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The Commoner;
VOLUME 7. 'NUMBER H
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PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENCE- WHEN?
(Written l).v James IL niounl, laic Judge of Ilia
Court of First Instance of the Philippine Islands,
for tlio North American Review. Copyright by
tho Review and loprodueod by permission.)
After woven yearn spent at the "storm-centre"
of "Expansion," llio Urol of the Boveri iih a vol
iinlecr officer in Cuba, the next two In a like ca
pacity In tho I'hillppiiiPH, and the remainder in the
last-named country iih United States Judge, tho
writer wan llnally Invalided homo last (spring,
sustained In spirit at parting by cordial farewells,
oral and written, personal and olllclal. Having
now been invited by the editor of tho Itevlew to
prepare an article embodying his views as to our
Philippine problem, ho naturally enters upon a
discussion of the subject with some degree of
dlilldonco, because It Involves calling In question
tho wisdom and righteousness of a policy Inaug
urated and carried out by a smhll group of dis
tinguished men, under whom he shared In this
nation's work beyond seas for a very considerable
fraction of tho average duration of life. How
over, ho can truly say to all former fellow workers:
"I have eaten your bread and salt,
I have drunk your water and wine,
Tho deaths ye died I have watched beside
And the lives tbat ye led wore mine.
"Was there aught that I did not share
In vigil or toil or ease,
One Joy or woo that I did not know,
Dear friends across the seas?"
In Charles Dickens' novef "Bleak House,"
thoro Is a chapter entitled "Telescopic Philan
thropy," wherein Is introduced tho famous Mrs.
Jollyby, the mother of a large and interesting
family, "a lady of very remarkable strength of
character, who devotes herself entirely to the pub
lic," who "has devoted herself to an extensive
variety of public subjects, at various .times, and
is at present-devoted ,to the subject of Africa,
with a general view to the cultivation of the coffee
berry and the natives;" to the great prejudice
of her domestic concerns, and the neglect of her
own children, the latter continually getting Into all
kinds of mlsehloC while her attention is diverted
from home. Seeing that tho present administra
tion proposes to continue its policy of "Benevo
lent assimilation" in tho remote Philippines in
definitely, at whatever cost, the analogy between
its attitude and Mrs. Jellyby's misplaced philan
thropy toward "the people of Borrioboola-Gha, on
the left bank of the Niger," is by no means
remote.
Mr. Bryan maintains, substantially:
(1) That tho Filipinos want Independence.
(2) That, if protected from the great land-acquiring
powers, "so far as their own internal af
fairs are concerned, they do not need to be sub
ject to any alien government."
(.3) That wo shquld at once disclaim any inten
tion of exercising permanent sovereignty over the
archipelago, and declare It to be our purpose to
remain only long enough to see a stable govern
ment started, and then leave them to work out
their own destiny.
Mr. Taft would probably have taken issue with
Mr. Bryan on the first proposition up to the time
he visited the islands in tho summer of 1905, ic
companled by a party of senators and congress
men. He will hardly do so now.
Senator Dubois, of Idaho, who was a member
of the congressional party referred to, has since
said In the New York "Independent:"
"All the Filipinos, -with tho exception of those
who are holding positions under and drawing sal
arles from our government, favor a government
of their own. There is scarcely an exception
among them. There. is nobody in the islands,
no organization of any kind ordcscrlption, which
favors tho policy of our government toward them."
Senator Newlands, of Nevada, also a member
of tho congressional party aforesaid, has declared,
in tho number of this Review for December, 1905,
that practically tho whole people desire independ
ence. Congressman Parsons, also a member of
tho same party, lias since said: "There is no ques
tion that Jill tho Filipino parties are now in favor
of independence."
Captain J. A. Moss, of tho Twenty-fourth in
fantry, a member of General Corbln's staff, U
quoted by Mr. Bryan, in "The .Commoner" of
April 27, 190G, as saying, in an article published
in a Manila paper while Mr. Bryan was in the
islands, with reference to the wishes of "the jrreat
majority" of the Filipinos, that "to please them,
we cannot get out of the islands too soon."
