The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1933-01-30
PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENCE

importance before the American people
today, all of which should have the con-
sideration of the people of our country on
their merits. Such questions as the in
dependence of the Philippines, the sales
tax, the farm allotment government sub
sidy, the Glass financial legislation and
other matters of great importance to the
people of the country at the present time,
all demand intelligent study if we are to
have wise decisions as to what we are to do
with them.
Unfortunately, the majority of people
do not study the facts.
The attitude of the general public in
regard to the recently enacted Philippine
Independence act is case in point Some
of our citizens are inclined to join with
President Hoover in obiecting to the
measure. Others are loud in their ap-
proval. The passage of the act over the
veto of the president indicates that those
in favor of granting independence to the
islands are in the great majority. Yet
there is a wave of newspaper propaganda
declaring that although we have offered
they will not accept it.
Nobody except those who have been
in the islands, those who have studied con-
ditions on the spot, or those who are en-
gagged in business with the Filipinos, is in
a position to intelligently discuss the mat
ter
1t would seem that those in the best
position to decide on the merits of the ques-
ton are the Filipinos themselves. That
they are opposed to accepting their in
dependence is open to grave doubt, not
withstanding statements made in metropol-
itan newspapers.
1t is true that Senator Quezon has
voiced his opposition to the bill, but that
was because he wanted full independence
without any strings tied, unwilling to &C
cept the protective measures in the bill as
an honest aid to achieving their full in
Quezon, while hailed as the George Wash
ington of the Philippines, is more of car
than an unselfish patriot.
Major-General William C. Rivers, U.
S. A, a retired army officer spending the
winter in Key West, who was for decade
in charge of the constabularly of the Philip
pine islands, believes that the Filipinos as
a whole want independence and that they
are capable of self-government He be-
lieves that ''the action of congress is wise
and liberal, and that freeing the Philip
pines will not cause commotion in the Far
East, and is the best plan for their peace
and safety"
Thirty-five years ago, when the Philip
pines became the possessions of the United
States as the result of the Spanish-Amer-
lean war, the people believed that Manila
would become a valuable factor in the de-
yelopment of trade between our country
and China and Japan. The trade route of
San Francisco to Honolulu to Manila to
Japan and China appealed to the magma
ton and the accession of the Philippines
was hailed as an advantage.
The experience of the past thirty-five
years has not demonstrated that they are
worth what they have cost us. The islands
have been exploited by American capital
and it is this capital, reflected in the news
paper propaganda, that is today trying to
convince the American people that the
Filipinos do not want their independence.
What the newspapers are really try
ing to tell us is that the capitalists who
have investments in the Philippines do not
want it. Their position in the matter is
perfectly natural. for with Philippine in
dependence they viii lose the advantage of
free admission of their products to this
country, but their methods of endeavoring
to influence public opinion are not honest.