THE PHILIPPINE PROBLEM.
Having in previous articles discussed the conditions as I found them
in the Philippines, let us consider what the United States should do
in regard to the Filipinos and their islands.
First, as to the northern group of islands--the islands north of
Mindanao. Have the Filipinos a right to self government? Do they
desire self government and independence? Have they the capacity for
self government?
The first question must be answered in the affirmative if our theory
of government is correct. That governments derive their just powers
from the consent of the governed, is either true or false; if true,
we cannot deny its application to the Filipinos; if false, we must
find some other foundation for our own government.
To the second question I am able to answer, yes. My visit to the
Philippines has settled this question in my own mind. I have heard
people in America affirm that the intelligent Filipinos preferred
American sovereignty to self government, but this is unqualifiedly
false. Captain J. A. Moss, a member of General Corbin's personal
staff, recently made a trip through the provinces of Pampanga, Nueva
Ecija and Pangasinan and published a journal of his trip in one of
the Manila papers upon his return. He concluded his observations as
follows: "The discharged soldiers who are married to native women
and who are 'growing up with the country' and are, therefore, in a
most excellent position to feel the native pulse, all told me the
great majority of the natives have no use for us. Ex-interpreters
and other Filipinos with whom I was on intimate, cordial relations
while serving in the provinces, told me the same thing. I have,
therefore, from the foregoing, come to the conclusion that the
Filipinos may be divided into three classes: (a) The 'precious few,'
comprising those who are really friendly towards the Americans and
think our government beneficial to the islands. (b) Those who are in
some way beneficiaries of the government and entertain for us what
may be termed 'expedient friendship.' (c) The great majority, who
have absolutely no use for us and to please whom we cannot get out
of the islands any too soon."
[Illustration: HENRY C. IDE, GOV. GEN. PHILIPPINE ISLANDS.]
The conclusion drawn by Captain Moss is warranted by the facts, and
the feeling for independence is stronger in Manila, if possible,
than in the provinces. I talked with Filipinos, official and
unofficial, and while they differed in the degree of friendliness
which they felt toward the United States, all expected ultimate
independence. The college students of Manila in the various law
schools, medical colleges, and engineering schools, numbering in
all about a thousand, prepared and presented to me a memorial of
more than fifty printed pages. This was prepared by sub-committees
and afterwards discussed, adopted and signed by the students. It
presented an elaborate review of the economic, industrial and
political situation, viewed from the standpoint of these young men.
It criticised certain acts of the American government thought
to be unjust and set forth arguments in favor of self government
and independence--arguments so fundamental and so consistent with
American ideals that no American statesman would have publicly
disputed them ten years ago.
The Filipinos point out that the Americans lack that sympathy for,
and interest in, the Filipinos necessary to just legislation,
and this argument is no reflection upon the good intentions of
Americans. In fact, good intention is generally admitted, but
Americans at home recognize, as do Filipinos here, that good
intentions are not all that is required. We have in the United
States men of equal general intelligence but differing so in
sympathy that no amount of good intent can keep one from doing what
the other regards as unjust. Take for instance, the representative
capitalist and the average laboring man; neither would feel that the
other, however well meaning, was competent to speak for him.
[Illustration: DATU PIANG AND GRANDSON.]
The Filipinos also deny that the Americans are sufficiently
acquainted with Philippine affairs to legislate wisely. We also
recognize the force of this argument at home, and we leave the
people of each state to act upon their own affairs. The people of a
city would resent interference in their local affairs by the people
of the county although identical in race and language. And they
would resent just as much the attempt of any group of men, however
wise, to direct their government during a temporary residence.
How, then, can congress expect to legislate wisely for people who
are not only separated from America by the widest of the oceans,
but differ from the people of the United States in color, race,
history and traditions? How can a body of men, however benevolent
and intelligent, hope by a few months' residence to so identify
themselves with the Filipinos as to make rules and regulations
suited to their needs?
The Filipinos also present an argument against the expensiveness of
American rule, and this argument is not only unanswerable, but it is
directed against an evil which is without remedy. If Americans are
to hold office in the Philippines, they must be well paid. They must
not only receive as much as they would receive in the United States
for the same work, but they must receive more in order to compensate
them for serving so far from home. This is not only theoretically
true, but the theory is exemplified in the pay roll. The governor
general receives $20,000 a year, two-fifths of the salary of the
president of the United States, and yet, what a contrast between
the duties and responsibilities of the two positions! And what a
difference, too, in the wealth of the two countries and in the
ability of the taxpayers of the two countries to pay the salaries!
