Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-12-07


! the part Of the inhabitants of the Is
land. But 1t should be remembered
that the demand must pc, and In thu
minds Of most Porto Ricans IL. entire
ly disassociated from any thought o
statehood.
Thu Philippines.
A bill Is pending in congress which
revolutionizeS the carefully worked ou
scheme of government under which thu
Philippine Islunds are now governed
and which proposes to render them vir
tually autonomous at once and abs0
lutely Independent in eight years. Suci
a proposal can only be founded on the
assumption that we have now discharG
ed our trusteeship to the Filipino PEG
pie and our responsibility for them te
the world and that they are now pre-
pared for self government as well as
national sovereignty. A thorough ano
unbiased knowledge Of the facts clear
~ shows that these assumptions are
absolutely without justification.
AS to this | believe that there Is nc
substantial 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 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 1t Is osten
sibly urged. ..g'
Our duty to the Filipinos is far from
discharged. Over half million Fill
! pino students are now In the Philip
pine schools helping to mold the men
of the future into homogeneous peo-
ple. but there still remain more than
4 million Filipino children of school
! age vet to be reached. Freed from
American control the migrating forces
! of a common education and common
language will cease and the education
al system now we'll started will slip
back into ineficiency and disorder.
An enormous increase In the COM
mercial development Of the glands has
been made since they were virtually
granted full access to our markets
three years ago. with every prospect
of increasing development and diversi-
| fed industries. Freed from American
control such development Is bound to
decline.
If the task we have undertaken Is
higher than that assumed by other ma
lions, it's accomplishment must de-
nand even more patience. We must
not forget that we found the Filipinos
wholly unframed in government. Up
to our advent all other experience
sought to repress rather than encour-
! age political power. 1t takes long time
and much experience to ingram po-
! litical habits of steadiness and EN-
cheney. Popular self government ulti-
mately must rest upon common habits
Of thought and upon reasonably de-
veloped public opinion.
| A present declaration even OF future
independence would retard progress by
the dissension and disorder it would
arouse. On our part it would be dis
ingenious attempt. under the guise OF
comforting benefit on them, to relieve
ourselves from the heavy and difficult
burden which thus far we have been
! bravely and consistently sustaining.
It would be a disguised policy Of scut-
tie. 1t would make the helpless Fill
pino the football Of oriental politics,
under the protection Of guaranty OF
their Independence. which We would
| be poweriess to enforce.
Regulation Of Water Power.
There are pending before congress a
large number Of bills proposing to
grant privileges Of erecting dams for
the purpose of creating water power
in our navigable rivers. The penden-
cy of these bills has brought out an
important defect in the existing gen
eral dam act. That act does not, In
my opinion. grant sufficient power to
the federal government in dealing
with the construction of such dams to
exact protective conditions In the in
terest Of navigation. 1t does not per-
NIT the federal government, as con-
dition of its permit. to require that a
part Of the value thus created shall tie
applied to the further general i'm
provement and protection Of the
stream. believe this to be one Of the
most important matters of internal i'm
provement now confronting the gov
eminent.
In my opinion constructive states
manship requires that legislation
should be enacted which will permit
the development Of navigation in these
great rivers to 20 hand in hand with
! the utilization Of this byproduct of
water power. created in the course of
the same Improvement. and that the
general dam act should be so amend
ed as to make this possible.
| deem it highly important that the
nation should adopt consistent and
harmonious treatment of these water
power projects. which will preserve
for this purpose their value to the gov
eminent. whose right it is to grant the
permit. Any other policy is equiva-
lent to throwing away most valua
BILE national asset. .. ..t
| The Panama Canal.
| Hn ~