5ST . ?"S
v-;-
-"", 3-T-V " V- -l?7
it -""- 'a
, r; rr - '
vrx -ST 3t' -J&&5L'
SUPPLEMENT TO
Columbus Journal
Columbus, Neb.
PROBLEWOFTHEPHILIPPINES
The Question of the
Hour.
Conclusions Arrived at After Extended
Personal Investigation Sea. DeTer-
edge's Great Speech Delivered la
the Senate January 9, 1900.
The secretary read the joint resolu
tion (S. R. r:i)defining the poliey of the
United States relative to the Philip
pine Islands, as follows:
Be It resolved bv the Senate and House or
Representatives of the United States of Ameri
ca in Congress assembled. Thai the Philippine
Islands are territory of the United States; that
it is the intention or the United States to retain
them as such and to establish and maintain such
governmental control throughout the archipel
ago as the situation may demand.
Mr. 1IEVERIDGE. Mr. President. I
address the Senate at this time because
Senators and Members of the House
on both sides have asked that I give to
Congress and the country my observa
tions in the Philippines and the far
East, and the conclusions which those
observations compel; and because of
hurtful resolutions introduced and ut
terances made in the Senate, every
word of which will cost and is costing
the lives of American soldiers.
Mr. President, the times call for can
dor. The Philippines are ours forever,
"territory belonging' to the United
States,"' as the Constitution calls them.
And just bej-ond the Philippines are
China's illimitable markets. We will
not retreat from cither. We will not
repudiate our duty in the archipelago.
We will not abandon our opportunity
in the Orient. We will not renounce
our part in the mission of our race,
trustee, under God. of the civilization
of the world. And we will move for
ward to our work, uot howling out re
grets like slaves whipped to their bur
dens, but with gratitude for a task
worthy of our strength, and thanks
giAing to Almighty God that He has
marked us as his chosen people, hence
forth to lead in the regeneration of the
world.
PHILIPPINES COMMAND TIIK PACIFIC.
This island empire is the last ladn left
in all the oceans. If it should prove a
mistake to abandon it, the blunder
once made would be irrretricvablc. If
it proves a mistake to hold it, the error
can be corrected when we will. Every
other progressive nation stands ready
to relieve us.
Rut to hold it will be no mistake,
our largest trade henceforth must be
with Asia. The Pacific is our ocean.
More and more Europe will manufac
ture the most it needs, secure from its
colonies the most it consumes. Where
shall we turn for consumers 01 our sur
plus? Geography answers the ques
tion. China is our natural customer.
She is nearer to us than to England.
Germany or Russia, the commercial
powers of the present and the future.
They have moved nearer to China by
securing permanent bases on her bor
ders. The Philippines give us a base
at the door of all the East.
Lines of navigation from our ports
to the Orient and Australia; from Ihe
isthmian canal to Asia; from all Ori
ental ports to Australia, converge at
and separate from the Philippines.
They are a self-supporting, dividend
paying lleet. permanently anchored at
a spot selected by the strategy of Prov
idence, commanding the Pacific. And
the Paciiie is the ocean of the com
merce of the future. Most future wars
will be conllicts for commerce. The
power that rules the Pacific, therefore,
is the power that rules the world. And,
with the Philippines, that power is
and will forever be the American Re
public vai.ui: of china's trade.
China's trade is the mightiest com
mercial fact in our future. Her for
eign commerce was S23.".738,300 in 1807,
of which we. her neighbor, had less
than 9 per cent, of which only a little
more than half was merchandise sold
to China by us. We ought to have .10
percent, and we will. And China's
foreign commerce is only beginning.
Her resources, her possibilities, her
wants, all are undeveloped. She has
only '.U0 miles of railway. I nave seen
trains loaded with natives and all the
activities of modern life already ap
pearing along the line. Rut she needs,
and in fifty years will have, 20,OJJ
miles of railway.
Who can estimate her commerce
then'.' The statesman commits a crime
against American trade against the
American grower of cotton and wheat
and tobacco, the American manufac
turer of machinery and clothing who
fails to put America where she may
command that 1 rade. Germany's Chi
nese trade is increasing like magic.
She has established ship lines and se
cured a tangible foothold on China's
very soil. Russia's Chinese trade is
growing beyond belief. She is spend
ing the revenues of the Empire to fin
ish her railroad into Pekin itself, and
she is in physical possession of the im
perial province of Manchuria. Japan's
Chinese trade is multiplying in volume
and value. She is bending her energy
to her merchant marine, and is located
along China's very coast; but Manila is
nearer China than Yokohama is. The
Philippines command the commercial
situation of the entire East. Can
America best trade with China from
Saa Francisco or New York? From
San Francisco, of course. Rut if San
Fran::seo were closer to China than
New York is to Pittsburg, what then?
