The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1936-01-16

BY WILLIAM c.. uTLEY
T INDEPENDENCE of the Philippines
was not assured when President
i Roosevelt signed the new islands
constitution, prepared under the
Tydins-McDuffle act, and turned it
over to a committee of islanders last
spring. Although the act, Justify well
coined by Filipinos as the achievement
of victory in their never-ending cam
paign for independence, provides that
all bonds between the United States
and the tropical possessions in the
south Pacific shall be severed once and
for all on July 4, 1915, after the islands
have had ten years of practice in gov
erning themselves, the feeling is grow
ing that before those ten years have
passed the Philippines will be ready,
even anxious, to amend the agreement
into something which will leave them
more certain safety from dangers
which are becoming more apparent day
by day.
Indeed, since the return of Vice
President Garner and the large dele
cation of senators and congressman
who visited the islands to attend the
Inauguration of President Manuel
stantly presented itself to them is ::
Do the Filipinos actually want indie
pendence?
And the answer seems to be: Yes
and no. The desire of the common
tao"-the picker of coconuts, the work
err on the sugar plantations, the la
borer of the rice fields-is. as it has
been for decades-INDEPEN I!
Independence" Is set in capitals and
followed by an exclamation point be-
cause to the Filipino of that level it
is cry, political slogan, taught to
him for many years by the politicians
of Manila. 1t Is catchword that rep
resents to him democracy, freedom in
a vague sense that it is something a
little better than the poor lot he has
now. 1t never occurs to him that indie
pendence is possibly the thing that
will prevent his enjoying freedom"
in the centuries to come.
For grave dangers confront an indie
pendent Philippine commonwealth that
could easily destroy the very liberty
the common tao associates with indie
pendence. They are both political and
economic, both internal and external.
Fear Japanese Invasion.
The most imminent danger. as the
If 10 hn
ace of expanding japanese imperial
ism in the Far East, ready to grab
what it can in its need for room for a
swelling population and for raw mate
rails to feed its growing and efficient
industries. The Philippines are 10000
miles from the capital of the United
States, but only 800 miles from Asia.
Most serious of the problems to the
Filipino is the economic collapse that
threatens when free trade with the
United States is cut off. The Tydings-
McDuffle act provides that in the fifth
year of the ten-year period before COM
plete independence is granted, Philip
pine export products will have to bear
a per cent duty, which will be gradu-
ated each year until it becomes %
per cent in the tenth year. Since so
per cent of Philippine exports now go
to the United States, the dwindling of
the American market will begin to be
felt in five years. There are plenty of
reliable economists who hold that the
economic breakdown will come before
1915, unless the act is amended.
Nor are these the only problems.
Certain acts of the new government,
most recently the curtailment by Pres
ident Quezon of the powers of the
speaker of the assembly, have been
pointed to by many as indications of
impending dictatorship. The recent
passage of a bill which would appro-
pirate one third of all the money avail
able for appropriation to the build
ing and maintenance of an army of
10000, with a 100000 reserve, has been
hailed in some quarters as step to-
ward military fascism, especially since
the reserve army will require COM
pulsory military training of all