Mr. Bryan's second proposition, with -which
Mr. Taft takes issue, is that "so. far as .their own
internal. affairs are concerned, they do not need
to bo subject to any alien government," provided,
of course, they arc protected from. 'the danger of
annexation by some one of the great nations. If
this proposition be sound, subject to the proviso,
tho proviso can easily be met. Tho foremost citi
zen of the world today, the man who brought the
Japanese-Russian war to a conclusion and thereby
won the high regard of all mankind, can, and if so
requested by 'Jie congress probably will, within
a comparatively short period, negotiate a treaty
with the great nations, securing the neutralization
of tho islands, and the recognition of their inde
pendence whenever the same shall bo granted to
them by the United States. If the powers should
thus agree to consider the Philippines neutral ter
ritory forever, Mr. Roosevelt would have done for
them exactly what has already been done for Bel
gium and Switzerland by treaty between the great
powers of Europe. When the resolution of Con
gressman McCall, of Massachusetts, proposing
this, was under consideration before tho house
committee on Philippine affairs on April 7, 1900,
It met with a very considerable degree of' sympa
thy, as is manifest from tho official report of r.he
hearing, the main objection apparently being that,
because there are a number of different dialects,
tho Filipinos are a heterogenous lot, and there is
no spirit of Philippine nationality. Governor Taft
said to the senate committee in February, 19,02:
"While It is true that there are a number of
Christian tribes, so called, that speak different lan
guages, there is a homogeneity in tho. people In
appearance, in habits, and in many avenues of
thought. To begin with, they are all Catholics."
The Philippine Census, published by the war
department in March, 1905, says (Vol. I, page
d47):
"A town in the Cagayan valley presents the
same, style of architecture, the same surrounding
barrios, lias tho same kind of stores and similarly
dressed people, as a Christian municipality of the
island of Mindanao."
And says the same government publication
(Vol. II, p. 0), in drawing a comparison between
Itself and the schedules of the twelfth census of
tho United States: ' "
"Those of the Philippine census are somewhat
simpler, the. differences being due mainly to the
more homogenous character of the population of
the Philippine Islands!"
Tho existence of a general and conscious as
piration for a national life of their own, the Real
Presence of a universal longing to be allowed to
pursue happiness in their own way and not in
somebody else's way, is, to the best of such
knowledge and belief as the writer obtained after
two years' service in tho army that subjugated
them, and four years in the Insular .Tudiclary, one
of the most obvious and pathetic facts in the whole
situation. During the organized fighting, no
American ever discovered that the enemy was
crippled, or his effectiveness diminished, by the
lack of a common language. And as for the Na
tional Spirit, those people have been welded into
absolute unity by the events of the last eight
years. Rizal was shot for writing a political
novel in which 1ho Spaniards thought there was
too much recognition of the "Nationalist" idea.
And if we should get into a war with a first-class
power, and Agulnaldo, or Juan Cailles, the man
who crumpled Hie gallant Fifteenth Infantry in
1901, should raise the standard of revolt, let the
impartial reader ask any American now in die
Philippines, or any American who has spent much
time there, how many natives between Aparri aiid
Cagayan do Misamls would fail to understand and
rally to the cry "Viva La Republica Filipina!"
Let us hope that if the McCall resolution ever
comes up again, the committee will have become
satisfied, beyond the peradventure of a doubt,
that there does, in fact, exist among all the peo
ple of tho Philippine Islands a consciousness of
racial unity, which draws them together as
against all outsiders, and is not marred by any
race problem such as exists in Cuba.