And Manila is nearer Hongkong than
Habana is to Washington. And yet
American statesmen plan to surrender
this commercial throne of the Orient
where Providence and our soldiers"
lives have placed us. When history
comes to write the story of. that sug
gested treason to American supremacy
and therefore to the spread of Ameri
can civilization, let her in mercy write
that those who so proposed were merely
blind and nothing more.
RESOURCES AND IMMENSE SIZE OF THE
ISLANDS.
' 'But if they did not command China.
India, the Orient, the whole Pacific for
purposes of offense, defense, and trade,
the Philippines are so valuable in them
selves that we should hold them. I
hare cruised more than 2,000 miles
through the archipelago, every moment
a surprise at its loveliness and wealth.
I have ridden hundreds of miles on the
islands, every foot of the way a revela
tion of vegetable arid mineral riches.
No land in America surpasses in fer
tility the plains and valleys of Luzon.
Rice and coffc, sugar and cocoanuts,
hemp and tobacco, and many products
of the Temperate as well as the Tropic
zone prow in various sections of the
archipelago. I have seen hundreds of
bushels of Indian corn lying in a road
fringed with banana trees. The for
ests of Negros, Mindanao, Mindora,
Paluan, and parts of Luzon arc invalu
able and intact. The wood of the
Philippines can supply the furniture of
the world for a century to come. At
Cebu the best informed man in the
island told me that 40 miles of Cebu's
mountain chain are practical moun
tains of coal. Pablo Majia. one of the
most reliable men on the islands, con
firmed the statement. Some declare
that the coal is only lignite; but ship
captains who have used it told me that
it is better steamer fuel than the best
coal of Japan.
I have a nugget of pure gold picked
up in its present form on the banks of
a Philippine creek. I have gold dust
washed out by crude processes of care
less ratives from the sands of a Philip
pine stream. Roth indicate great de
posits at the source from which they
come. In one of the islands great de
posits of copper exist untouched. Ths
mineral wealth of this empire of the
oce?u will one day surprise the world.
I base this statement partly on per
sonal observation, but chiefly on the
testimony of foreign merchants in the
Philippines, who have practically in
vestigated the subject, and upon the
unanimous opinion of natives and
priests. And the mineral wealth is but
a small fraction of the agricultural
wealth of these islands.
And the wood. hemp, copra, and
other products of the Philippines sup
ply what we need and cannot ourselves
produce. And the markets they will
themselves afford will be immense.
Spain's export and import trade, with
the islands undeveloped, was Sll,!i34,
731 annually. Our trade with the
islands developed will be S1-'.".000,000
annually, for who believes that we can
not do ten times as well as Spain?
Consider their imperial dimensions.
Luzon is larger and richer than New
York. Pennsylvania, Illinois, or Ohio.
Mindanao is larger and richer than all
New England, exclusive of Maine.
Manila, as a port of call and exchange,
will, in the time of men now living, far
surpass Liverpool. Rchold the ex
haustless markets they command. It
is as If a half dozen of our States were
set down between Occanica and the
Orient, and those states themselves un
developed and unspoiled of their primi
tive wealth and resources.
Nothing is so natural as trade with
one's neighbors. The Philippines make
nr. the nearest neighbors of all the
East. Nothing is more natural than to
trade with those you know. This is
the Philosophy of all advertising. The
Philippines bring us permanently face
to face with the moit sought-for cus
tomers of the world. National pres
tige, national propinquity, these and
commercial activity at e the elements of
commercial success. The Philippines
give the first; the character of the
American people supply the last. It is
a providential conjunction of all the
ulements of trade, of duty, and of
power. If we are willing to go to war
rather than let England have a few
feet of frozen Alaska, which affords no
market and commands none, what
should we not do rather than let Eng
land, Germany. Russia, or Japan have
all the Philippines? And no man on
the spot can fail to see that this would
be their fate if we retired.
Philippine climate.
The climate is the best Tropic climate
in the world. This is the belief of
those who have lived in many Tropic
countries, with scores of whom I have
talked on this point. My own experi--nee
with tropical conditions has not
been exhaustive: yet. speaking from
that experience. I testify that the cli
mate of lloilo. Sulu, Cebu, and even of
Manila, greatly surpasses that of
Hongkong. And yet on the bare and
burning rock of Hongkong our con
structing race has baildcd one of the
noblest cities of all the world, and
made the harbor it commands the focus
of the commerce of the East. And the
glory of that achievement illumines
with a rarer splendor than that of
Waterloo the flag that floats above it,
for from Hongkong's heights civiliz
ation is irradiating all the Orient. If
this be imperialism, its final end will
,c the empire of the Son of Man.
Yet fifty years ago this English out
post of empire was a smooth and tree
less mountain, blazing like a ball of
lire beneath the tropic suns. The
Philippines are beautiful and rich,
with the healing scjis pouring round
and through them and fanned by a
thousand winds. Even in the hottest
season, under severest conditions, I
found the weather tolerable and often
delightful; and in Luzon, Pa nay, Cebu.
