El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-07-12

W leans and Europeans who have
! personal knowledge Of the Philippine
/ problem are against independence for
/ the islands at an early date. These In
| clude many leading American citizens
! who have visited the Islands, such as
| Edward Filene, the mated Boston phil
| anthrOpist and economist, and William
/ Eedfield, secretary Of commerce in
! president Wilson's democratic cabinet.
] with barely an exception, all who nave
| handled the problem face to face, either
| as government officials or clergymen
/ and merchants, consider the present
! agitation for Philippine independence,
/ or even autonomy absolutely harmful
! to the best interests Of the Filipino
/ people
Oppose Independence Now.
| Among these are William II. Taft.
/ first civil governor of the islands; Luke
| T. Wright, a Tennessee gold Democrat,
] second governor general Of the Islands,
| former ambassador to Japan and eE-
] secretary of war; Gen. James F. Smith.
! a California Democrat, former governor
/ general and now an associate justice
! Of the United States court Of customs
] appeals prominent Churchmen of SUCH
/ divergent theological views as arch
I bishop J. J. Harty, head Of the Roman
I Catholic church in the Philippines;
] bishop Charles H Brent, leader Of the
/ Episcopal flock in the Islands, and
! bishop William f. Oldham. formerly
l superintendent Of MethOdism in the
Z Philippines and the Federated Malay
] states anu now general seer tL1LE Oh
| the foreign mission board of the Meth
/ Odist Episcopal church, All of these men
/ have repeatedly given it as their solemn
/ judgment, in official reports. state
{ documents. books. addresses and inter
/ views that the time for entrustinE the
/ FilirinOs with their own affairs has
not yet come With them are few
I Of the solid and influential FilipinOs
I and nearly all Of the Americans. Span
! iardS, BritishCrs, Germans, Frenchmen
and Swiss who have investments there.
Seek to Unity Islanders.
/ These men agree with those who
I want fndeDendcnce that the American
administration Of the islands. and its
attendant uplift in governmental pur-
] ity. economies and education, is serving
/ to unity the Filipino people. but they do
not agree with their claim that unifica-
ton has already been established
! Many opponents Of early Philippine in
dependence have made the assertion
I that the Filipino tribes would fight
among themselves If the United States
/ were to withdraw The officials and
other prominent persons mentioned
herein do not go that far. a condition
] OF passive but certain dissolution
would set in. rather than violent an
archy. in their opinion, the dead
i weight of the peoples inertia, their
biological susceptibility TO dream
{ sweetly today over that which could
possibly be done tomorrow. or next
+ week. or in the mysterious future,
--uierIca has planted among them.
Night Undo LabCrs.
This, they think, would undo Amer
icG's difficult labOrs should she be
forced to go before her work > fin
I ished- The various tribes would simply
drift amia3ly along without regard to
each other The same would be true
OF the villages. the cities and the
provinces. Each would be sufficient
unto itself. content IS before to learn
casually and with mild Indifference OF
4
be little interchange Of thought and
practically no cooperation Roads and
bridges would fall INFO decay The
, mails. the telegraph. the telephone and
work perfectly here. be out OF order
Z there. and wholly unused elsewhere.
/ The same rust would eat into the courts,
I the schools and the counting houses.
| These men also believe that there
would be disorder. even though the
majority OF the FilpinOs are. peaceful
They would expect organized bands to
4 spring up and rob. loot and rape, just
as they did in Cavite and Batangas
provinces near Manila. and on the is
lands OF Samar and Leyte until they
wfre finally suppressed by the present
Z PhllippiUn government after several
years or Ccrrilla warfare Thus viO-
lencc Of q few would complete the havoc
begun by the hamilton OF the many.
Republic In Future
Mr.. Taft and those quote5 herewith
~-00d Committed TO ultimate independ-
ence. As often as they have opposed
independence now OF in the near future
tEeV have voiced uuflagEinC adherence
, TO the Mckinley dictum that the Fill
pinO people must be sChOOled in self
4 government in order that they might
in due time have a republic Of their
own Tt was also president NIcKin-
ley's wish that this should be- done as
room as POSSIBLE. They show by Offic-
ial records that his orders have been.
: and are now. OJcyCd with such fidelity
that the uTl~n-1r time ua1~Tr-
thirds OF the governmental posts. in
Guiding many Of the higher ones. are
. held by tilipinos, so that the FuipinOs
today ENJOY ETea ter autonomy than do
the American citizens of Alaska But
they maintain that the due time" in
which absolute control can be entrusted
10 the eager Filipino office seekers is,
unfortunately for America at least,
still to come
Views Differ With Jones Dill.
Thus the opponents Of early indie
pendence are in direct conflict with the
Jones bill, the measure now before
CONGRESS which provides for the i'm
mediate installation of a provisional
republic. with qualified independence. !
this to be succeeded in eight years by
q full fledEed Philippine republic to be
controlled absolutely by FilipinOs from
within and to be guarded by a world
wide plan naturalization from without
the United States to retain only suffici-
ent land for army and navy operations 2
It is presumed that this DrOviSO is in
tended 10 enable the United States TO
rush to the defence Of the FlipinOs in
case Of attack from some European or [
Asiatic power. But would she2 Even
If willing. why should she2 II the Fill
pinOs feel able to manage their own
affairs let them expect no aid from
America or any other power, say the /
critics OF the Jones bill.
Exception is also taken to the claim Z
that the islands have cost the American
people millions upon millions Of dol
lars. to say nothing OF an enormous an
nual expenditure. The cost Of sup
pressing the revolution they acIlnOv- |
ledge. but they do not admit the justice
of blaming on the islands the entire I
outlay for the 10000 soldiers more or /
less. who are on constant duty there
II is their contention that these 10000 Z
men would be maintained anyway. be-
ing distributed among the bulk of the I
army throughout the United States. on I
the Panama canal strip. along the ;
Mexican border, and in Alaska and I
Hawaii
The naval expenses are insignificant. /
as our squadron now on the Asiatic 1
station is no larger than 1t was before 4
Dewey took Manila Is years ago. The I
Philippine government is kept I'D by !
its own customs and internal revenue, /