-IT
12 The Conservative.
"THE OPEN DOCK. "
[ The New York Evening Post of November 23. '
Since the news cnmo from Paris tlmt
our commissioners have agreed to the
principle of the "open door" in the Phil
ippines , a debate has sprung up in both
hemispheres on the question , "What is
the meaning of those words ? The phrase
had its origin in England. There it means
that the markets of the country which
has the open door shall bo free to the
commerce of all other countries without
discriminating duties or regulations.
That this is the understanding of our
state department also is affirmed by
The Philadelphia Press of this morning
in its "Washington despatches. Accord
ing to that paper , Secretary Hay said
yesterday that the understanding of the
term was that a tariff system would be
put in force in the Philippines which
would operate equally against the pro
ducts of all nations. No nation was to
have any advantage whatever , not ex
cepting the United States itself. The
products from this country are to pay
the same rates of duty as similar pro
ducts from Spain , England , Germany or
any other country in the world. This is
the secretary's interpretation of the
term "open door , " and not that it means
free trade or an abolition of all duties ,
as some critics have asserted.
Of course , this is the only possible
meaning of the phrase , and the policy
which it implies is the only one we can
adopt unless we elect to step into Spain's
shoes and tax the colonies wo have
taken from her tax them in order to
get a net pi'ofit out of them over and
above the cost of governing them. There
is a class in this country to whom Phil
ippine annexation means exactly that.
It means profit to private persons of the
same kind that London merchants in
sisted upon gaining from the American
colonies before the Revolution. This is
what was meant in the last century by
the phrase "trade follows the flag. "
This is what is meant by it now. And
it may be assumed in nine cases out of
ten when men talk about the trade ad
vantages to follow the annexation of
foreign territory , that they mean dis
criminating duties whereby the natives
shall bo compelled to buy goods from us
and pay a little more for them than they
might get them for in a free market.
This , as the end of a war for humanity ,
would bo disgraceful beyond the power
of words to express. If there is any
foundation for the saying that we can
not turn the Filipinos back to the vam
pire policy of Spain , there is none what
ever for the claim that wo may put our
own vampire policy in place of it.
The question arises , however , how are
.wo to administer those islands without
extending over them the Constitution of
the United States ? And if we do extend
it over them , how can we avoid estab
lishing the same duties , imposts , and-ex-
ciscs that wo maintain at home ? The
Philadelphia Press correspondent sug
gests an amendment of the constitution.
But amending the constitution is a slow
process. It is a doubtful one. All those
who expect to make money by taxing
the islanders would oppose the amend
ment , and they would advance so many
plausible arguments against it that the
necessary majority ( two-thirds of con
gress and three-fourths of the states )
could hardly bo obtained for it. The
way to the open door is not along that
road. The open door is wholly inconsis
tent with annexation. It can be put in
force and maintained under a protector
ate , but under no closer relationship.
A protectorate is a hard word to use
in a republic. It means the exercise of
force over distant and helpless peoples.
It means government without the con
sent of the governed. It is at war with
the fundamental principles of our sys
tem. It implies the appointment of
governors and other officials , to serve far
away from the scrutiny of the Ameri
can people and beyond the restraint of
public opinion. It means the Spanish
system over again , to be administered ,
as likely as not , by our Crokers and our
Quays. The appointing power which
sent an exposed rascal to be consul at a
Cuban port , against the protest of the
best citizens of Philadelphia , could
hardly be relied upon to do better for
the Filipinos. Yet the alternative is the
bringing in of those millions of barbar
ians to bo a part of the American repub
lic and to help govern us , to bring their
cheap labor and their diseases and their
votes into our territory.
Our first and foremost duty , as wo
have maintained from the outset , is to
ourselves. "Wo have achieved a free
government , wo have become a prosper
ous nation , we have a promising career
before us , if wo can keep clear of for
eign complications , distant responsibil
ities , and now social problems. If wo
abandon our high prerogatives , the
"open door" will soon have a different
meaning from any now attached to it.
It will mean a door open to Malays ,
Kanakas , Chinese , and West Indian
negroes ad libitum , for with annexation
there will be no way to keep them out.
Now wo prefer anything else to that.
The proconsular system which a protec
torate implies will be bad , but the other
alternative will be worse. It may be
possible to train those peoples into some
kind of self-government so that they can
go fairly well alone , as the Hawaiian
islands did until our minister upset them
by force and usurpation , but when they
become a part of this nation , they can
never bo gotten rid of unless wrested
from us by a successful rebellion or by a
foreign enemy.
In the week ending November 11 , the
average daily deposits in the banks re
porting to the New York clearing-house ,
as well as the average daily loans , were
the largest on record.
T , t
Now that the
s passed
the short days
and the long nights of winter are with us ,
it is a good time for farmers , merchants ,
mechanics , millers , manufacturers and
railroad men to do a little practical
thinking. After duo reflection and a
general review of economic and indus
trial conditions , by all classes , the old
maxim , "mind your own business , " will
loom up as a splendid prescription for
success in life.
The farmers who farmwho study agri
culture , who personally look after plow
ing , planting and cultivating their fields
and who take judicious and intelligent
care of their live stock and with persist
ent and well-directed industry keep their
buildings in good repair are "minding
their own business. " And as a rule
they are successful , satisfied and con
tented.
The merchants who have studied mar
kets , selected goods suitable to the tastes ,
purposes and purses of their customers ,
and with integrity and politeness served
the trading public without denouncing
any and all citizens who may have dif
fered from them either religiously , polit
ically or in any other way , have gener
ally achieved gratifying results. They
have minded their own business.
The mechanics who have stuck indus
triously and intelligently to their voca
tions , not squandered their time in de
bating monetary vagaries have , by mind
ing their own business , pretty generally
acquired a fair compensation.
And the millers and manufacturers
who have depended self-reliantly upon
themselves and not upon enactments for
profitable operations of their concerns
have nothing to complain about.
The railroad men who have attended
strictly to railroads and not to the busi
ness of common councils , state legisla
tures and congress , seem eminently il
lustrative of the value of minding one's
own business.
And now at the close of a year upon ,
the threshold of a now era in Ainerican
affairs it is intensely useful that all
men , women and children now solemnly
resolve to mind their own business for
at least the remainder of this century.
Thus legislators may make laws and
lobbyists let them alone. Thus farmers
may individualize themselves and use
plows and harness and planting ma
chines , instead of preambles and resolu
tions by gregarious granges. So rail
roads may cease crowding with their
emissaries the corridors of state capitals
and the recesses of the national statute
incubator at Washington.
And if all classes of Americans will
study their own bxisiness and attend to
their own business during the year
1899 , prosperity will perpetuate itself.
There are 80,000 Indians who have the
full privileges of American citizenship.