Negios. and Sulu I have been in the
sun and rain without protection from
eitiier for hours at a time, traveling
from place to place oil horseback, on
foot, or in a boat, rising at dawn, re
tiring at midnight, week after week,
without injury to health.
General MacArthur. commanding a
force which had been fighting continu
ously for three months and which was
under fire practically every hour, was
in excellent health every time I saw him
at San Fernando, our extreme front.
General Lawton, that perfect soldier,
whom I have seen ride, order, plan, and
execute all day. and then ride, order,
plau. and execute all night, until the
Tagals named him "the soldier of the
night."' told me that his health was
perfect. General Otis, that devoted
servant of the Republic, who toils
ceaselessly, does not fall ill. nor grow
weary, nor complain. I could give the
names of scores of our oSicers and de
scribe their feats of endurance wit
nessed by me that would have taxed
their strength even in America. Yet
they do not succumb. I have seen cor
respondents exert themselves in all
kinds of weather without food or sleep
in a way that would prostrate them in
the hottest days of our summer in Chi
cago or New York. Major Hoyt, chief
medical officer with MacArthur. told
me that San Fernando is as healthy as
the average American town. The Eu
ropean business men of Cebu, lloilo,
and Manila work as hard and as many
hours a day as those of New York, and
a finer body of physical manhood can
not be gathered at random in America.
This proves that this garden of the
seas is not the sweltering, steaming,
miasmatic swamp that it has been de
scribed. CHARACTER OF TOE rEOPE AGUINALDO.
It will be hard for Americans who
have not studied them to understand
the people. They are a barbarous race,
modified by three centuries of contact
with a decadent race. The Filipino is
the South Sea Malay, put through a
process of three hundred years of su
perstition in religion, dishonesty in
dealing, disorder in habits 'of industry,
and cruelty, caprice, and corruption in
government. It is barely possible that
1,000 men in all the archipelago are
capable of self-government in the
Anglo-Saxon sense.
My own belief is that there are not
100 men among them who comprehend
what Anglo-Saxon self-government
even means, and there are over 5,000,-
000 people to be governed. I know
many clever and highly educated men
among them, but there are only thice
commanding intellects and characters
Arellani. Mabini. and Aguinaldo.
Arellano, the chief justice of our su
preme court, is a profound lawyer and
a brave and incorruptible man. Ma
bini, who. before his capture, was the
literary and diplomatic associate of
Aguinaldo. is the highest type of sub
tlety and the most constructive mind
that race has yet prcd .iced. Aguinaldo
is a clever, popular leader, able, brave,
resourceful, cunning, ambitious, un
scrupulous, and masterful. He is full
of decision, initiative, and authority,
and had the confidence of the masses.
He is a natural dictator. His ideas of
government are absolute orders, im
plicit obedience, or immediate death.
He understands the character of his
countrymen. He is a Malay Sylla; not
a Filipino Washington.
These conclusions were forced upon
me by observing the people in all walks
of life in the different islands, and by
conversations witli foreign merchants,
priests, mestizos, pure Filipinos, and
every variety of mind, character, and
opinion from San Fernando, in Luzon,
on down through the entire archipelago
to the interior of Sulu. These conver
sations were had informally at dinner
tables, on journeys, and the like, and
always under conditions favorable to
entire frankness and unreserve. Their
chief value is that they are the real
opinions of their authors and not pre
pared and guarded statements. I will
read to the Senate salients points from
a few of my notes of these conversa
tions, reserving the names of the per
sons interviewed, except that of Pablo
Majia. of Cebu. who was assassinated a
week after I met him, and whose fate
1 will not risk bringing down on oth
ers. Their names and residences are
here in this book, and will be gladly
given to any Senator or to the Senate
in executive session. The conversa
tions themselves, of course, are many
of them quite extended. I give here
only the brief extracts, which may be
helpful to a correct understanding of
the subject immediately in hand.
One of the principal merchants of the
Philippines and the far East said,
among many other things:
The whole country 1 incalculably rich. With
cniy ordinary good government commerce would
be 'immense. Spanish rule was corrupt, but
commerce accustomed itself to the conditions
and flourished in spite of them. So rich is the
country that commerce will survive uny situu
utiou, however bad. if it is only lixed and cer
tain. The people are incapable of self-government.
The few exceptions are no examples of
the masses. For years to come a very strong
government will be necessary. The climate is
very good. I have lived here eighteen years,
and my health was never better.
One of the principal business men of
the Philippines and the far East said:
I have no fault to tind with the climate. My
health is very line. Business here, large as it
is, is only a hint of what will be under a good
government. I think it folly to talk of giving
the natives any p irt iu the government. They
are incapable. Of course there ere, possibly,
half u dozen who might be capable, but I doubt
the result of such an experiment, even with the
best. Anything but a strong government at
lirst will result in di.sastor. Do not put courts
into their hands at all. except the minor and
village courts, of course. You might give them
municipal self-government in the smaller mu
nicipalities, but even then only undr careful
supervision.
