THE SUREST WAY OF TYING THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS TO US FOR
ALL TIME IS TO SUBSIDIZE THE INDUSTRIES OF THOSE ISLANDS
THE PHILIPPINES-FREE ADMITTANCE OF PHILIPPINE
SUGAR AND TOBACCO INTO THE UNITED STATES—THE
"OPEN DOOR" IN ASIA-ULTIMATE INDEPENDENCE
REMARKS
OP
HON. FRANCIS G. NEWLANDS
OF NEVADA
IN THE
SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JUNE 14 AND 15, 1909
&
WASHINGTON
1909
89865-8464
REMARKS
of
HON. ERANCIS G. NEWLANDS.
June 1%, 1909.
The Senate, as in Committee of the Whole, having under consideration
the hill (H. R. 1438) to provide revenue, equalize duties, and encourage
the industries of the United States, and for other purposes—
Mr. NEWLANDS said:
Mr. President
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Does the Senator from Kansas
yield to the Senator from Nevada?
Mr. BRISTOW. Certainly.
Mr. NEWLANDS. I wish to make an inquiry of the Senator.
I understand that he is urging that in order to help the Fili¬
pinos, it is necessary to enable them to avail themselves of
modern methods in the production of sugar.
Mr. BRISTOW. Exactly.
Mr. NEWLANDS. Modern methods involve, first, a planta¬
tion on a large scale; second, a radial railroad to bring in the
cane to the central factory; and, third, a central factory. I
understand these things are lacking in the Philippine Islands,
and to the lack of these things is attributable the inferior
quality of their sugar and the smallness of the output.
Mr. BRISTOW. That is correct.
Mr. NEWLANDS. I understand the Senator is not as yet
committed to the committee amendment, but that he is simply
arguing now on the question as to whether it is desirable to
admit Filipino products free into our country, and the question
as to what is the best policy for the Filipino in case we do. I
will ask him whether this is not a very involved way of giving
the Filipino people a subsidy? Under the amendment the
Filipinos will be entitled to bring into this country 300,000 tons
of sugar duty free, and if that sugar is of high quality, as it
doubtless will be if large interests engage in its production
there, it means that that sugar will escape a tariff duty of
about $35 a ton, which would otherwise be paid into the Federal
Treasury, making a total for the entire year of ten and a half
million dollars. That is the subsidy which it is proposed the
United States Government shall pay in order to stimulate the
Philippine production of sugar.
Mr. BRISTOW. I think the Senator's question bears
upon
Mr. NEWLANDS. I just want to complete my question.
Now, I ask the Senator whether, if this subsidy is contemplated,
aggregating from nine millions to ten and a half millions annu¬
ally, in order to stimulate sugar production in the Philippines, it
would not be better to directly appropriate a portion of that
$10,000,000 and spend it in the construction of radial railways
2 89865—8464
3
and of great mills, as public utilities, and tbus enable the Fili¬
pinos to produce sugar and to contend with the world's prices
instead of the high, subsidized prices that exist in America;
and whether we will not help the Filipinos more if we enable
them by such direct aid involved in so large an expenditure of
money to compete with the world for the world's prices than if
we given them a subsidy which will forever fasten them upon
the subsidy bottle and will absolutely unfit them for continuance
in the world's markets.
Mr. BIII STOW. I think the Senator's question bears upon
the desirability of permitting the 300,000 tons to come in more
than to the immediate question as to whether this limitation
should be made.
Mr. NEWLANDS. That is true; but I am considering now
the question simply in the interest of the Filipinos themselves,
whether it is not best for us by direct appropriation to instruct
them in improved methods of agriculture, to give them the
public utilities necessary to transport their cane to the mill
and to crush the cane in the mill, and thus fit them to contend
with the world in the world's markets in the production of
sugar, instead of fastening them upon this subsidy bottle in
the United States, the result being that if the islands are
once parted from us, as we all hope they may be, there will be
a collapse of the industries of the islands, for they will be
utterly unable then, accustomed as they will be to the stimu¬
lated and subsidized prices of America, to accept the lower
prices of the world.
I am arguing the matter just as the Senator is, from the
standpoint of the interest of the Filipino people, with a view to
making them a self-supporting people, a separate entity in the
civilized world, capable of having their own fiscal system, un¬
complicated with that of the United States.
H: * * * * *
NOBODY WANTS THE PHILIPPINES IT IS MERELY A QUESTION OP GETTING
OUT WITH CREDIT.
Mr. NEWLANDS. Mr. President, I am opposed to the pro¬
posed amendment admitting Philippine sugar and tobacco free
of duty to our markets; not because I wish to protect American
cane or beet sugar, but because the proposed subsidy to Philip¬
pine products will, in my judgment, bind those islands to us
indissolubly and forever. Since Dewey's victory in Manila Har¬
bor the United States and the Philippines have been under the
tyranny of an accident. Each country desires to be free from
the other. The Filipinos, from the highest to the lowest, from
the richest to the poorest, from the most intelligent to the most
ignorant, desire independence and aspire to complete national
life. The people of the United States desire to be freed from
the burden, the perplexity, the responsibility, and the danger
which permanent occupation of the Philippines involves.
