached, still even unexplored, roads
 and railways are needed in many parts | irrigation systems are still to sbe in- | stalled and wells to be driven. Whole villages and towns are still without
 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 cure for beriberi, has segregated