sent at frequent intervals to escape the exhaustion of the tropical seacoast. But our troops in the Philippines must be transported by sea four or five thousand miles to reach the salubrious shores of California and Oregon. To accomplish all this the annual and continuous expenditure of millions upon millions of the earnings of our people must go on indefinitely.

But we are now confronted with both a "condition" and a "theory." The Executive has concluded. a treaty by which Spain has ceded the sovereignty of the whole Philippine group, of which she had actual possession of only a small fraction, and in many parts of which her dominion had been absolutely overthrown, and in other parts of which she never had any dominion at all, many of the islands having from the first until to-day been inhabited by independe t tribes over which Spain never had any actual dominion.

In dealing with this treaty the Senate is supposed to be as free to act according to its own judgment as the President was free to act according to his in negotiating it. The Senate may decline to ratify the treaty, which in the present state of affairs would produce a situation extremely embarrassing. But if the Senate believes the treaty to be wrong it will doubtless have the courage to reject it and to face the consequences.

The Senate, however, may consider that while Spain ought to depart from the Philippines and renounce her dominion there, the United States ought not to assume her sovereignty, such as it was, against the express will of the people of the islands. And in view of the evils likely to follow even if those people desired to become a part of the United States, the Senate can amend the treaty so as to provide substantially, as the scheme has been as to Cuba, that the people of those islands should be left to govern them

selves as best they may, with such guarantees for order and personal safety of the inhabitants as shall be adequate to the preservation of order. Such a guarantee can be presently enforced at infinitely less cost of blood and treasure than our undertaking to assume and exercise sovereignty over the islands.

In such a case every material benefit of trade, commerce and of political expediency can be attained.

I make no comment in respect of the price of $20,000,000 provided by the treaty to be paid to Spain for the islands. In view of the gravity of the other aspects of the subject it is not worthy of notice.

CHAPTER XXIII.

A GOVERNMENT BASED ON FORCE.

BY HON. MARION BUTLER,

UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM NORTH CAROLINA.

The daily reports from the scene of war in the Philippine Islands cannot have failed to cause considerable reflection on the part of even a casual observer of current events. One day the Associated Press reports announce, in great headlines, that "Our Troops Are Steadily Advancing Against the Filipinos;" another day that, "General Otis has the Situation well under Control;" another day that, "General Otis thinks there is no Doubt about his Subjugating the Filipinos after Awhile;" another day that, "There was on Yesterday a Sharp Engagement between our Troops and the Filipinos, we lost Fifty Men, the Fillipinos lost Heavily, but Number Unknown;" another day that, "General Otis is Preparing to Make a more Vigorous Onslaught against the Stubborn Fillipinos." Only a few days ago the announcement was that there had been a very sharp engagement, and that our soldiers fought bravely and sustained the deadly fire of the Filipinos with great courage; that while we lost a hundred or more, the Fillipinos lost much more heavily, etc., etc. This same dispatch contained a list of the killed and wounded of our men, which made over a column in fine type.

No one has ever doubted the ability of the United States Government to subjugate the Fillipinos; and,

in fact, to kill and bury every one of them if we so desired. If we should conquer such an half-fed, halfclothed, and half-savage people in an hundred different islands, there would be no glory or credit in it for a great civilized government like the United States. The question for the American people to consider is whether or not it is right and best for us to do this thing. First, whether it is right and consistent with the principles upon which this government is founded; and, second, without even regarding the questions of right and morals, whether or not the game is worth the ammunition.

If we had the Philippine Islands, what would we do with them? If we attempt to govern them as a conquered people (a thing that must be repugnant to every American patriot and to every believer in a free government) it will be necessary for us to always keep a large standing army at great expense, ready to shoot down and kill the inhabitants of those islands whenever they evince the least desire for freedom, just as the English were ready to shoot us down in 1776, or to hang any of our leading patriots up by the neck whenever, by tongue or pen, they dared to express the sentiment that we ought to have a free government of our own. It is no answer for us to say that we were better qualified for self-government in 1776 than the Filipinos are now or will ever be. If the Declaration of Independence is true, then the Fillipinos are just as much entitled to a free government as we were, and are entitled to the kind of government which is best suited to them, which government will be the kind that they are capable of forming and maintaining. A people become more capable of self-government as they have the burdens and responsibilities of government thrust upon them,

Besides, we will have to send a large number of office-holders to those islands who would not only draw their salaries from our government, but who would consider it their privilege to plunder and oppress the Fillipinos for their own personal profit and gain. What advantage could come to our people or to our government from this great outlay of money, this corruption in high places, and this course which would result in necessary murder to enforce our decrees? None whatever. There might be a few monopolists in this country who could gobble up some franchises or valuable resources of the islands for their own personal profit, while Uncle Sam and the American people focted the bills and committed the greater crimes necessary for their personal gain. We paid Spain twenty million dollars for a law suit. We have already spent much more than that amount since in trying to establish our claim, which will be worse than a white elephant after we have won it. This is the financial side of the transaction, but the effect that such a course will have upon our own government at home is still more serious and important.

No individual can ever elevate himself and accomplish anything praiseworthy and noble without having a high ideal for his rule of conduct, towards which he is always striving whether he reaches it or not. The same is true of a nation, and vitally true of a Republic. Our forefathers set up in the Declaration of Independence the highest Code of political morals ever promulgated by man. Firmly planted on these great principles as the bed-rock of our faith, this government has grown rich and powerful in the brief time of a century, becoming to be not only a world power but the greatest world power known. While it is true that our government has not always lived up to the