The three American members of the commission (excluding the
governor general) receive $15,000 per year, almost twice the salary
of cabinet officers and three times the salary of senators and
members of congress. It is true that these salaries do not appear
as salaries paid for work on the commission, but as each American
member of the commission receives $10,000 as head of a department
and $5,000 as a member of the commission, his total income is
$15,000 while the Filipino members of the commission receive but
$5,000.
The members of the Philippine supreme court receive $10,000 each
(the Filipino members of the court receiving the same as the
Americans), a sum much larger than that usually paid to judges in
the United States in courts of similar importance. This high range
of salaries runs through the entire list of civil officials, and
there is no chance of lowering it. Except in the case of judges, the
Filipino officials, as a rule, receive considerably less than the
Americans performing similar work, and this is a constant source of
complaint. To Americans it is a sufficient answer to say that high
salaries are necessary to secure able and efficient officials from
the United States, but the Filipino is quick to respond, "why, then,
do you insist upon sending us Americans to do what our people could
do and would do for less compensation?"
Not only must the salaries of Americans be high, but Americans
must be surrounded with comforts to which the average Filipino is
not accustomed. No one can remain in the Philippines long without
hearing of the Benguet road and the enormous amount expended in its
construction. There is a mountain resort in Benguet Province, in
north central Luzon, which the commission thought might be developed
into a summer capital or a place to which the families of the
officials, if not the officials themselves, might retreat during
the heated term. The railroad running from Manila to Dagupan would
carry the health-seeker to within thirty or forty miles of Benguet,
and an engineer estimated that a wagon road could be constructed the
rest of the way for $75,000. It seemed worth while to the commission
to appropriate that much for a purpose which promised so much for
the health and comfort of those engaged in the benevolent work
of establishing a stable government. The commission could hardly
be blamed for relying upon the opinion of the engineer, and the
engineer doubtless meant well. But the first appropriation scarcely
made an impression, and the second engineer estimated that the cost
would be a little greater. Having invested $75,000, the commission
did not like to abandon the plan and so further appropriations were
made until more than two millions and a half dollars, gold, have
been drained from the Insular treasury, and the Benguet road is not
yet completed. If it is ever completed, it will require a constant
outlay of a large sum annually to keep it in repair.
Having met the members of the commission and other Americans
residing in the Philippines, I am glad to testify that they are,
as a rule, men of character, ability and standing. The personnel
of Philippine official life is not likely to be improved, and so
long as we occupy the islands under a colonial policy, the Benguet
experiment is liable to be repeated in various forms, and yet the
Filipinos point to the Benguet folly to show that the Americans are
both ignorant of local conditions and partial toward the foreign
population.
The third question, are the Filipinos competent to govern
themselves? is the one upon which the decision must finally
turn. Americans will not long deny the fundamental principles
upon which our own government rests, nor will they upon mature
reflection assert that foreigners can sympathize as fully with the
Filipino as representatives chosen by the Filipinos themselves.
The expensiveness of a foreign government and its proneness to
misunderstand local needs will be admitted by those who give the
subject any thought, but well-meaning persons may still delude
themselves with the belief that Spanish rule has incapacitated the
present generation for wisely exercising the franchise, or that
special conditions may unfit the Filipinos for the establishment and
maintenance of as good a government as can be imposed upon them from
without.
[Illustration: DR. G. APACIBLE.]
Before visiting the Philippines, I advocated independence on the
broad ground that all people are capable of self-government--not
that all people, if left to themselves, would maintain governments
equally good, or that all people are capable of participating upon
equal terms in the maintenance of the same government, but that all
people are endowed by their Creator with capacity to establish and
maintain a government suited to their own needs and sufficient for
their own requirements. To deny this proposition would, as Henry
Clay suggested more than half a century ago, be to impeach the
wisdom and benevolence of the Creator. I advocated independence
for another reason, viz., because a refusal to admit the Filipinos
capable of self-government would tend to impair the strength of the
doctrine of self-government when applied to our own people. Since
becoming acquainted with the Filipinos I can argue from observation
as well as from theory, and I insist that the Filipinos are capable
of maintaining a stable government without supervision from without.
