The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-05-03

pendence might be soon converted in to a vassalage by another nation and this would be prevented bv the establishment of the League-but be cause they believe that the cause of humanity and civilization will be bet ter served with the establishment of an international agency which will mete out justice to iTnperialistic and criminal nations and allow the free and unhampered development of small. but Iaw-abiding peoples. The twenty years of American guardian ship over the Philippines have instil- led into the mind of the people the loftiest ideals of peace, democracy and self-government. The Filipino people have learned the curse of mil itarisn and armament. Instead of a. large army of soldiers. which is al- ways a menace to the safety of the government and the people them selves, the Filipino people have creat- ed a large army of teachers, doctors and nurses, to fight the ignorance and diseases of the people, This policy, so happily inaugurated by the early American administrations, is a tremendous success. The Filipino people desire nothing but to continue this development under an inde- pendent republic. They favor the League of Nations because the League of Nations proposes to let the world continue its peaceful economic and political development without re- sorting to the disastrous and expen- sive arbitrament of war.
 But there are other reasons why the Filipino people can not but look with enthusiasm upon the esta blish- oF z are several provisions in the League of Nations which have already been successfully applied in the Philip pines. Let it be said to the glory of America, that she was the first nation of a colony, that she has govern cd the Philippines as a disinteress l trustee for civilization with the Lib- eration of the Filipino people, not their exploitation, as, the sole end in view. President Mckinley solemn Iy announced that America was in the Philippines flor high duty in the in- terest of their inhabitants, and for humanity and civilization
 This was the same ideal which guided President Wilson in his Phil ippine poIicy-that the American peo- pie, to quote his own words, are not even "the partners of the FiIipinos,' ,'' but aSe simply 'the trustees'' for their welfare. This policy brought about the unprecendented progress of the Filipino people, and today, upon the threshold of a new era, this same people present to the world a record of accomplishments which can be proudly handed down to the future League of Nations as 8 precedent for mandatory powers.
 This magnanimous treatment of the Filipino people has made Amer ica what it is today in the eyes of the weak and struggling peoples - the champion of their rights, the redeem CT of their bondage. There is no other way open to her but to give the last finishing touches to the won derful work she has accomplished in the Philippines establishment of a Philippine republic. What grander name would she have after the final settlement of the Philippine problem, after the final fulfllment of her promise to set the Philippines among the free nations of the world! God speed the day for that joyful event. not only for the happiness of 10,- 100000 Christian people, but for the greater glory of America, so that she may tell the world that her dream of 8 better age for the weaker peo- pless is not a mere delusion and a snare, but a reality based on her own experience with the Filipino puo- pie, whom she has led gently by the hand until they are able to estab- fish a Republic, the first really demo- cratic republic in the East, conse- crated to the ideals for which 7,0O0,- 900 people have given up thefr lives on the bloody fields of Europe.