the Conservative. 11
the Filipinos at the hands of our troops ,
or the torments which the Chinese have
endured from the soldiers of the Chris
tian Powers. And they will add that
the negro malefactor was quite as inferior -
ferior to a white man as is a Chinaman era
a Filipino , and as such condign punish
ment is the only means of elevating a
degraded race.
There are signs that our militant phil
anthropists are somewhat disconcerted
at the ebullition of evil passions which
the "Imperial" policy has occasioned.
The London Spectator expressed chagrin
that the populace of London should
glorify England's military success by an
orgy of drunkenness and insult. Lord
Rosebery , as we have observed , doubts
if men of inferior physcial frame and
weak morality are equal to the require
ments of empire. But the mischief has
been done. The rising generation has
been taught to glorify war , to exult in
conquest , to look down on alien races as
inferior beings. To persuade this gen
eration that God has made of one flesh
all the nations of the earth , will be a
hard task ; much harder than would
have been supposed three years ago.
New York Post.
MILITARY GOVERNMENT IN MANILA.
Harold Martin , who IB the representa
tive in the Philippines of the Associated
Press and therefore should be an entirely
trustworthy authority , gives the New
York Independent an account of the
military government of the city of
Manila , which has been in existence
something over two years and has thus
had a fair opportunity to demonstrate
what it can do for the reestablishment
of order and the benefit of the people
It is a very disappointing story and
shows that the record made by Genera
Otis and General MacArthur compares
poorly with the record made in the gov
ernment of Cuba by General Ludlow
and General Wood. The latter have
been able to make military government
the means of bettering the condition of
the Cubans by giving them an intelli
gent , effective and reasonably economi
cal government , but in Manila , if we are
to believe Mr. Martin , the military gov
ernment has not been either intelligent
or effective , and everybody longs for
the time when the Philippine commis
sioners shall establish a civil government
to take the place of military rule.
' ' People Kept in Ignorance.
It seems to us that one reason for the
success of General Wood in satisfying
the restless Cubans as well as he has is
I' that , although armed with military
authority to govern arbitrarily , he has
seen fit , for reasons of policy , to adopt a
, good many of the methods of civil gov-
; eminent , especially in the matter of pub-
f lioity. From time to time accounts have
* ' ' been published showing what amounts of
* > * , JM' ' revenue have been collected in Cuba ,
and how it was disbursed in carrying
on the government and instituting pub
Ho improvements. A policy directly the
opposite of this seems to have prevailed
in Manila , where , according to Mr. Mar
tin , the people have been kept in com
plete ignorance of the state of the
revenues , knowing neither how much
money has been collected nor how it is
spent. The taxes have remained high ,
being practically the same as during the
old Spanish days , and while perhaps the
people would not have been dissatisfied
if they had known just where their
money was going , they have not been
allowed this satisfaction , and secrecy
and mystery seem to brood over the
financial transactions of the military
government.
The police department also has fur
nished ground for a great deal of
scandal , since most of the native police
men are believed to be notoriously cor
rupt and to make a practice of accepting
money to protect criminals and law
breakers. There is an ordinance against
gambling in the city , and yet it goes on
in all the principal streets ; Filipino and
Spanish clubs flourish throughout the
town and Chinamen run innumerable
fan-tan games. Under civil government
the suppression of gambling is often
difficult from the impossibility of se
curing evidence to convict , but the ad
vantage of the military government is
that , if it means business , it can suppress
law violation without evidence and
without giving reasons for its acts. The
Manila policeman patrols his beat un
mindful of the gambling games , and the
extraordinary luxury in which many of
the officers live is such that the cause of
the toleration is not mysterious. A sim
ilar disagreeable odor of corruption
surrounds the inferior courts , in which
four Filipino justices of the peace pre
side.
Unjust Harbor Regulations.
There are other things which are more
annoying than these to the business
community , such as incompetence in tin
custom house and the enforcement o
troublesome harbor regulations , where
by commerce is hampered. In Spanish
American countries the harbor regula
tions are generally made with a view t
extorting the largest amount of revenue
and giving the least amount of service ;
in these ways an extra price was added
to all the necessities of life in the old
days ; but it was supposed that when
Manila came under American rule all of
these vexatious regulations would be
swept away and commerce would be en
couraged. The contrary has proved to
be the case , and so much delay is suffered
in the discharge of ships and the passing
of goods through the custom house that
extra prices have to be charged on all
goods intended for consumption in
Manila * . Mr. Martin mentions the case
of a steamer with 800 tons of freight to
land , which was kept in the harbor
nineteen days , the demurrage piling up
it the rate of $850 , gold , per day , and
this is only one example. By excessive
tariff rates and warehouse charges a case
of canned tomatoes to take a single
example originally worth $3 60 when
landed in Manila , was made to cost $11
before it could be sold to customers.
Such abuses as these , it is reasonable
to believe , have at least as much in
fluence in sowing dissatisfaction in the
Philippines and in keeping up the in
surrection as any mistakes made in the
prosecution of the war. Mr. Martin
looks for a remedy for these evils in the
substitution of civil government for the
military one , bat it strikes us that if
things are as he pictures them , the
sample of military rule that they have
been having in Manila is a very poor
one , and that even were civil gov
ernment not introduced , a great im
provement in the condition of affairs
could be made if General MacArthur ,
or some one else , would take hold vigor
ously with a determination to sweep
away the evils which have grown up and
to substitute efficiency and clean
methods for inefficiency and corruption.
Oakland Enquirer.
TO A POET WHO LIVES IN THE PAST.
O Echo-Gatherer , why , with servile breath ,
Suck the lost music from the lips of Death ,
Then , with the great sounds too familiar
grown ,
Re-voice dead harmonies as they were thy own ?
Why rob the Masters ? May we not to-day
See all they sang of ? Has love waned away ?
Has hope ? Has faith ? Have flowers forgot to
spring ?
Has the sky faded from the bluebird's wing ?
Grow eagles lame ? Do larks sing out of tune ?
Doth not fierce Summer drain the cup of noon
Brimm'd with the Sun's blood ? Is June robbed
of wealth ?
Hath moccasin-footed Twilight lost her stealth ?
Still leaps the Rainbow withher blush of fire-
Daughter of Wonder , sister of Desire 1
Still sinks the Sun behind the western slope ;
Still sail the fleetrf of commerce , and of hope ;
Still Mississippi holds her continent-sway ;
Still California winters mimic May ;
Still , proud as Athens , stand the factory-fed
Now England towns where toil and learning
wed ;
Still , while the metre-mongers haunt the
shades ,
Fame crowns the Golden Gate and Palisades ;
Still , though the Past has perished , stands the
Now
If thou disdainest her , no poet thoul
F. S. KNOWLEB.
THREK DAYS TO CALIFORNIA.
California is not far away.
You can leave Omaha on a Tuesday
morning , for example , and be in Los
Angeles in time for breakfast on Friday.
If yon travel in a tourist car , as most
people do , it takes a few hours longer
but , by way of compensation , you save
nearly $20 in railroad and sleeping car
fares
Burlington tourist cars leave Omaha
three times a week and run through to
Los Angeles without changes or delays
of any kind. Write for information
about them.
J. FRANCIS ,
General Passenger Agent ,
Omaha , Neb.