Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The independent. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 12, 1903)
FEBRUARY 12, 1903. THE NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT. 3 DEATH AND STARVATION The Rasult of th Bepnbllran Policy In the Philippines rrrsident Kchurman Makes a Remarkable Speech There was an immense meeting at Cooper Institute the other day to con sider the suffering in the Philippines, ahout which the plutocratic dailies have so little to say. On that occa sion President Schurman made a re markable speech, from which The In dependent makes the following ex tracts: The new year has opened with peace in the Philippine islands; and as the clouds of war which for four years have hung over that unhappy archipelago roll away, and the blind ing passions which war arouses grad ually subside, the American people are coming to discern with clear vi sion and in dry light the real nature of their undertaking in what was once with roseate expectation described as "those gems and glories of the tropic seas." And I think no man will charge me with misrepresentation if I say that the heartrending spectacle on which our latest sun has just risen in Luzon and the Visayas the uni versal devastation of a long and ruth less war, the complete obliteration of towns and villages, the transforma tion of fruitful plains and valleys in to desolate wastes and howling wild erness, the vast, uncounted loss of human life, the destruction of nearly all farm animals, the annihilation of capital, the paralysis of agriculture, trade and commerce, the derangement of the currency, the dread specters of poverty, famine, cholera and the pestilence that walketh at noonday, men, women and children brethren of ours and fellow-Christians, perish ing like wanton flies in summer, and the whole nation sick at heart, sullen in temper, unreconciled to American rule and, though disarmed and over mastered by force, yet resolutely de termined to achieve national indepen dence, which we still deny them this, I say, is an accumulation of ca lamities that must touch our hearts with the profoundest pity and a com bination of problems that must awaken in our minds the gravest anx iety and concern, not unmingled, per haps, with self-reproach or even re morse." Mr. Schurman finds that the spirit of freedom is indelibly rooted in the breasts of the Filipinos and that the war has welded them into one nation. There are no longer separate and jealous tribes they are as thorough ly united as were the thirteen Ameri can colonies by the war of the revolu tion. 9 "We must reckon, ho says, "with the spirit and temper of these people as well as make provision for their material welfare. Among freemen, however it be with slaves, their state of mind is a far more vital matter than mere bodily condition. Men will despise comforts and fling away life itself in pursuit of some moral ideal or political end. Now there are two facts which will serve to interpret to us the political sentiments of the "rilipinos. First, there is not, I be lieve, a single man of them who will consent that his country should be permanently a dependency or colony of the United States, which is the pol icy of our imperialists. This circum stance, which all recent information confirms. I noted in the report of the first Philippine commission, explicit ly stating that even those Filipinos who were supporting American sov ereignty the minority, indeed did so in the expectation that, after an inter val of American training and tutelage, the Filipinos should be granted their independence. And, secondly, of that vast majority who were compelled by force to acquiesce in American sov ereignty, thousands have died and hundreds of thousands are still ready to die in the cause of Philippine in dependence. Here is another crucial fact. Our war with the Filipinos has made a nation of them; they are no longer Tagalogs or Visayans or Uo canos, but one people with a single national consciousness and a single national heart. If the idea of inde pendence was originally the dream, of Aguinaldo and the Tagalogs. it is to day the hope, the goal and the reso lute determination of a nation of 6, 500.000 united Filipinos. "While the American people were divided on the opening phases of the Philippine question, I cannot per suade myself that they will be divid ed on the final issue which now con fronts us the policy of dealing with the Filipinos as we have dealt with the Cubans and granting them speedy independence. "What, else can we do? There Is but one alternative. It is the use of force to keep the Filipinos in subjec tion. Now, as a temporary expedient, force may be justifiable; but as a per manent policy it is the feeblest and lOur February Clearing Sale! f M - of. m -1 , ftp ft 1 ill 1 UP if! v 1 I I a! Mi qwmpp N I J III nWU. j usksA ill . is at the above cut and you will have the whole story in a few words brief, but a clear present, I ation of facts. We could easily print a lot of vainglorious talk about this unusual clearing rt Vintir Innrr nia )iav licxan in luici noizu nnA u.-Vint. "irruiil follnivu" U7k r A hilt urn Anr't Tfc iant 4'l necessary. It even isn't good business. The average man has neither the time nor the inclination to listen to 3 a long talk of "whys and wherefores." It is sufllcient to state that yt LOOK We Have Simply Divided Our Stock Into Four Parts and the Goods are Going to Move. Y) F f 11 A which embraces all Suits A XJL.1VJL Jr. and Overcoats that were marked $8.00, f 9.00 and $ 10.00, from which you may take your choice for $6.00 all the rcoats 1) "F Til "Y which embraces . XA.1 A.X 13 Suits and Ove $8.50 which sold at $12.50, $13.50 and $15.00, from which you may take your choice for 35 C which embraces all the A J. Suits and Overcoats which sold at 518.00, $20.00, $23.00, rt from which you may take ft J "2 OO your choice for 1 Jf "O rp "lv which embraces all the A JT.jl.I. JL -J Suits and Overcoats 20.00 which sold at $25, $30 and $35, from which you may take your choice for 6 1221 to 1227 O Street, Lincoln, Nebraska. most uncertain thing in the world, while of all instruments it is the most odious, the most revolting and the most galling to the spirits on whom it is exercised. By force the Filipinos may be worried and harassed; but force will not mitigate or destroy their unconquerable love of independence. Nor could I possibly be convinced that the American people desire to break the spirit of the Filipinos; for it is the same spirit that has made America." Eugene R. Long, president and pro fessor political economy, Arkansas College, Batesville, Ark.: I enclose for three months' subscription. (Ash by's "Money and the Taxing Power.") D. R. Dewey, professor of economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, Mass.: Kindly enter my name as a subscriber to your paper for the next three months. (Ashby's "Money and the Taxing Power.") George H. McGregor, druggist. Som erville, Ind.: Send The Independent three months to the addresses below. Date their subscriptions so they: will get the first series of the political economy to begin January 1 (Ashby's "Money and the Taxing Power"). Richard Donovan, Havelock, Neb.: Find enclosed one dollar from an old reader of the best paper in this coun try. Long may it continue to spread the light.
