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Show PROVINCIAL SENTIMENTALITY. H A committee calling itself the Philippine In- , H dependence Committee, is circulating for signa- l tures petitions addressed to the national conven- H tions of the two great parties; the petitions urging ' the adoption of resolutions pledging to the peo- H pie of the Philippine Islands their ultimate na- H tional independence upon terms similar to those jH given Cuba. And this committee is made up of M some of the most learned and distinguished men M of the Northeastern States: Such men as Charles M Francis Adams, Andrew Carnegie, a score of H University professors, great lawyers, preachers, M H Some of them think they are serving God; ' 3 !H HI W ililal' some tnmk tllGy are trying to further justice; B llfH some believe they are working in; the interest of H ''killa tne world's Peace; some think that at least they IB V urn ' are "agin the Government" and that is a satis H p 'I jffl faction to their perturbed souls. And notwith- H Jllfo1 standing their learning; their commanding f sta- K fill rH ' tions, the achievements of many of them, they are fl J 'I'll ll' after all a provincial company pitifully ignorant HI l ill! 8 in that llIsner statesmanship which grapples with K ' f$TJ tH tue worl(1's hard conditions and out of them forge fl h Hi 1 progress and compel justice. Is the Cuban exam- H i ' ' H pie worth repeating. When the Island was turned B t ' I m baclc to lts PGPl0 an(i tho last detachment of the B Jw ; forces of the United States sailed away, a native B I paper published a cartoon representing Uncle B lJ I ,1 Sam with long strides rushing away, followed B '1 'PA U I closely by a Cuban boot kicking him off the Isl- B I ll m il and Tliat is tne Sratitu(io of those Monguls, MM hm wil and the cartoon was complete evidence that such B IPs! ffliil a rac0 is mcaPaDle f self-government. Suppose K P ilHIll after the session to the United States of Call- B tIMhIH fornia, the course recommended by this commis- m ' r liBB sion nad lcen n(ptcd, would the world have been m ii Pllo BS better now? But those native Californians were WmM ifif mP a peaceable gentle race; their herds roamed the H , s B fair fields of what is now the Golden Gate; they gm (-Ji ; M ate their corn and beans and jerked beef; M& 'Anil I smoked their cigarettes, played monte and danced B i!iif I m wItn Dare"foted Senioritas and in appalling ignor- m& nn HI nnce and without progress lived out their useless HB f ) 0'l m 1Ives and dIe(1 unnoted deatns- HB f fillilfil Would it have been better to have given up H l!slliIMi! tue sun"lcIsse(i land to them. B I iPlilll But tne case is far wdrse In tlie Philippines B m ' IB At Preset for the first time in the history of B L ''Ii Bf those islands; the poor man can get the fuTl value B llllll IB oI- allne can ralse from the soil or onanufacture B A fBi H in tne snP and his 1Ife is safe- His children B i InS Bf nre beIng educated without cost to him, he is flB 1 llilffi IBB learning some of the decencies of life. He has flH ? I m i H a chance to advance more in the next twenty IH III t m years than his race has advanced in three hun IB ' m I m drecl past vears' Ttie wholesale murders have B I m 1 B ceased. Security has been given the people for IB ! f'H I B tno first tIme; the head-hunters and slave dealers HB I & I B and roDbers have lost their occupation. Civiliza- BK J 1 II B on ls taking form there, why should these isl- B m IB ands be surrendered back to crime, oppression flfll La IS and chaos? But says the New England sentl HK I ! 1 i 1; w mentalist: "Think of the sweets of perfect lib- Bl Mil m I ' H ,Jt erty' Yes and what of it? Not one in twenty of flfll 'yl ill n those creatures, no, not one in a hundred, has flfl 'm 11 n any ea of uerty except that it means license BBb lH SI m to do what tlliey please. Liberty under righteous HHs ! r! if' In laws they have no conception of. BHER ! ili I There is a deeper reason that should govern, BURS j lii Wm tlie same that Bhould have governed in the case of Hflu imm mX Cuba. Our country has become a potential world n !iK! B power and cannot Bhrink its duties. As a world hhB jlBil HH power we do not believe it will ever ask for any- 3BB1 i ImIIi Wm thing unjust, but to make its requests of any aval BHB 'i' Wm ' must possess the power to enforce them if nee- BftflB "rIM' mm essary. It must have ports for its ships; must BBBl iilfi H "have depots and trade centers. Iwi M ; If it lifts the Philippines out of barbarism and gives her people, peace and progress and learning and makes them free to do any legitimate thing, on what ground should it surrender what it had created. New Englanders are most proud of their ancestry. Was there one of that stern old crowd that ever proposed to give back Massachusetts to the descendents of King Phillip? But King Philip was pure blooded, brave, chivalric savage, sav-age, infinitely superior to the Mongrel head-hunters and thieves of the Philippine Islands. |