The most eminent educator in the
Philippines, of very wide information
about the people and the country, said:
It is a most marvelous country. The climate
is the ideal tropical climate of the world. Also,
St presents every variety of climate. Only a
moderate distance from Manila, in the province
of Benguct. there are oaks, pines, frost, and you
must use blankets at night. It is the richest
and most variegated iortion of the earth's sur
face. My health lias always been good. You
must introduce a strong, decisive, and pure gov
ernment. Tne natives might possibly be per
mitted to take a practical part in municipal af
fairs. Self-government is out oMhe question. I fear
the insurrection will last for months. The na
tives arc like buffalo bulls -they get mad and
then want to light, no matter whether right or
wrong. You cannot successfully deal .vith
them by gentle means; they absolutely misun
derstand such treatment, while in arms they
must be fought, fought ceaselessly and remorse
lessly. Otherwise they will keep it up forever.
The most eminent scientist of the
far East, better informed on the Phil
ippines and their people and more ex
perienced in the whole situation than
any man now living, said:
The climate is the best tropical climate in the
world. My health is excellent and has been for
years. Nearly everything can be raised in the
islands. Also nearly all climates can be had in
the various altitudes practically accessible. It
will take a long time to prepare the people for
self-government. Certainly they are not so
now. I think everything 'must "for years be
lirmly controlled by the American.
One of the large planters and busi
ness men of the interior of Luzon, a
pure Filipino, with intimate relations
with the insurgents:
It is hard to say how long the contest will
last. The very common people care little about
the matter, but have been told and believe
many bad things about the Americans. What
Filipinos want is to govern themselves. Xo, of
course, they do not know anything about gov
ernment except that Spaiu gave them, which
was most corrupt. If you gave those islands a
government where justice would be adminis
tered freclv and without price, property prot,
tected. and free speech secured, you ask me if
the common people would be satisfied. I do
not know.
The common people do not know what they
want. Are they capable of self-government
of voting intelligently? What difference does
that make': They would vote just exactly as
the better classes say. I employ several hun
dred men. Well. I expect and would see to it
that they have the same opinions I have. Humph :
it would be impossible otherwise. What the
Filipino leaders talk about and insist upon is a
guaranty, lly this they mean Filipinos to have
exclusnc government in the islands, the United
States to kaep a fleet here to protect that gov
ernment and the islands generally iu every pos
sible situation, and this agreement witnessed
by a third nation, strong enough to compel the
United Suites to carry out its contract. The
people aw not capable of self-government, but
the leaders are, or will be after some practice;
so it is just the same thing.
A pure Filipino, a physician, a man
of wealth, in the interior of Luzon
one of the most intelligent men of the
many I met and talked to:
It is hard to say how long this struggle will
continue. The leaders say they want indepen
dence: the common people probably want so
cialism. To be definite and particular, they
probably do not know what they want. No.
they are not capable of self-government. If you
give them pure government, free speech and all
that, they would not understanp and appreciate
it at first; would not believe it, as it were.
But when, after a while, three or four years,
say. they come to understand your good inten
tions and actually experience good govern
ment, there will be no trouble. Oh, yes; the
islands arc marvelously rich. After good gov
ernment is once in operation, they will pay
their way many times over- My people arc not
a bad people; they don't understand; they are
children yet.
The principal British merchant of
lloilo said:
The climate is simply splendid, even acre on
the sea. A very short distance inland you must
have Are every night. I have been here more
than twenty years, und my health is and al
ways has been most excellent. The only time I
ever felt heat badly was in New York last Sep
tember. It goes without saying that the coun
try is enormously rich. Its resources have not
yet even begun to be developed. Vast as com
merce is or was. it is only u suggestion to what
maybe. The natives arc a kind, affectionate
people when properly treated. They are suspi
cious, though, and once nrouscd. very obstinate.
Surely they are capable of self-government in
municipal matters. Further than that I think
it not safe to go at present. The common peo
ple probably do not understand the meaning of
self-government as we do.
There is no doubt that they would be com
pletely dominated by their leaders. I should
think it a very risky business to put the courts
in the hands of the natives, even if you allow
them a large measure of self-government other
wise. You sec: thev do not understand the just
and pure administration of law through courts.
How should they? The whole secret or your
success will be to adopt some definite plan,
stick to it. govern justly und firmly, be patient,
do not expect everything in a day, and very
gradually and wisely introduce them into the
government. But all will fail if you send any
but pure and incorruptible men here.
A highly educated and bright Span
ish mestizo, claiming to be pure Fili
pino, eniploj-ed in lloilo, said:
No one can tell when the lighting will cease.