The independence of the Philippines should
come about within a few years that is, as soon
as practicable because it is best for both coun
tries. We are governing them against their con
sent and at an enormous cost to both peoples, if
the untold millions we have spent on "benevolent
assimilation" since February 4, 1899, had been
spent on rivers and harbors and canals, and the
improvement of our interior water transportation
generally, the railroad rate question would have
solved itself without the need of a rate bill. And
tills is not tho only one of Mrs. Jellyby's neglected
.-children, not the only domestic problem ivhich
presents a subject for strenuous altruism -sufficient
to occupy all. the patriotism and . statesman
ship of this great country with its eighty millions
of people. If all tho splendid ability and grim
fortitude that have been concentrated during the
last few years upon "telescopic philanthropy" in
the Philippines had been steadily focussed upon
the economic and social problems which are clam
oring ever more loudly and ominously fon solu
tion at home, Hearst and Hearstism would never
have arisen to voice a profound and widespread
discontent having in it an element of righteous
ness. But, returning to the core of Mr. Bryan's sec
ond proposition, namely, that "so far as their own
internal affairs are concerned, they do not need
to bo subject to any alien government," he further
says: -""
"There is a wide difference, it is true, between
th general intelligence of the educated Filipino
and thejaborer on the street and in the field, but
this Is not a barrier to self-government. Intelli
gence controls in every government, except where
it is suppressed by military force. 'Nine
tenths of the Japanese have no part in the law
making.' In Mexico, the gap between the "edu
cated classes and tho peons is fully as great as.
if not greater than, the gap between the extremes
of Filipino society. Those who question the ca
pacity of the Filipinos for self-government
forget that patriotism raises up persons fit
ted for the work that needs to be done."
And here is the testimony of one of the-.mbst
distinguished congressmen who have visited the
islands:
"I have little orN no doubt that there are a- suf
ficient number of wise and intelligent Filipinos
.to establish and maintain a government in the
Philippines, that will compare in liberality and
effectiveness with a very great many of the gov
ernments that have been in successful operation
for a century or more."
Edmund Burke once said, in a speech for
which Americans have long delighted to honor his
memory: "The general character and situation
of a people must determine what sort of govern
ment is fitted for them. That, nothing else- can
or ought toA determine." ... - ..-'
The congressman last above quoted talks, of '
twenty years as a safe period of tutelage, Sena
tors Newlands and Dubois of thirty years, Mr.
Bryan of live, or ten, or fifteen. But the gentle
man last named insisted at the convention of 1904.
and still insists, that we should make them a def
inite promise of independence now, "the same to
bo executed as soon as practicable.
To this, the proposition of the democracy, Mr.
Taft's answer is:
"The gentlemen that are looking for office un
der an independent government, have very little
concern about independence that is to come after
they are dead; and if you permit their independ
ence, and make it a definite promise, you will
have a continued agitation there as to when' they
ought to have independence."
The imputation of selfishness put by this state
ment upon all Filipinos who desire independence
is uncalled for. "The gentlemen that are looking
for office under an independent government"
could undoubtedly get office under the present
. government if they would only stop wanting in
dependence. And "if you permit their independ
ence, and make it a definite promise," you will
have no agitation to hasten the day, provided the
promise itself fix the day. During nearly four
years of service on the bench in the Philippines,
the writer heard as much genuine, impassioned
and effective eloquence from Filipino lawyers,
saw exhibited in the trial of causes as much in
dustrious preparation, and zealous, loyal advo
cacy of the rights of clients, as any ordinary nisi
prius judge at home is likely to meet with in the
same length of time. Some of these lawyers are
ex-officers of the insurgent army. Each of them
has his clients, and is the center of a circle of
influence. All of them, without exception, want in
dependence. Of course the law of self-preservation
precludes them from proclaiming this from
the house-tops, especially if they are holding office
under the government. But in their heart of
hearts, the clearest hope that each of them cher
ishes is that he may live to see the Stat of the
Philippine Republic risen In the Far East Let a
date be fixed by the United States congress for
turning over the government of the archipelago
to its people, a date which will afford to the great
majority of the present generation a reasonable
expectation of living to see the independence of
Ji country, and all political .unrest, including
most of the brigandage in tho islands, will ntonce
cease. The jiows will spread i'-like- wildfire' ;t
borrow a -famous phrase of our sunshiny seer
' Si.
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