Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-12-02

may be framed by those responsible
to the people for carrying them into
effect.
These are all matters of vital do
nestle concern, and besides them, out
side the charmed circle of our own ma
tional life in which our affections
command us, as we'll as our con-
sciences, there stand out our obliga-
lions toward our territories over sea.
Here we are trustees. Porto Rico,
Hawaii, the Philippines, are ours, in
deed, but not ours to do what we
please with. Such territories, once
regarded as mere possessions, are no
longer to be selfishly exploited; they
are part of the domain of public con-
science and of serviceable and en-
lightened 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 az
fairs No doubt we shall successfully
enough bind Porto Rico and the Ha-
waiian Islal is 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
justice toward the people of Porto
Rico by giving them the ample and
familiar rights and privileges ac-
corded our own citizens in our own
territories and our obligations toward
the people of Hawaii by perfecting
the provisions for government al
ready granted them, but in the Phil
ippines we must go further. We must
hold steadily in view their ultimate in
dependence, and we must move to-
ward the time of that Independence
as steadily as the way can be cleared
and the foundations thoughtfully and
permanently laid.
The Philippines.
Acting under the authority con-
ferred upon the President by Con-
gress, l have already accorded the
people of the islands a majority in
/ both houses of their legislative body
| by appointing five instead of four
| native citizens to the membership of
| the commission l believe that in
this way we shall make proof of their
capacity In counsel and their sense of
| responsibility in the exercise of polft-
| ical power, and that the success OF
this step will be sure to clear our
view for the steps which are to fol-
low. Step by step we should extend
| and perfect the system of self-gov-
| eminent in the islands, making test
of them and modifying them as ex-
! perience discloses their successes and
their failures; that we should more
and more put under the control of the
native citizens of the archipelago the
essential instruments of their life
their local instrumentalities Of gov
lernment, their schools, all the common
interests of their communities, an6
so by counsel and experience set up 6
government which all the world will
see to be suitable to a people whose
affairs are under their own control
At last, hope and believe, we are be.
ginning to gain the confidence of tht
Filipino peoples. BY their counse
and experience, rather than by oul
own, we shall learn how best to serv<
them and how soon 1t will be possible
and wise to withdraw our supervision
Let us once find the path and set ou'
with firm and confident tread upon i
and we shall not wander from 1t OF
linger upon 1t.
Our Alaskan Duty.
/ A duty faces us with regard tc
Alaska which seems to me very press
ing and very imperative; perhaps
should say a double duty, for 1t con.
Germs both the political and the ma.
! terial development of the territory
, The people of Alaska should be giver
the full territorial form of govern.