I do not mean to say that they could maintain their independence,
if attacked by some great land-grabbing power (it would be easier
to protect them from aggression if they were independent, for then
they would be interested with us against the attacking party),
but that so far as their own internal affairs are concerned, they
do not need to be subject to any alien government. There is a wide
difference, it is true, between the general intelligence of the
educated Filipino and the intelligence of the laborer on the street
and in the field, but this is not a barrier to self-government.
Intelligence controls in every government, except where it is
suppressed by military force. Where all the people vote, the
intelligent man has more influence than the unintelligent one, and
where there is an obvious inequality, a suffrage qualification
usually excludes the more ignorant.
Take the case of the Japanese for instance, no one is disposed to
question their ability to govern themselves, and yet the suffrage
qualifications are such that less than one-tenth of the adult males
are permitted to vote. Nine-tenths of the Japanese have no part in
the law making, either directly or through representatives, and
still Japan is the marvel of the present generation. In Mexico the
gap between the educated classes and the peons is fully as great, if
not greater, than the gap between the extremes of Filipino society,
and yet Mexico is maintaining a stable government, and no party in
the United States advocates our making a colony of Mexico on the
theory that she cannot govern herself.
Those who question the capacity of the Filipinos for self-government
overlook the stimulating influence of self-government upon the
people; they forget that responsibility is an educating influence
and that patriotism raises up persons fitted for the work that
needs to be done. Those who speak contemptuously of the capacity
of the Filipinos, ignore the fact that they were fighting for
self-government before the majority of our people knew where the
Philippine islands were. Two years before our war with Spain,
Rizal was put to death because of his advocacy of larger liberty
for his people, and after witnessing the celebration of the ninth
anniversary of his death, I cannot doubt that his martyrdom would
be potent to stir the hearts of coming generations whenever any
government, foreign or domestic, disregarded the rights of the
people.
A year before our war with Spain the Filipino people were in
insurrection against that country, and they demanded among other
things "parliamentary representation, freedom of the press,
toleration of all religious sects, laws common with hers, and
administrative and economic autonomy."
Here was a recognition of the doctrine of self-government and a
recognition of the freedom of the press as the bulwark of liberty.
There was also a demand for freedom of conscience and the right
to administer their own affairs for their own interests. In the
proclamation from which I have quoted there was no demand for
independence, but it must be remembered that we did not demand
independence from England until after we found it was impossible to
secure justice under a colonial system.
Whether by the demand for "laws common with hers" the Filipinos
meant that they wanted the protection of laws made by the Spanish
for themselves, I do not know. If that is the meaning of their
demand, they must be credited with understanding the importance of a
principle to which some of our own public men seem to be blind. The
evil of a colonial policy, the gross injustice of it, arises largely
from the fact that the colony is governed by laws made for it, but
not binding upon the country which makes the laws. The Mexican who
does not participate in the making of the laws of his country has
at least the protection of living under laws which bind the maker
as well as himself. So with the colored man of the south who does
not vote, the laws which he must obey must be obeyed by those who
do vote, and the taxes which he pays must be paid also by those who
enjoy the franchise.
[Illustration: PLOWING IN SULU LAND.]
But under a colonial system the subject must obey a law made for him
by one who is not himself subject to the law. The distinction is so
plain that it ought to be apparent to anyone upon a moment's thought.
If it is objected that but a small proportion of the Filipinos
are educated, it may be answered that the number of the educated
is increasing every day. The fact that the Filipinos support the
schools so enthusiastically, even when those schools are established
by outsiders and when the teaching is in a language strange to them,
speaks eloquently in their behalf. Nor is this a new-born zeal. The
Aguinaldo government provided for public schools and, cock fighting
being prohibited, cock pits were actually turned into school houses
in some sections over which the authority of his government extended.
It is objected by some that the intelligent Filipinos would, under
independence, use the instrumentalities of government to tyrannize
over the masses. This is not a new argument; it is always employed
where an excuse for outside interference is desired, but there is no
reason to believe that the Filipinos would be less interested in the
people of their own race and blood than are aliens whose salaries
are so large that it is impossible for them to claim that they serve
from purely altruistic motives.