It all depends upon what Aguinaldo says. The
common people have ubsolutc faith in him. His
order.among those now in rebellion in this isl
and would be promptly obeyed. The common
people say they are lighting for theii- independ
ence. They mean by this the right to manage
their own government; make and execute their
own laws. Their ideas of a proper relation be
tween the Philippine Islands and people cftho
United States is that of a protectorate. Tht
leaders absolutely control the people. A man
of property expects his working people to have
the same opinion as he has. I do myself.
It is. perhaps, true that the masses do not un
derstand what self-government means. I think
that that there arc enough capable und educated
men among our people to control government,
but I do not believe that the great mass of the
people arc at all fltteJ fcr self-governmant now
and will not be for a long time. You should
have uniform laws over the entire archipelago.
If vou have one thing at one place and another
at 'another place, each will think and say that
the other is better treated, and you will have
constant and serious disturbance. Already the
people of this island are very angry because Ne
gros is given a United States constitution. That
is a profound mistake. Don't experiment. Se
lect your plan and execute it. Euglish ought to
be myde the one langugc of the island.
A rich planter of Panay, pure Fili
pino, but moderate in views, saiS:
The common people have no opinions aud arc
not capable of voting. If the Filipinos estab
lished a government, of course the property and
educated class would, beyond doubt, run such
government. Not more than i" per cent of the
people arc llttcd to take part in the selection of
public officers. The -people are ut present in
capable of self-government, though they might
be intrusted with purely municipal affairs. Es
tablish precisely the same laws through the
archipelago. English should be uuivcrsajly
taught. The common people know and care
nothing about self-government or any other
government. They are princip illy intcrestei in
simply living. Self-government can only mean
government by the upper classes.
A prominent but very conservative
business man of Panay:
You may be a long time subduing this insur
rection. The people are not yet capable of self
government in the archipelago. It is well,
though, to trust them with municipal adminis
tration, provided everything is under your final
supervision. The proposition to have the same
commercial laws everywhere is to plain for ar
gument. - The dim Jt3 is ii3t bid at all. You
see that for yourself. It is very cool here, you
see. this evening. Mv own health has been ex
cellent, and is now. There is very little sick
ness among the English here.
A leading mestizo of Negros:
The island of Negros Is far ahead of any other
island in the culture of Its people. Our chief de
sire now is to get utterly away from Spanish
customs, laws, and traditions. I think we are
quite capable cf self-government under American
protection. If the Philippine islands are made
into a Federal system we would expect to be
one of the States. Certainly we can manage
the local affairs of the island. Exclusive of the
savages of the mountains. I should say that t or
5 per cent of the people are now capable of iu
telligenly voting.
I think the voting should be by those who own
property, can read and write, or are established
householders und heads of families, with defi
nite, residences. I would Und out who should
vote by having a committee in each town make
out a list and then notify the ones chosen. Cer
tainly I would expect the common icople to
rollow the advice of the leaders and vote for
whom the leaders said. I should think my own
employes would take my view of a situation. If
you give us a government where justice is ad
ministered without corruption or delay, proper
ty protected without a fee. free speech insured,
commercial language provided, the people will
be satisfied.
Spain did none of this, but the reverse. That
is, and was, our complaint. English should lie
immediately made the language of the whole
archipelago. I d6 not think the same political
lsvrs should prevail throughout the islands. One
place should have laws adapted to it: another,
laws adapted to it. The reason for this is
that the people of the various islands are of
different degrees of culture. Of course, though.
I think the whole archipelago a commercial
unit.
Pure Filipino and large planter of Ne
gros: I have working for me about -100 men. They
arc good, average examples of the common peo
ple of the inland. I should say that not over 3
or 4 per cent of them are capable of self-government
or in anv true sense understand the term.
.If the ballot were given them, or even if it were
restnetcu to tnose a or -i per cent, l snouiti ex
pect them to vote as the leaders might indicate.
I think the English language should b imme
diately adopted throughout the entire archipel
ago. It would simplify matters incalculably. No,
I do not believe the same laws should prevail
evervwherc. We of Negros are more cultivated
than in Panay. We deserve better laws.
Very large planter and influential
man of Negros, claiming to be pure
Filipino, but with some Chinese blood:
The climata is most excellent. The wealth of
these islands is beyond imagination. We have
only begun to develop our resources. For ex
ample, we have not touched our minerals prac
tically. Lands you see yonder are really better
for agricultural purposes than this low. Hat
coast land. No: it is not yet occupied, and the
title to it is still in the government.
I have several American plows. They do
good work. We do not use more because they
are not brought to us. The native plow ha's
served our purpose and our inertia makes it in
convenient to change, if effort is necessary.
Yes: enterprising agency would sell many
plows. I have several carriages made in Ameri
ca. I have from 1,000 to 1,500 men working for
me. Of these practically all arc capable of
.self-government. Would they vote as I wished?