We realize that there has been no glory in their conquest nor
profit in their occupation; that the islands are almost worthless,
agriculturally and commercially; that they are out of the line
of travel and commerce, and constitute no link in our trade
with China and Japan; that, unlike Hawaii, they constitute no
part of our defensive line, but, on the contrary, their occupation
obtrudes us into all the problems, jealousies, contentions, and
possible wars of Asiatic peoples, and will some time involve us
89865—8464
4
in an oriental war, 7,000 miles from our base, more costly tban
the billion-dollar Boer war was to England.
All illusions bave vanished. The prevailing feeling of the
American people is regret that we are there and a longing to
get out creditably. We have no wish to hold them as a subject
dependency or to exploit them. We wish to execute quickly
our self-imposed trust, to train them in a common language, in
industrial pursuits, and in capacity for self-government, and
then to retire. Our only differences arise as to methods of
training and time of retirement; but the temporary nature of
our occupation and the nature of our trust are -evident from the
history of congressional action, the declarations of party plat¬
forms, and the utterances of party leaders on both sides.
Thus far our policy has been in the main to regard the
Philippine government as a separate entity, with its own offi¬
cials, laws, and revenue system, the only connecting link being
the Philippine Commission, which governs the islands under
authority given by Congress.
IF THEY ARE EVER TO BE FREE, THE ISLANDS MUST NOT BE MADE ECO¬
NOMICALLY DEPENDENT UPON US.
But if we complicate their tariff system with ours and grant
the enormous subsidies on sugar and tobacco secured by this
amendment, the two countries will be so bound together by
these subsidized interests that it will be difficult to separate
them. If American interests take control of this subsidized
production, they will strongly exercise their influence against
legislation tending to their separation, and if the Filipinos be¬
come the beneficiaries of these subsidies, they will find that when
the separation comes the drop from the subsidized prices in
America to the lower level of the world's prices will produce an
instant collapse of all their industries. If the Philippines are
at some time to be independent and self-supporting, their people
must accept the world's prices for their products. It is the
height of folly to accustom them to the subsidized prices of
this country.
The purpose of permitting the Philippines to import 300,000
tons of sugar annually into the "United States without the pay¬
ment of the duty at present imposed upon foreign importations,
and amounting to about $35 per ton, is to enable the Filipino
producers to receive in our markets, without the payment of
duty, nearly double the price which they can get anywhere else
in the world; for the duty on sugar makes the American price
of sugar nearly double the world's price.
This legislation means the diversion of nearly $10,000,000
annually from the American Treasury into the pockets of Fili¬
pino producers and without lowering the price of sugar a penny
to the American consumer. It is claimed that this advantage
will stimulate the production of Philippine sugar, and thus
promote prosperity there. But to what extent will this help
the Filipino people in acquiring a common language, in receiv¬
ing better industrial training, and in learning the methods of
self-government ?
DIRECT GRANTS PREFERABLE TO SUBSIDIES.
It would be much better, if we are to make this benefaction,
to give it directly to the Filipino government, which can expend
it for these worthy purposes, and not to the Filipino planters or,
as will ultimately prove to be the case, to the sugar trust itself'
89865—8464
5
which will doubtless obtain a monopoly of the production of
sugar there, as it is now acquiring it in Cuba.
If we were to give the Filipino people $10,000,000 annually,
let us do it in a way that will absolutely secure the benefit
to the masses of the Filipino people, and not to interests that
will simply exploit the Filipino people. This will mean honest
bookkeeping between the two countries and will be much more
praiseworthy than giving $10,000,000 annually to the sugar
planters in the Philippines, whether Filipino or American, in
the hope that a part of it will filter down to the masses of the
people.
Let me call attention here to the fact that direct aid would
probably extend only over a few years, while this subsidy of
$10,000,000 will last as long as these tariff laws, and in twenty
years will mean that $200,000,000 will be diverted from the
American Treasury into the pockets of the producers of Filipino
sugar, whether those producers be Americans, including the
sugar trust, or the Filipino planters themselves.
The training of the Filipino people for self-government means
that all the children shall be trained to speak English, as »o
other common language is possible; that they must be trained
in habits of thrift and industry, and taught improved methods
of agriculture and of manufacture; and that they must be
trained in self-control and the principles of free government.
All this can possibly be done in time, with the aid of money.
But the Philippines are poor. The total revenue, insular, pro¬
vincial, and municipal, is not more than $17,000,000 annually—
a little more than the amount required for the government of
the District of Columbia.
* * * * * * *
The United States has undertaken the paternal work of train¬
ing 7,000,000 people in self-control and the principles of self-
government. The Filipinos have demonstrated their inability
to produce wealth in competition with the rest of the world.
Their total exports last year to all countries were only $32,000,-
000. During the last ten years they have been unable to raise
enough rice for home consumption. If we would accomplish
our benevolent purpose, they must be helped; but it would be
better to help them by direct appropriation, rather than through
subsidized industries. The former would be effective and eco¬
nomical; the latter, ineffective and costly.
