New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-12-29
This Country'S Legal and Moral
Status in the Philippines.

StatuS III the 1nlllpplnSS'
Because we said that "the Jones bill, now
pending in the Senate, is an unwise and COW
ardly attack on the legal and moral right OF the
United States to govern the Filipinos," oul
ncighbor "The World" ntimates that we "hoIc
lightly the honor of the country We should be
sorry to be convicted Of such misconduct But
we cannot deduce from "The Worlds" arguments
that national honor requires the United States
to give in the Jones bill pledge-and bun
combe preamble pledge at that--to renounce IFS
sovereignty over the Philippines. There is no
flaw in the American title TO the archipelago, and
the nation is absolutely free, legally and morally,
TO deal with this dependency on the same basis
as it is dealing with its other inSular posses
sions.
"The World" says;
A day may come when the Republican party will
forget that its great first President held no man
good enough to govern another man without that
other mans consent. day may come when the
Democratic party will forget that Thomas jefferson
included liberty among the unalienable rights OF
man A day may when some new party VIII
syyeep the country upon "the legal and moral right
of the United States TO govern the Filipinos as a
platform. If that day comes the honor OF the
country will have been lightly held in the hearts OF
It's defenders.
That paragraph may express the vague phi
osophy of those who regret that the original
thirteen colonies ever expanded westward and
southwark but it clashes at every step with the
policy which has made the United States the
great power which it is to-day. It's sentimental
ISM collapses at the first contact with facts. Lin
coin certainly was not averse TO holding in the
Union. in spite of their non-cOnsent, the states
which tried TO secede in 1861. Jefferson pur-
chased the Louisiana Territory and governed it
without consulting the wishes of the inhabitants
We acquired Florida from Spain and California
and New Mexico from Mexico without plebiscite
on the part of the population. Hawaii was &C
quired in spite of the fact that the local govern
ment which made overtures for annexation
denounced by the last Democratic President be-
fore Mr. Wilson as a usurping carpet-bag organl-
cation not representing the Hawaiians.
Yet we do not hear THE World complaining
that national honor was lightly held and liberty
was outraged in these successive transactions
Must the stain be wiped off national honor by
giving back the Louisiana Purchase to France
Florida to Spain, the Spanish-Amercan states of
the West to Mexico and Hawaii to Queen Liliuo-
kalani? Our sovereignty over the Philippines is
as unassailable as is our sovereignty over the
whole western half of the United States, over
Hawaii and over Porto Rico, and we have just as
much right to maintain it in one locality in
another.
In 1900 under Mr.. Bryan's leadership the
Democratic party took up "anti-imperiaism,"
hoping to find an issue more inviting than "free
silver 1t Numbered at the start into the incon-
sstency of demanding independence for the
Philippines but negecting to demand indepen-
dence for Porto Rico. Both these possessions were
acquired from Spain under the same treaty. In
neither was the consent of the governed asked,
Why. then, make fish of one and flesh of the
other? Down to 1912 Democratic national con-
vent:ons have admitted delegates from Porto
Rico. while refusing TO admit delegates from the
Philippines, on the ground that the latter were
not a part of the United States.
Nothing exposes more clearly the humbug
Of the "honor lightly held contention Of the
Democratic party than this fancifu discrimina-
ton Because the Philippines are far away, diff
fcult to defend and vexatious to administer, the
consent of the governed" theory is applied to
them. But no Democrat quotes jefferson and
Lincoln in behalf of independence for Porto Rico.
Democratic critics are within their rights
when they argue that for practical reasons it
might be advisable TO evacuate the Philippines.
Staying or leaving is a question Of national
policy, TO be decided on political and economic
grounds. But TO assert that the United States
is under any moral obligation TO renounce its
sovereignty is pure claptrap. The Jones bill
would at least begin to be an honest bill if it
included in its preamble a pledge TO evacuate
Porto Rico and another pledge 70 evacuate
Hawaii. We trust that "The World" will advo-
cate that enlargement in the interest Of Demo-
cratic sincerity and consistency.