Most assuredly they would. By all means make
English the language of these islands as speed
ily as pcssible.lt will increase commerce and
get us farther away from the old aud hated re
gime. I regard these islands as a commercial unit,
and think uniform laws should prevail through
out the archipelago. Your young men could
come here and buy land and soon get enormous
ly rich. You need not fear that we leaders would
be able to control elections. The government
itself would nominate all the officers or candi
dates; so you tee. the people would have to vote
for good men. What would I do if any m:n
spoke against or criticised the government';
Whv. anyone lising against the government
would be tried and shot if condemned.
Pablo Majia, pure Filipino, rich. able,
honest, and moderate. He was stabbed
to death in Cebu, and this is why I
withhold the names of the others:
I do not think anyone could ask for a better
climate than this. It is much better than
Hongkong. The resources of this island have
not begun to be developed. Our coal is very
good, much better than Japafi coal. There Is
copper too. on this island, not yet worked. I
am sorry to say that very few of our population
are capable of self-government.
Of course the wealthy and educated classes
are entirely competent to run the government.
I do not expect nor desire any government ex
cept one founded on and duected by America.
Oh, ves : to such extent as the ballot may be
given, there is no doubt that we of the upper
classes can control. I employ 100 men now In
good times more. All these would vote as I
say.
An educator of Cebu, who has lived
among the Filipinos for twenty-five
years, and one of the ablest men 1 ever
met:
For general health and for all human condi
tions 1 consider this climate unexcelled in the
world. When I left Europe twenty-five years
agr and came here my health was wretched.
Here I am never ill. The resources of these isl
ands are simply marvelous. Think of the agri
cultural richness of Negros! Think of the min
eral wealth of Cebu. For 40 miles this chain of
mountains back of us is one continuous coal
mine. The coal is excellent. It is far better
than the Japan coal. And there are very rich
copper deposits over yonder: nobody ever
worked them yet. There is yold here, too.
Here. I will make you a present of this go!d
dust; it was scooped up from one cf our streams
here. It proves the existence of very heavy de
posits at the point from which these fragments
were washed down. Iu another Inland there are
very rich gold deposits. Let me present you
with this nugget It was picked up just as you
see it. I have seen nuggets from there as large
as your thumb pure, solid gold. Why are they
not worker? Oh. we have been so far out of
the world, you know, the world has forgotten
us. And. then, the strange apathy of the Span
ish Government and people. But that is all
good luck for you. These people arc not capa
ble of self-government That ought to be ap
parent to anv thoughtful person. They are
strangely childish. They do not themselves
understand clearly what they are lighting for.
Independence to the common people means an
archy, or. rati cr. socialism.
To the upper clashes it means rule and domin
ion. If the ballot were placed in the hands the of
people, they would vote as their leaders said. It
would be well to make English the language of
nil the islands but. dear me. what a fearful
time you will have teaching it Why, my dear
friend, wc have been teaching them Spanish
for three hundred years working hard, too
and yet they speak it very badly even now. They
are not bright; really, they are stupid. They
rcscmblc very mnch the caribou. They learn
with great difilculty. Come into the islands
with practical common sense, notscholasticallv.
theoretically, or experimentally. The islands
can be made a griat blessing to you. and ycu to
them, and they also can be made a great curse.
A gentleman liviug in Sulu and who
has spent his entire life in various
tropical countries said:
The resources of these islands are not even
guessed. This land we staud on grows cocoa,
sugar, rice, coffee, and hemp, and all of the fin
est quality. As to the health the conditions are
perfect. I am thoroughly acquainted with
Asiatic and Paclttc Tropics, und I consider this
the ideal climate of them all. I hope you are
not contemplating such a thing as self-government
for the archipelago. It would be a hide
ous mistake. They 'are utterly incapable of
participating in government.
May be in some places municipal government,
might, to a limited extent be put in the hands
of the more competent natives, but even then. I
fear, it would work badly. But government of
the archipelago by natives would mean contin
uous civil war. I want you people to succeed,
but you will Iguominiously and frightfully fail
if you put up a weak or a half-hearted govern
ment here. I have spent my life here, in Bor
neo. Java, Straits Settlements, and other such
places, and I know this people thoroughly. You
have a glorious opportunity here and you must
not ruin it.
I will close these few extracts, which
are a fair sample af a great number of
others, all of which I am willing to
submit to the Senate at any time, by
reading a few suggestions made to me
by the first statesman of the far East,
who had had practical experience with
similar problems. In the course of a
long interview he said.
You must establish government over the inl
ands, because it is incalculably to your interest
iu the future, and because, if "you do not an
other power will undoubtedly take them, in
volving the world in a war for which you will be
responsible.
As to the form of government, you should
have a governor-general of great ability, lirm
ness, and purity; under him suboRlcers" of dis
tricts, and nnder them still lower officials for
the municipalities, all appointed by their su
periors and not chosen by the people. You
should employ the ablest natives in the C!ov
crnment service in some way so as to culist
them on your side. The courts are the most
important consideration of all. Don't put the
natives in charge of them whatever else you do.
