Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-12-03
SHALL PHILIPPINES
Be LIKE MEXICO?
Former Gov. Zen. Forbes Warns
U. s. Not to Quit
Colony.
SAYS STEP WOULD END
IN DISASTER TO MILLIONS
Eulogizes Wilson's Policy, but
Adds That Evolution" Is
Only Safe Course.

BOSTON, Dec s.--"Shall we make
q second Mexico of the Philippine
! Islands?" with this question, W.
Cameron Forbes, former governor
general of the Philippine Islands,
closed an address before the City
! Club last night in which he had de-
Tended the policy of the United
States towards it's dependency in the
East and warned against premature
| withdrawal OF control.
president Wilson has started upon
a new policy in the islands. said Mr..
| Forbes. He has given the Filipinos
| q majority of the commission, and
i appointed them to few other places
which were previously held by
Americans 1 believe the motive un-
DERIVING these changes is a praise
! worthy desire to let the F'ilipinos
prove their merit and show what they
| could do, and l do not feel that the
experiment should be unduly cTiti-
cised, but that we should take the
position of hands Off and wait, with
suspended Judgment, to let the policy
have a chance to work itself out and
| show what the result will be.
U. s. Has Pledged Itself.
Looking at the situation broadly,
| there is one fundamental thing to
which the United States has pledged
itself, viz: To establish and maintain
a stable government in the Philip
pine Islands. The words stable gov
ernment' appear in the platforms OF
both parties and the United States
has never made any representation
to the people in the Philippine Islands
indicating any extension of further
political freedom that was not pre-
dicted upon the continuance of stable
government in these islands.
I'VE have put our shoulders to the
wheel and laid our hands to the
plough. We must not fail of our
duty. We must not shirk. We must
not scuttle. We cannot sell into
! bondage the millions of struggling
| F'ilipinos. cloaking our action with
t the. hypocritical claim that we are
giving them independence. The real
significance of the American work
In the Philippine Islands has been
giving freedom to millions of people
really held in serfdom. The prenla-
! ture Withdrawal from the islands and
the premature REIMBURSEMENT of con-
troll will set back the hands of tho
/ clock, undo the work we have done,
sets, return these people to the bond
age from which we have but partly
! delivered them.
Evolution Only safe Course.
my recommendation has been and
still is that we proceed along what 7
consider the only safe line of pro-
cedure, namely, that Of evolution,
that we I'LL the lover branches Of the
service with Filipinos, let them grow
! UP with it, give them careful, wise
and thorough supervision, and pro-
mote them as a result OF proved
efficiency giving them only what is
good for them, not always what they
want.
"3ut let us not let go the firm
anchor of the assured sovereignty OF
the United states and try to tie Ut
to any silly rope of sand such as
naturalization Naturalization rests
on nothing more than an agreement,
and agreements among nations are
kept only so long as it is in the in
terest Of those nations to keep them.
Under the present circumstances the
situation Is secure.
isn't One Mexico Enoughf
How, II we give up control, are
we to protect the lives and property
of the citizens of the signatoIy powers
to the agreement? To show you
most graphically the position we
should then be in. I have only one
question to ask. rs not one Mexico
enough? Shall we make a second
Mexico OF the Philippine islands,
In outlining what American possess
sion had done for the Fllipinos, the
former governor general pictured a
land OF prosperity and progress in
which diseases formerly rampant had
been checked or eradlcated; where
there were 1000 public schools and
100000 pupils; whose commercial
banks had doubled their resources in
4 seven years and where public inn
provements had been continuously
made on tax rate of 1924 per
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