IT 
 
 THE SHORT WAY WITH THE FILIPINOS ^^^^^ t 
 
 To thp Editor of iho Tran.^cript : 
 
 The shflilow of the "man on liorscback" U^oms ominously against 
 onv political horizon. General ^lerritt says we have -outgrown the 
 constitution," and brushes it aside without even a military salute or 
 a voUev over its grave in the mad rush for conquest and military 
 dDminatiou. Admiral Sampson says our sacred obligation to Cuba 
 is of no account: -'We are there; we intend to rule, and that is 
 all there is of it." And now comes General Shaffer, uttering in 
 a Presbyterian church and apparently without rebuke, a sentiment 
 more barbarous and bloodthirsty than any which can be quoted from 
 the semi-civilized people who we profess to believe, arc not capable 
 of self-government. 
 
 General Shaffer said he thought a military government was the 
 only form of government the people of the Philippines would respect. 
 He laid it down as a general principle that not one foot of ground 
 gained by as much as one drop of American blood should be given up. 
 ^' ISIy plan would be," he said, " to disarm the natives of the Philip- 
 pine Islands, even if we have to kill half of them to do it. Then I 
 would treat the rest of them with perfect justice." ( !) 
 
 Over the dead bodies of five million people, if necessary, this 
 American general would march to the conquest of those distant 
 islands ; pe'ople guilty of no crime of which George Washington and 
 Thomas Jefferson were not also guilty ; guilty of no act which has 
 not hitherto been regarded by all true Americans as a virtue. 
 
 This is the logic of imperialism. Let all Americans heed it well, 
 and see whither it leads. It is the logic of all efforts at the enforced 
 "civilization" of the weaker races. "We don't want the Phdip- 
 pines," wrote a good friei,id to me the other day; "neither are the 
 Filipinos capable of self-government, in my judgment. They need a 
 dictator and a strong hand. Doubtless many will die in the new 
 reVime, but those that survive will be a better race." This gentleman 
 sincerely thought he was applying the logic of nature's own evolu- 
 tionary method to this question. lie was mistaken. The ettorts of 
 our Anodo- Saxon nations to civilize inferior races by force have all 
 been tragical failures. Witness New Zealand, where about 10,000 
 l^laoris survive out of 700,000 who were there a century ago. Wit- 
 
ness the Hawaiian Islands, where Captain Cook found a quarter of a 
 niilliou of natives in 177G (he estimated the number at 400,000), and 
 wliere barel}' 3'), 000 of pure Hawaiian blood, all "Christians," now 
 survive to tell the tale of the tragical taking- off of their forefathers, 
 by imported disease, rum and the enforced change of habits under the 
 new regime of '"civilization." It is not the testimony of history that 
 " the best survive." The strongest and ablest resist and are killed 
 off. Those lackiug in vitality, who supinely submit to the inevitable, 
 are the ones who survive. It was so with the IMaoris, the Ilawaiians, 
 the American Indians. It is the fate of all peoples on Avliom condi- 
 tions of life are forced in advance of their functional development. 
 
 Does the tragedy of the passing of these peoples bring any ade- 
 quate compensation to the world? The sociologist and ethical teacher 
 is compelled to say " no." It brutalizes and debases the conqueror. 
 It perpetuates des[)otic methods of government. It prolongs the evil 
 reign of militancy, and so dela3-s all efforts for social, political and 
 industrial reform. It debases labor and gives rise to class distinc- 
 tions, and so delays the dawn of human brotherhood. In so far as it 
 secures the domination of one type of civilization it prevents that 
 variation of types which is an essential condition to all progress. 
 When a single race or civilization dominates the world it will ring the 
 death-knell of the human race. 
 
 The Maoris, the Hawaiians, the Filipinos, tiie Cubans, are all 
 more comi)etent to rule themselves than we are to govern them, judged 
 by any test that implies their permanent betterment and survival as u 
 people. We have begun at the wrong end in our efforts to civilize the 
 world. No savage race ever failed to meet the approaches of a supei'ioi- 
 people with friendly salutations and receptive minds for all that makes 
 for their true'' uplifting when they have been ai)proaclied in a just 
 and humane spirit. Science supplements the assurance of ethics and 
 religion that the way of peace and brotherly kindness is the only way 
 to help the weaker races. The path of conquest is gory with the blood 
 of victors and victims alike, and its method is condemned by the cold, 
 clear judgment of social science as emphatically as by the Sermon on 
 
 the Mount. 
 
 Lewis Ci. .Taxes. 
 Cami5Rti>gk, January 12. 
 
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