In the armed forces, don't give any nathc su
perior position for a long time. Won't do too
much for them iu the beginning. Do it grad
ually, as the years go by. I think your course
is clear. Don't treat with them until you de
feat them. You must do that. Ycu can not
treat and light
Make English the language cf the courts,
schools, and everything else. Let xne impress
on you the necessity of conferring your benefits
on them quite gradually. If you give them too
much they can not appreciate nor understand
nor rightly use it. and it will thus be thrown
awav: but if you give them the blessing of free
institutions gradually, you furnish a source of
constant gratitude. In the other way yon ex
haust yourself ut the beginning, and besides
fail in your good intentions.
WE WILL HOLD IT FAST, AND IIOLI IT
FOREVKK.
Here, then, Senators,is the situation.
Two years ago there was no land in all
the world which we could occupy for
any purpose. Our commerce was daily
turning toward the Orient, and geog
raphy and trade developments made
necessary our commercial empire over
the Pacific. And in that ocean we had
no commercial, naval, or military base.
To-day we have one ot the three great
ocean possession of the globe, located
at the most commanding commercial,
naval, and military points in the east
ern seas, within hail of India, shoulder
to shoulder with China, richer in its
own resources than any equal body
of land on the entire globe, and
peopled by a race which civilization
demands shall le improved. Shall we
abandon it? That man little knows
the common people of the Republic,
little understands the instincts of our
race, who thinks we will not hold it
fast and hold it forever, administering
just government by simplest methods.
We may trick up devices to shift our
burden and lessen our opportunity; but
"they will avail us nothing but delay.
We may tangle conditions by applying
academic arrangements of self-government
to a crude situation: their failure
will drive us to our duty in the end.
MILITARY SITUATION OTIS DEFENDED.
The military situation, past, present,
and prospective, is no reason for aban
donmeut. Our campaign has been as per
fect as possible with the force at hand.
We have been delayed, first, by a fail
ure to comprehend the immensity of
our acquisition: and second, bv insuf
ficient force; and. third, by our efforts
for peace. In February, after the
treaty of peace. General Otis had only
3.7:12 oftieers and men whom he had a
legal right to order into battle. The
terms of enlistment of the rest of his
troops had expired, and. they fought
voluntarily and not on legal military
compulsion. It was one of the noblest
examples of patriotic devotion to duty
in the history of the world.
Those who complain do so in igno
rance of the real situation. We at
tempted a great task with insufficient
means; we became impatient that it
was not finished before it could fairly
be commenced: and I pray we may not
add that other element of disaster,
pausing in the work before it is thor
oughly and forever done. That is the
gravest nistake we could possibly
innl.-i. anil flint i tfi nnlv l:in,r lu-
....... V ....... ....- ....... --
fore us. Our Indian wars would have ,
been shortened, the lives of our soldiers
and settlers saved, and the Indians
themselves benefited had we made con
tinuous and decisive war: and any
other kind of war is criminal because
ineffective. We acted towards the In
dians as though we feared them, loved
them, hated them a mingling of fool
ish sentiment, inaccurate thought, and
paralytic purpose. Let us now lie in
structed by our own experience.
This, too. has been Spain's course in
the Philippines. I have studied Spain's
painful military history in these isl
ands. Never sufficient troop: never
vigorous action, prs'ied to conclusive
results and a permanent peace: always
treating with the rebels while they
fcu?htthem; always cruel and corrupt
when a spurious peace was arranged.
This has been Spain's way for three
hundred years, until insurrection has
become a Filipino habit. Never since
Magellan landed did Spain put enough
troops in the islands for complete and
final action in war; never did she in
telligently, justly, firmly, administer
government in peace.
At the outbreak.of the last insurrec
tion, in August, lS9t, Spain had only
1.S0O Spanish soldiers in all the Philip
pines, and 700 of these were in Ma
nilla. In November of that year she
had only 10,000 men. The generals in
command of these were criticised and
assailed in Spain. It is characteristic
of Spain that the people at home do
not support, but criticise theirgenerals
in the field. The Spanish method has
always been a mixed poliey of peace
and war, a contradiction of terms, an
impossible combination, rendering war
ineffective and peace impossible. This
was Compo's plan. It was Rlanco's
plan. Those who would make it our
plaujwill inherit Rlanco's fate and
failure.
TRUE MILITARY POLICY.
Mr. President, that must not be our
plan. This war is like all other wars.
