Polk County news-gazette. (Benton, Tenn.) 190?-191?, 1913-12-04

framed By those req gs.ie 70 -. eus
people for carrying Unto eHe0'.
These are all Us y Ie4i
domestic concern. a fsiaes sheil,
outside the eharm eie OF our
own national life pleh our a.
feetions command q well as our
conseienees, there s1nd out our
obligations toward ar territories
over sea. Here We are trustees
Porto Rico. Hawaii. rhs philippines
are ours, indeed. b. not ours to 90
what we please VIII. Such terri
tories, once regared as mere pos
sessions, are no logger to be selfish
! ly exploited; the are part or the
domain of public conscience and OF
serviceable and enlightened states
manship. We INST administer them
for the people mo live in them and
with the samr sense of responsible
fty to them al toward our own peo-
pie in our domestic affairs. NO
doubt We shAl successfully enough
bind Porto Acc and the Hawaiian
Islands to Ourselves by ties of justice
and ints1eAs and affection, but the
Performance OF our duty toward the
Philippine, is a more difficult and
debatabIe matter. We can satisfy
the obligations of generous justice
toward tie People of Porto Rico by
giving tim the ample and familiar
rights ale privileges accorded our
own citizens in our own territories
and our obligations toward the peo-
pie of Hawaii by perfecting the pro-
visions for self-goyernment already
granted them, but in the Philippines
we n ST go further. We must hold
steadST in view their ultimate indie
pendkce, and we must move toward
the fine of that independence as
st2hlfy as the way can be cleared
and ~the foundations thoughtfully
and permanently laid.
Acting under the authority con-
ferred upon the President by Con-
gress. / have already accorded the
neople 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 exer-
else OF political power, and that the
success Of this step will be sure to
clear our view for the steps which
are to follow. Step by step we
should extend and perfect the sys-
tenn of self government in the ISL
ands, making test of them and modi-
flying them as experience discloses
their successes and their failures;
that we should more and more put
under the control of the native cltl-
zens of the archipelago the essential
instruments of their life, their local
instrumentaIities of government,
their schools, all the common inter-
ests of their communities, and SO
by counsel and experience set up
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
beginning to gain the confidence OF
the Filipino peoples. By their coun-
sci and experience, rather than by
our own, we shall learn how best TO
serve them and how soon 1t Will pc
possible and wise to withdraw our
Let us once find the
path and set out with firm and con-
fident tread upon it and we shall
not wander from it or linger upon It.
A duty faces US with regard to
Alaska which seems to be 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 gwen
the full Territorial form OF govern
ment, and Alaska, as a storehouse'
should be unlocked. One key to II is
system of railways. These the GOV
eminent should itself build and al
minister, and the ports and terminals
it should itself control in the interest,"
of all who wish to use them for the
service and development OF the coun-
try and its people.
But the construction of railways is
only the first step; is only thrusting
in the key to the storehouse and
throwing back the lock and opening
the door. How the tempting resources
of the country are to be exploited is
another matter to which | shall take
the liberty of from time to time call
ing your attention, for it is a policy
which must be worked out by we'll
considered stages, not upon theory,
but upon lines of practical expediency.
1t is part of our general problem OF
conservation. We have freer hand In
working out the problem in Alaska than
in the States of the Union; and yet
the principle and object are the same,
wherever we touch 1t. We must use
the resources of the country, not lock
them ND. There need be no conflict
OF jealousy as between State and FED
eral authorities, for there can be no
essential differences of purpose be-
tween them. The resources in cues
ton must be used, but not destroyed
or wasted; used, but not monopolized
upon any narrow idea of individual
rights as against the abiding inter