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Show SISTER BEFORE I SENATEJOARO I Believes Filipinos Can Main- H tain Government Satisfao H tory to Themselves and Assure Order. iifl FAVORS PENDING BILL H 7 l J t 1.. j. c rvr liH Promise of Complete Inde- HH pendence of Islands. Washington. Jan. 8. W. Morgan H Shuster, for eight years an American fi official in the Philippines, before be- coming an international figure in the iH financial affairs of Persia, told the ln senate Philippines committee today Hra he believed Japan would be glad to n enter into a treaty with the United 9 States to neutralize the islands. bS Shuster could not conceive of any iiVB foreign power attempting the con- Efi quest of the Philippines after the IHS withdrawal of the United States. IEI There was an unwritten Monroe doc- trine in the Fear East maintained by iVfe Japan, he said, which wrould make Kg that nation oppose the entry of any IHF other power into the Philippine group. Bn) "It is my opinion Japan does not Hl want the Philippines.' he said, "and Hffi would be glad to enter into a neutral- H ization treaty for their protection on BS our withdrawal." jH Japan, he said, had vast territory 'Bl if tier own lindevplnnerl and .Tananese Hf colonization of the Philippines was highly improbable now, or In the fu- IKi ture, because of climatic and econom 'Bft ic conditions. He believed a ueu 'Bk tralization treaty with Japan wouM be sufficient, but that all nations H might be asked to join in it with ad- Wm vantage. The events of the last six BI months, in Europe, he said, made him believe such a treaty would be re- T spected. "A strong power has violated the v law of nations there." he said, ' and 'Hf is suffering, and will continue to suf- B9 fer lor it There has been a quicken- r ing of the moral sense among na- t f tions. I believe that is shown by the shock with which the world received wT' the violation of Belgian neutrality. ' E. Treaties to Be Respected. K He added he believed treaties in It future would be more binding than In Efc the past and not looked upon as "scraps of paper." Ft Senator Lippitt contrasted state- ments by Shuster published several ifc years ago, opposing the independence of the islands, with articles recenth MS published by him taking the opposite E$ view Shuster replied it was true he had changed his opinion. "Eight years as a government of- flcial in the islands, he said, "had K tinged him with the thought of those KfJ- with whom he worked. Since that Kg time he had seen other people, and v. as now eonunced that the Filipinos Kg! could maintain a government satis- factorv to themselves and give reason- Hj able assurance to the rest of tho Kg. world of order and protection of for- 1B cigners. & Shuster favored the administration Mj bill for a greater measure of 3elf-gov- mat' eminent und urged lhat it include HK some definite promise of complete in- n dependence. - . Hb' "l predict that if the United States retains the islands and gn cs no def- Hp. inite promise of independence for twenty-five years more, they will BET never be given their freedom, ne BK' said. 1 Hej, Representatives of the Methodist Efc Ministerial association also appearen ,Hll todav and urged prohibition of liquor H or opium traffic in the islands. H' Newton W. Gilbert, formerly vice governor general of the islands, fa- f:. vored the bill so far as it granted HHn additional power to the Filipinos but disapproved the declaration as to m- WKL, dependence. BSk |
