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Show Can Govern themselves San Francisco, March S General Joseph Jo-seph YVheeler favors giving the Philip-! Philip-! pines a territorial form of government. Said he: "I believe the people are ready for a certain kind of self-government. They could be given the power to make laws under such a system of government as has been adopted for our territories. The municipal governments are all in the hands of the natives, and they get along without trouble or friction. Under a territorial form the islands could be best controlled." He reviews his impressions of trade possibilities in the Orient as- follows: "England. Russia. Germany and France have braved war and pestilence in efforts to secure a share of the wealth which will come to them by commercial relations with these peoples. peo-ples. The treaty of peace cast upon us the responsibility of sovereignty over from 9,ut)0.0'M) to" 11,000.000 people, together to-gether with the islands which they inhabit, containing an area three times that of our great and prosperous empire state. "Yrery naturally there may be honest difference of opinions as to whether everything has been conducted during the two years in accordance with the highest w isdom and best possible judgment, judg-ment, but there should be no question among the American people as to the duty and wisdom of now uniting in a determined effort to take the situation as it stands and to so conduct the affairs af-fairs of our country as to add the most to its glorious honor, welfare and prosperity. pros-perity. It is a friendly struggle for commercial supremacy, in which our rival nations are using their best efforts, ef-forts, and I say. let us, in a friendly but determined spirit, use our best efforts ef-forts also. "Our Pacific cities are now face to face with the western shores of Asia. The Nicaraguan canal will bring our g-ilf ports nearer to them than those of the Atlantic and Europe. With Manila as a great depot, steamers from that emnorium could reach the commercial ports of eastern Asia as readilv as it can be done by English steamers from Hongkong. "We must consider that about one-third one-third the population of the earth is concentrated con-centrated in the eastern half of Asia, and that these vast multitudes are rapidly rap-idly learning to appreciate the advantages, advant-ages, and. I might add, the necessity of high civilization, and they are als-o learning to realize the comfort which is enjoyed by the people of the most civilized civ-ilized nations in the possession and use of the products, manufactures and mechanical me-chanical developments which are there found. "Europe and America must purchase the silks, teas, coffee, hemp, spices and products of the handiwork of the people peo-ple of the Orient, and this immen? population needs articles which American Ameri-can farms and factories are producing cheaper and better than those which are produced anywhere else on earth. Cotton cloth, such as is manufactured in southern cotton mills, is1 needed by the people of the east to the enormous value of $4,000,000,000 to $5,000,000,000. "England, with her navy has approached ap-proached China by the sea and has established firm footholds at favorable locations on the coast. France has acquired possessions in Asia which contain a population four times as great, and an area nearly ten times as large as that of our empire state. England's dominions and dependencies in Asia now extend over an area of 1 600.000 square miles and contain a population of nearly COO.000.000. Ru'ssia already has in Asia territory exceeding in area 6.000,000 square miles, and containing con-taining over 19,000.000 people. "Port Arthur, the great commercial and war port, is firmly in her grasp. This gives Russia power over Korea which will add much to her strength. The completion of the trans-Siberian railway and its branches, the opening of the Nicaraguan canal and the annexation an-nexation of the Pacific islands to the United States will more thoroughly revolutionize the commercial relations of the world than has ever been done by all other influences combined during the last three centuries. "It seems to me that there is but little limit to the possibilities which are before us, and we are certainly justified in the belief and hope that the United States is on the edge of an area of unprecedented prosperity." |