Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1913-12-02
PHILIPPINE CONTROL.
Must Hold Ultimate independence In
View and Strive to Fit FiIipinos For
Self Government at Future Date.

Must Hold Ultimate Independence In
/ View and Strive to Fit FiIipinos For
Self Government at Future Date.
These are all matters of vital do
! nestle concern. and besides them, out
I side the charmed circle of our own ma
tional life in which our affections COM
| mand US, as well as our consciences.
] there stand out our obligations toward
[ our territories over sea. Here we are
trustees. Porto Rico. Hawaii. the Phil
! ippines. are ours, indeed. but not ours
TO do whatswe please with Such ter
| ritOries, once regarded as mere posses
sions. are no longer to be selfishly ex-
plotted; they are part of the domain of
public conscience and of servicea BILE
and enlightened craftsmanship.
We must administer them for the
people who live in them and with the
same sense of responsibility TO them as
toward our own people in our domestic
affairs. No doubt we shall success
fully enough bind Porto Rico and the
Hawaiian Islands to ourselves by ties
OF justice and interest and affection.
but the performance of our duty to-
ward the Philippines is a more diff
cult and debatable matter. We can
satisfy the obligations of generous jus
tice toward the people of Porto Rico
by giving the ample and familiar
rights and privileges accorded our own
citizens in our own territories and our
obligations toward the people of Ha-
vail by perfecting the provisions for
self government already granted them,
but In the Philippines we must go fur
Their. We must hold steadily in view
their ultimate independence. and we
must move toward the time of that
independence MS steadily as the way
can be cleared and the foundations
thoughtfully and permanently laid.
Acting under the authority conferred
upon the president by congress. / have
already accorded the people OF the IS
lands n majority in both houses of
their legislative body by appointing
five instead of four native citizens TO
the membership of the commission.
believe that in this way we shall make
proof of their capacity in counsel and
their sense of responsibility I'm the eX-
ercise of political power and that the
success of this step will be sure 10
clear our view for the steps which are
to follow.
Step by step we should extend and |
perfect the system OF self government |
I'm the islands. making test of them and |
modifying them as experience discloses |
their successes and their failures: that |
we should more and more put under |
the control OF the native citizens of the /
the essential Instruments |
Of their life, their local Instrumental
ties of government. their schools, all |
the common interests of their commu-
mites and so by counsel and experience
set up a government which all the
world will see to be suita BILE TO a peo-
pie whose affairs. are under their own
control.
At last, hope and believe, we are
beginning TO gain the confidence of the
Filipino peoples. By their counsel and
experience, rather than by our own,
We shall learn how best to serve them
md how soon it will be possible and
wise to withdraw our supervision. Let
IS once find the path and set out with
irm and confident tread upon IL. and !
We shall not wander from IT or linger
lpon IL.