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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (April 12, 1900)
I , ! Conservative * 9 We must await the annual "Commerce and Navigation" volume to discover from official information what was the true character of our trade with the Philippines. Our sweet sanctifying influence , how ever , as shed over that remote region . . . . . . . from July to Sep- . SwCCt SllllCtlflClltlol ) , . / tember , 1899 , is illustrated by the "Summary of the Commerce of the Philippine Islands" just issued by the war department. These figures , it is true , apply only to three summer months instead of the whole year and pertain to merchandise arriving in the islands from the United States instead of merchandise leaving the United States for the islands. Ex pressed in dollars , they denote a depre ciated Mexican coin instead of the United States standard , and therefore worth less than one-half of the unit of the preceding year's figures. Never theless , since we seek to use them only for comparison of items , the proportion between these will furnish a useful indication of the change which the character of this trade has undergone. The first column of the table shows the article or class of articles sent from this country to the Philippine Islands , arranged in order of importance for the latter period ; the second , the total value of such articles sent during the fiscal year 1897-98 , in United States dollars ; the third , the percentage ratio which such value bears to the total export for the year ; the fourth , the value of such articles imported into the islands from this country in the three months , July- September , 1899 , in island currency of old and worn Mexican dollars ; the fifth , 1 the corresponding percentage , the total import being 100. liberty , enlightenment and Christianity sot in. Mineral oil , which formed more than half our export two years ago , is now quite lost , probably forming an insignificant part of the "unspecified" collection. Coal , then the second ex port in importance , has similiarly dis appeared. Fibers and textiles , among which oil cloth was then most promi nent , have sunk into insignificance. On the other hand , the country now sends over more meats and other provisions , probably chiefly for the use of the army. Exports of glass and glassware have increased enormously , while the place at the head of the list has been taken by a class of articles that contributed less than a third of one per cent of our ex ports at the earlier date alcoholic liquids. Losses on other articles have been handsomely made up by gains in these. Our fellow citizens are invited to take all the patriotic pride they can in this fact. When the doubter asks for proofs of the practical benefits conferred by our army of occupation upon the benighted orient , they may point with pride to the luxuriant growth of this branch of our exporting industry. In the religious paper from which we quoted , whose views of "the inundation of Manila by these saloons" the official figures thus corroborate , the suggestion is made that this precious export of ours is not applied to the evangelizing and enlightening of the natives , but is mainly consumed by our own troops. But seriously , is the matter any better for that ? Is it any comfort to learn that this inundation of fiery drinks is not pouring itself into the throats of dusky barbarians , but spends its power on the flower of our country's manhood , serv ing in those islands under government orders ? When the balance of profit and Comparative Table of U. S. Exports to Philippine Island * * , Article or Class. Alcoholic liquids : wines and cordials , cider and malt liquors , distilled spirits and alcohol Glass , glassware and earthenware All breadstuffs ( including malt ) Provisions ( meats and dairy products ) and flsh. . Paper and manufactures thereof Chemicals , drugs and dyes Fruits , fresh , dry and preserved Iron and other metals and manufactures , machinery - chinery ( agricultural and other ) lamps , etc. . Books , music , maps , engravings , etc i Tobacco and manufactures thereof Miscellaneous articles of vegetable origin , including - ing confectionery , honey , hops , vegetables and vegetable oils Watches and jewelry All fibers and textile manufactures All leather and manufactures thereof Wood manufactures , including matches , brooms etc ] Paints'and colors , varnish , turpentine , blacking. Carriages and parts thereof Bituminous coal Mineral oils Miscellaneous articles , unspecified Total. It will be seen from a glance at this table that the Philippine trade has undergone some Moral Deterioration. noteworthy chan ges since the work of introducing U. 8. Export 1897-1898. Dollars. 854 772 2,550 905 544 8,242 14,411 ' " ' ' 835' 253 11,825 1,012 511 7,049 2,811 14,480 05,995 .127,804 Per Cent. 0.8 0.0 2.0 0.7 0.4 2.5 11.8 0.2 0.2 0.8 0.4 0.0 2.0 11.8 51.0 100.0 Phil. Import , July-Sept. 1899 Dollars. 118,285 105,454 19,708 19,410 15,284 18,024 10,551 7,443 4,870 4,208 2,405 2,197 1,508 1,119 581 538 9,701 831,475 Per Cent. 84 2 31.8 5.9 5.9 4.0 8.9 8.2 2.2 1.5 1.3 0.7 0.7 0.5 0.8 0.2 0.2 2.9 100.0 loss from this ambitious experiment in tropical colonization comes to be struck , one of the heaviest items will assuredly be the physical and moral deterioration undergone by the American soldier. PIIACTIOAT , PIETY ? The optimists just now seem to be having a rather rough time as they enter upon a new century. Some two thousand years ago a new religion was proclaimed to the world. Its fundamental principles were : Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace and good will among men. This seemed very attractive and the now religion was speedily adopted , nominally at least. History , however , seems to show us that the principles and the practice were ibout as far apart as the east is from he west ; that is as far as they could be. There seemed to be something want ing , some defect in the motive in the new religion to prevent a harmony between the profession and the practice. It may perhaps bo maintained that it developed a sense of kindness andre- pousibility for the poor , the weak and ihe ignorant unknown to other forms of religion. This could only be ascertained by a comparison between what has been done in this respect among those who adopted the new religion and those who rejected it. Here I am without data. I can only say that I have seen more kind ness to the lower animals among the Mohammedans and more genuine hu manity among the Jews than anywhere else. else.When When we look upon a people as a nation this absence of all so-called Christian principle is most obvious. I cannot recall a single instance when nations , at the beginning or end of a war , behaved towards each other on Christian principles. It would have been considered a weakness to be utterly ignored. Remember the allies' treat ment of Napoleon I , or of the Germans' treatment of Napolen the third , and we shall soon see how the British are going to treat the unfortunate Boers. The nearest approach to any such generous conduct that I can remember was the English freeing the slaves in her colonies and paying the owners for them. This certainly was a cheaper and nobler method than the one we adopted , though I believe it was recom mended by our great saint , Abraham Lincoln. Another instance was General Grant's terms of surrender to General Lee : "Let them keep their side swords and take home their horses to do spring ploughing. " Nothing in his history was more honorable to him than that. Leaving these generalities apart , let us look at the state of things at present. We find the United States endeavoring at the cost of much money , many lives and great demoralization , to force our ideas of government upon an unwilling people in the Philippines. England , our beloved mother country , pouring shell and shot into the Boers concealed in the bed of the Modder River ; Kitchener , the bloody murderer of the Madgis , leading his troops against what is , called
