CHAPTER XII

FORWARD

Now let us give a little consideration to the problem of the Philippines as it presents itself to-day. Despite all of this attack upon him, Mr. McKinley kept right on trying to establish order. The AntiImperialists raised a great hue and cry about our Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. They said we couldn't govern the Filipinos in the only way we now can, for the moment and under the circumstances, till they have learned how to guide their own ship,-they said our constitution forbade it.

Well, we need not discuss that. The United States Supreme Court has since decided that the Anti-Imperialists were wrong. But I want to set down one thought, i. e., that if we have in this, the leading republic of the world, a constitution that forbids our extending a helping hand to any other people on the globe who are under the heel of a monarchy, who need an experienced hand to help them while they set up a government of their own,

then there is something the matter with that constitution; and, further, we know enough about Thomas Jefferson, and Alexander Hamilton, and George Washington, and Samuel Adams, and Benjamin Franklin and all the rest of the immortals who had a hand in constructing it that if it prevents our helping a down-trodden neighbor, no matter how near or dear he may be to us, then they, unwittingly, made an error, for they would never have absolutely denied to others perhaps the only chance to secure that for which they themselves had been ready to die— and the United States Supreme Court has decided on this side of it and we have legally governed Cuba and Porto Rico for four years and have turned Cuba over to her own people, free and independent. We shall soon do the same for Porto Rico and we can do the same thing in the same way for the Philippines and we are, I believe, going to do that, too.

We can take hold with these Filipinos and help them set up a republic of their own, and then we are through with them until they need us again. I believe that that is and is to be the policy of the great majority of our countrymen. That is all that we have been trying to do, as I understand it from the start, and it is all that we are trying to do now.

This was, I believe, Mr. McKinley's view when he decided that we should take the islands, and the only purpose he had in mind. Here are his words for that:

In his letter of acceptance of his second nomination for the presidency, he says:

"In March, 1900, earnestly desiring to promote the establishment of a stable government in the archipelago, I appointed the following civil commission: The Hon. William H. Taft, of Ohio; Prof. Dean C. Worcester, of Michigan; the Hon. Luke I. Wright, of Tennessee; the Hon. Henry C. Ide, of Vermont, and the Hon Bernard Moses, of California." We had no better men whom we could send in the whole country. My instructions to them contained the following: You (the secretary of war) (1900 Rept. Secy. War, p. 72) will instruct the commission to devote their attention in the first instance to the establishment of municipal governments, in which the natives of the islands, both in the cities and in the rural communities shall be afforded the opportunity to manage their own local affairs to the fullest extent of which they are capable, and subject to the least degree of supervision and control which a careful study of their capacities and observation of the working of native control show to be consistent with the maintenance of law, order and loyalty.”

Is there any Imperialism about that? And those are, I understand, the orders under which that com

mission is working to-day. I am informed that those instructions have not been at all changed from that day to this. Making republics, and we have been making three of them for four years-is not Imperialism. Mr. McKinley believed what his commission told him, when they said that unless we did. stay in the Philippines now they would lapse into anarchy. "Very well," said Mr. McKinley, in substance, "we'll take charge of them temporarily; but as fast as you can do it with safety to the inhabitants, you must turn over the control to the Filipinos." That is the substance of what I have just quoted. That is what it means, if it means anything.

MR. MCKINLEY'S SECOND COMMITTEE. THE TAFT COMMISSION AND QUALIFICATIONS OF ITS MEMBERS Take this last commission,-the Taft Commission. First, let us look at their qualifications. Are they men of sufficient learning, standing, and worth to warrant us in giving serious attention to what they tell us they see and to what they give us as their best judgment?

As President of the Commission, Mr. McKinley appointed Hon. Wm. H. Taft, of Ohio. He comes of a distinguished family, his father having been

Attorney-General and Secretary of War in Grant's cabinet and, later, Minister to Austria and Russia under President Arthur. The President of the Philippine commission was born in Cincinnati in 1857. He is a graduate of Yale and the Cincinnati Law School. In '81 he was made Prosecuting Attorney of his home county; was soon after Internal Revenue Collector for the 1st District of Ohio; in '83 he resigned and took up the active practice of the law. In two years he was made Assistant Solicitor of Hamilton County. In '87 he was appointed by Governor Foraker to be Judge of the Superior Court of Cincinnati. In 1888 he was elected for a term of five years to that office. In 1890 he resigned to become Solicitor General of the United States under HarriIn 1892 he was appointed by the latter to be United States Circuit Judge for the 6th Circuit. In '93 Yale conferred upon him the degree of LL. D. He is Senior Circuit Judge of the United States. In 1896 he was made Dean of the Law Dept. of the University of Cincinnati. He has been greatly honored by his fellow-lawyers and in '95 delivered the annual address before the National Bar Association.

son.

Bernard Moses is the President of the University