It needs to be finished before it is
stopped. I am prepared to vote either
to make our work thorough or even
now to abandon it. A lasting peace
can be secured only by overwhelming
forces in ceaseless action until univer
sal and absolutely final defeat is in
flicted on the enemy. To halt before
every armed force, every guerrilla band,
opposing us is dispersed or extermi
nated will prolong hostilities and lcav
alive the seeds of perpetual insurrec
tion. Even then we should not treat. To
treat at all is to admit that we are
wrong. And any quiet so secured will
be delusive and fleeting. And a falsu
peace will betray us: a sham truce will
curse us. It is not to serve the pur
poses of the hour, it is not to salve a
present situation, that peace should be
established. It is for the tranquilli
of the archipelago forever. It is io
an orderly government for the Fili
pinos for all the future. It is to give this
problem to posterity solved and settled;
not vexed and involved. It is to estate
lish the supremacy of the American
Republic over the Pacific and thiuugh
out the East till tneend of time.
It has leen charged that our con
duct of the war has been cruel. Sen
ators, it has been the reverse. I have
been in our hospitals and seen the
Filipino wounded as carefully, tender
ly cared for as our own. Within our
lines they may plow and sow and reap
and no about the affairs of peace with
absolute liberty. And yet all this kind
ness was misunderstood, or rather not
understood. Senators must remember
that we not dealing with Americans
or Europeans. We are dealing with
Orientals. We are dealing with Orient
als who are Malays. We are dealing
with Malays instructed in Spanish
methods. They mistake kindness for
weakness, forbearance for fear. it
could not be otherwise unless you
could erase hundreds of years of sav
agery, other hundreds of years of
Orientalism, and still other huiulredH
of years of Spanish character ami cus
tom. OUIt EFFORTS TO SECTRi: PEACE.
Our mistake has not been cruelty: it
has been kindness. It has been the
application to Spanish Malays of Meth
ods appropriate to New England- Ev
ery device of mercy, every method of
conciliation, has been employed by the
peace-loving President of the American
Republic, to the amacinent of nations
experienced in Oriental revolt, lief ore
the outbreak our general in command
appointed a commission to make some
arrangement with the natives mutual
ly agreeable. I know the members of
the commission well General Hughes,
Colonel Crowder. and General Smith
moderate, kindly, tactful men of the
world; an ideal body for such negotia
tion. It was treated with contempt.
We smiled at intolerable insult and
insolence until the lip of every native
in Manila were curling in ridicule for
the cowardly Americans. We re
frained from all violence until their
armed bravos crossed the lines in viola
tion of agreement. Then our sentry
shot the offender, and he should have
been court-martialed had he failed t
shtKit. That shot was the most fortu
nate of the war. For there is every
reason to believe that Aguinaldo h:ul
planned the attack upon us for sonic
nights later. Our sentry's shot brought
this attack prematurely on. He ar
ranged for an uprising iu Manila to
massacre all Americans, the plans for
which, in a responsible officer's hand
writing, are in our possession. This
shot and its results made the awful
scheme impossible. We did not strike
till they attacked us in force, without
provocation. This left us no alterna
tive but war or evacuation.
WORK OF THE COMMISSION.
The patience of our peace-loving
President was not even then exhausted.
A civil commission was sent to Msniki.
composed of the president of one of
our great universities, a distinguished
diplomat ami an eminent college pro
fessor who had special knowledge of
the country and people and also Gen
eral Otis and Admiral Pewey. Th'-i-e
men exhaiihed the expedients of poaee.
ami always were met with the Malay's
ready evasion, the Spaniard's habitual
delay. I am p'ronal witness that n
effort was neglected by our commission
to assure the Filipino people of our
good intentions and beneficent pur
poses. The commission entertained
the mestizos of Manila in a way that
would have honored the Senate of t:ie
Fnited States: the brown faces of tne
common pcop'e sneered. The com
mission treated natives, accustomed to
blows, with kindest consideration: the
agents of Aguinaldo told tales of our
pusillanimity to the ignorant rural
masses. This remarkable man sent :-o-called
commissions, ostensibly to treat,
but really to play with ours. It is,
commissions were compo.vd of generals
iu uniform. The populance gaped in
open admiration when they appeared
iu Manila. Otr representatives of
peace talked to them, argued with
them, entertained them: flu people
were impressed with their importance.
1'rc.sident Schurman even lode with
them through the city. The masses
were confirmed in their reverence for
their brothers who were thus honored
and distinguished. Then the be
spangled representatives of the Malay
dictator return to their lord, and tins
sole effect of these pacific efforts was
to make l'.'mi.OO!) natives in Manila think
that the only wav to win the respect
of the American Republic is to light
it.
No. Senators, the friendly lmthods
of peace have been t ho:-Highly tried
only to make peace inot-j ditli'-alt. The
Oriental does not under.stand our at
tempt to conciliate. Every effort of
our commission which did its work at
Manila so earnestly, so honestly, so
thoroughly, and which, with Ameri
cans or Europeans, would have so bril
liantly sncccedcd. only delayed the
peace it attempted to hasten. There
is not now and never was any possible
course but ceaseless operations in th
field and loyal support of the war at
home.