That those in power in Washington contemplate independence must
be admitted, unless those who speak for the administration intend
gross deception. In his speech on the evening of Rizal Day, December
last, General Smith, one of the Philippine commission and head of
the educational department,[4] said: "Popular self-government for
the Philippines is the purpose of both people. If either seeks to
achieve it independent of the other, the experiment is doomed to
failure. If both work for it harmoniously there is no reason why it
should not be accomplished. If it is accomplished, the history of
the Philippines will hold no brighter page than that which recites
the struggle of a simple people to fit themselves for independent
government. If it is accomplished, the fairest page in American
history will be that which records the creation of a new nation
and the unselfish development of an alien race." If this is not a
promise of ultimate independence, what possible meaning can the
language have? If the administration does not intend that the
Filipinos shall some day be independent, its representatives should
not hold out this hope.
[4] General Smith has since been made the president of the
Philippine commission.
But there is even higher authority for the hope of independence.
When the so-called "Taft Party" visited the Philippines last summer,
Secretary Taft made a speech in which he assumed to speak for the
president. Referring to the president's opinion, he said: "He
believes, as I believe and as do most Americans who have had great
familiarity with the facts, that it is absolutely impossible to
hope that the lessons which it is the duty of the United States to
teach the whole Filipino people, can be learned by them, as a body,
in less than a generation; and that the probability is that it will
take a longer period in which to render them capable of establishing
and maintaining a stable independent government."
This, it is true, states when independence cannot be hoped for,
rather than when it can be hoped for, and yet, no honest man would
use the language Secretary Taft employed without having in his mind
the idea that independence would be granted at some future date. But
his concluding words even more clearly present the hope of ultimate
independence, for he says: "All that can be asserted is that the
policy which has several times been authoritatively stated, that
this Filipino government shall be carried on solely for the benefit
of the Filipino people and that self-government shall be extended to
the Filipino people, as speedily as they show themselves fitted to
assume and exercise it, must be pursued consistently by the people
of the United States or else they shall forfeit their honor."
[Illustration: SAILING IN MANILA BAY.]
Here Secretary Taft pledges the American government as far as he
has power to pledge it--and he pledges the president also--to
extend self-government to the Filipinos as rapidly as they show
themselves fitted for it. The great trouble about these utterances
and similar ones is that they are not binding upon the government,
and the Filipinos are constantly disturbed by doubts and fears.
Both at Manila and in the United States ridicule is often cast
upon the aspirations of the Filipino people, and plans are made
which are inconsistent with ultimate independence. The attempt
on the part of the commission to issue perpetual franchises is
naturally, and I think rightfully, opposed by all Filipinos. If
our occupation is to be temporary, why should our legislation
be permanent? Why bind the ward in perpetuity so that he cannot
control his own affairs when he reaches years of maturity? What
is needed is an immediate declaration of the nation's purpose to
recognize the independence of the Filipinos when a stable government
is established. It is not necessary that a definite time shall be
stated, nor is it so important just when the Filipinos are to have
their independence, as it is that the nation's purpose shall be
made known in an authoritative way and that the subsequent acts
of our government shall be in harmony with that declaration. I
believe that a stable government can be established within a short
time and that independence could be granted with advantage to our
government and with safety to the Filipinos within five years at the
farthest. But whether independence is to be granted in five or ten
or fifteen years or after a longer period, there should be no longer
delay about announcing a policy. I have tried to impress upon the
Filipinos the necessity of leaving this question to the people of
the United States and the importance of proving in every possible
way the virtues, the character and the progress of the people; I
have pointed out the folly of insurrection and the damage done to
their cause by resorting to force of arms, but I am equally anxious
to impress upon my own countrymen the importance of dealing frankly
and fairly with the Filipinos.
We have more at stake in this matter than have the Filipinos. They
still have their national greatness to achieve; our position is
already established. We have the greatest republic known to history;
we are the foremost champion of the doctrine of self-government
and one of the leading exponents of Christianity. We can afford,
aye our honor requires us, to be candid with the Filipinos and to
take them into our confidence. We dare not make them victims of
commercial greed or use their islands for purely selfish purposes.
It is high time to announce a purpose that shall be righteous and
to carry out that purpose by means that shall be honorable. In my
next article I shall endeavor to elaborate a plan which will, in my
judgment, bring independence to the Filipinos, relieve us of the
expense of colonialism, secure us every legitimate advantage which
could be expected from a permanent occupation of the islands and, in
addition, enable our nation to set the world an example in dealing
with tropical races.