TRANQUILITY INDISPENSABLE

399

United States to the Philippines a profitable one for our merchants and manufacturers.

Again, one of the conditions indispensable to progress is tranquility. Without it capital, constitutionally timid, will not come. Now, what has produced the present tranquility? I say without hesitation that the chief element to-day is the confidence which the conservative people of the islands have in the promises of the United States to make the welfare of the Filipinos its chief purpose in remaining here and to assist them sincerely in learning the secret of self-government by gradually enlarging their political power. The successful suppression of ladronism is due directly to the efficient energy of the Constabulary and the Scouts; but that would have been entirely impossible but for the assistance of native judges, native provincial governors, and native municipal officers. The conservative Filipinos are on the side of the Government and law and order.

What do the young lions of the American press in Manila, what do the merchants of Manila who take the position I have attempted to explain and describe, expect to do? Do they expect to change the policy of the Government? Certainly not as long as the Government of the United States is alive to the honor of preserving sacred its promises to a whole people. From where 'do they expect the political support that can be effective to carry out the policy which their attitude indicates? The policy of the present Civil Government in placing as its first aim the promotion of the welfare and the prosperity of the Filipino people, and the gradual extension to them of self-government, is the identical policy of the Republican party.

Do they hope to obtain support for their policy if the Democrats succeed the Republicans? The Democrats are more extreme in their view that the islands should be preserved for the Filipinos exclusively than the Republicans.

Should the Congress of the United States, as I earnestly hope it will, reduce the tariff upon tobacco and sugar, there will be created a trade between these islands and the United States which can but lead to a counter trade in American products here, and this in spite of the fact that there may be no discrimination here against the goods of England, Germany and other countries. The discrimination in favor of these islands by a reduction of the Dingley tariff must operate to turn a great proportion of the

trade of these islands toward the United States, and the material development of the people must increase that trade. I shall not believe that the American merchants now in the islands, nor those who are to come here, will be lacking in that sagacity which they have at home and that they will blindly put an obstacle in the way of their own success by following a policy born of prejudice and not of good sound sense.

I am not insisting that merchants who come here and invest their little or their great capital shall, at a loss to themselves, support the policy of the Government from altruistic motives or on the ground that the honor of the Nation requires such a policy. I urge it upon them chiefly because it is the only method that I see by which the American trade in these islands can be made profitable and the American merchants who have ventured here can be made rich. The policy will, in fact, be carried out because it is a national obligation; but it is most fortunate that we find moving toward the same end both honor and profit. I am confident the Americans in these islands will realize this before it is too late.

(Governor William Howard Taft in an address given before the Union Reading College, Manila, December 17, 1903.)

THE DOOR OF OPPORTUNITY OPEN

Did time permit I might enumerate other matters of considerable though minor importance which call for future consideration. Enough, however, has been said to indicate the general lines of policy which it is believed will be pursued by the Government in the immediate future. I cannot refrain from saying that success or failure of the efforts of the representatives of the American Government in these islands must very largely depend upon the attitude of the Filipino people themselves; and, furthermore, that their attitude will, in the nature of things, in turn be largely affected by the attitude of the Americans in these islands toward the Filipino people. It has been perhaps not extraordinary, in view of past events, that Americans and Filipinos should, to some extent, still stand apart from each other. It seems to me, however, that the time has passed, if it ever existed, for an attitude of reserve and distrust.

The Americans who are here in these islands with the legitimate and laudable purpose of aiding in their development, and at the same time bettering their own fortunes, cannot fail to see that they can only hope to accomplish their desires by establishing cordial personal and business relations with the people with whom they must necessarily come in contact. This is so obviously true that it does not require elaboration. Aside from this, every consideration of magnanimity and patriotism impels them to such a course. We are strong; the Filipinos are weak. We are justly proud of our institutions and of the benefits and blessings which spring from them. We have assumed control and government of these islands without consulting the wishes of their inhabitants. Are we not in conscience and honor bound to offer them the best we have to give? In inviting them to participate equally in our common birthright, we do not make ourselves the poorer, but therein the richer. We cannot ignore the truth that in our relations with this people the Americans here are quite as much on trial before the civilized world as are the Filipinos. On the

other side, every Filipino should turn a deaf ear to the sinister promptings of restless and selfish agitators and demagogues who strive to keep alive prejudices born of evil passions engendered by war, and, following the example of the wisest and most patriotic of their countrymen, should frankly and loyally accept the situation as it is. Nothing can be accomplished that is good by a contrary course. The logic of events is inexorable. True patriotism, under existing conditions, is found in a loyal attitude to the Government. Every intelligent Filipino must realize that his people in the present stage of development are unable to stand alone, and that in the very nature of things, they must lean upon some stronger arm. It is suicidal, therefore, to repel the kindly advances made by those in authority or to engage in a policy of obstruction or agitation. There is no reason for antagonism. On the contrary, there is every reason against it. The coming of Americans to these islands to build railroads and other works of public utility, to engage in agriculture, manufacturing, or the mechanical arts, can only be of advantage to the Filipino people. There is room in these beautiful and fertile islands for all. The door of equal opportunity should be thrown wide open for all alike-European, American and Filipino.

(Governor Luke E. Wright in his Inaugural Address as second Governor of the Philippine Islands, February 1, 1904.)

AUTHORITIES CONSULTED

Reports of the Philippine Commission, the Civil Governor and the Heads of the Executive Departments of the Civil Government of the Philippine Islands-1900-1903.

"Annual Reports of the Secretary of War for the years 1901, 1902, 1903."

"Annual Report of Major-General George W. Davis, U.S.A., commanding Seventh Separate Brigade, Department of South Philippines, 1902."

“Education in the Philippine Islands." United States Bureau of Education, 1902. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C.

"United States Senate Document 190-Church Lands in the Philippines-A Message to Congress by President McKinley,

1901."

“Official Hand Book of the Philippines and Catalogue of the Philippine Exhibit at the Louisiana Purchase Exhibit, St. Louis." Manila Bureau of Public Printing, 1903.

"The Duty of Americans in the Philippines." The Hon. William Howard Taft.

"The Republican Party": Speeches by Secretary Hay at Jackson, Michigan, and ex-Secretary Root at the National Republican Convention in Chicago, in June, 1904.

"The Philippine Islands: A Political, Geographical, Ethnographical, Social and Commercial History of the Philippine Archipelago and its Political Dependencies, Embracing the Whole Period of Spanish Rule." John Foreman, F.R.G.S. Kelly & Walsh, Limited, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore nad Yokohama.

"The Philippines: The War and the People. A Record of Personal Observations and Experiences." Albert G. Robinson. McClure, Phillips & Co., New York.

"American Diplomacy in the Orient." The Hon. John W. Foster, ex-Secretary of State of the United States. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston and New York.