But, assumiffig that the $10,000,000 of annual sugar subsidy
will go mainly to the Filipino laborers, shall we really do them
a service by accustoming them to a price for their sugar which
is double what they can get from the rest of the world? Is
it just to them to accustom them to the subsidy bottle? Is it
just to them to accustom them to prices which it will be im¬
possible for them to realize when independence comes? Will
not the ending of the subsidy and the reduction of the favored
prices which they have received for their products plunge them
into such a condition of suffering and distress as they have
never yet realized? Subsidizing production with fictitious prices
is one way to stimulate it, but artificial aid can not be suspended
without intense suffering.
The right way to help the Filipinos is to train them in self-
sustaining methods. The declared purpose of the whole move¬
ment in the Philippines is philanthropic. Philanthropy always
89865—8464
6
costs the philanthropist something. But this proposed scheme
of philanthropy through subsidized inflation of prices to be ob¬
tained in America creates grave danger in the future. If we
are bent upon real philanthropy, we should appropriate the
additional amount necessary and let our books show the loss.
SUBSIDY WILL DEFEAT WITHDRAWAL.
But above all things it must be recollected that the surest
way of tying the islands to us for all time is to subsidize the
industries of those islands.
Build up by subsidy and bounty sugar and tobacco production
in the Philippines; extend your coast and navigation laws to
those islands; give Americans a monopoly of transportation and
a monopoly of production of the subsidized products; add to all
this the artificial prosperity caused by subsidized prices and you
will create factors that will absolutely defeat any future legis¬
lation tending to our withdrawal from the Philippines.
By a system of direct aid, instead of subsidized aid, the de¬
sired end of ultimate withdrawal with honor would be accom¬
plished, with the maintenance in the Philippines of an abso¬
lutely separate autonomy, at a cost which is nothing compared
with the sum we shall actually pay if the subsidy system is fol¬
lowed during the next twenty years, and with the infinitely
better result that instead of being tangled in tariff and naviga¬
tion complications impossible to sever without causing untold
distress, the islands will be self-sustaining, self-supporting, and
self-governing, the only connection of this country being the
Philippine Commission, acting as a higher house, and the gov¬
ernor-general as chief executive.
By this means we may establish in twenty years a complete
autonomous government in the Philippine Islands—a govern¬
ment uncomplicated with our own, with its own fiscal system,
and with all the branches, judicial, legislative, and executive,
that are essential in a national life. Then, when the time
comes to cut the tie, it will be a safe and easy matter to sub¬
stitute Filipinos for Americans on the commission and to sub¬
stitute a Filipino governor-general for the American governor-
general ; and after neutralizing the islands by international
agreement and reserving a naval and coaling station, to permit
the Filipinos, trained to hold their own in the struggle without
subsidized aid, to take their place as a thoroughly individu¬
alized nation among the nations of the world.
THE " OPEN DOOR " IN ASIA. •
There is another view to be taken of this Philippine policy,
and that is that it violates the spirit of the "open-door"
policy in the Orient, insisted upon by Mr. Hay and since as¬
serted by our Government. It is true that that policy was
declared by Mr. Hay regarding China, but it applies in its
spirit to the entire Orient. Mr. Hay's purpose was to have a
clear understanding with Japan and the great European powers
that, regardless of all readjustments in their relations to China,
the open door and equal trade privileges should be maintained
for all nations.
When Japan attacked Russia in Korea and Manchuria, her
Government took care to assure the civilized world that there
was no disposition to violate this policy; that her purpose was
to maintain the integrity and the independence of Korea, to
protect Manchuria against Russian aggression, and to keep
89865—8464
7
the door open in both countries to the trade of the world with¬
out preference to Japan in any form. The relations of Japan
to Korea and, in a less degree, to Manchuria resemble some¬
what the relations of the United States to the Philippines. In
both cases it was declared that the war was not for conquest
or for commercial advantage. It is true that the Philippines
fell into the possession of the United States by an accident not
contemplated when the war with Spain commenced; but it is
to be assumed, of course, that the United States, having de¬
clared to the world that her position in the Philippines was that
merely of discharging a sacred trust to the people of those
islands, would not, while contending for the open door in Man¬
churia and all China, close the door in the Philippines. Under
this tariff arrangement it is proposed to give the United States
an advantage in trade in the Philippines not enjoyed by other
countries; and if we follow this up by giving to American
shippers, as is proposed, the monopoly of transportation be¬
tween the Philippine Islands themselves and between those
islands and this country, we will practically close Japan, China,
and other countries out of their present trade with the Philip¬
pines. Can we afford to take so inconsistent a position? Can
we close the Philippines against the trade of sister oriental
countries, as well as European countries, while we are clamor¬
ing for the open door in China?
THE EIGHT WAT TO HELP THE FILIPINO.
I wish to add one word upon the subject discussed by the
Senator from Kansas. As I understand his argument, it is ad¬
dressed entirely to the consideration of this question as it re¬
lates to the interests of the Filipinos themselves. He was con¬
tending that it was best to facilitate there the erection of great
central factories, which could deal with the question of sugar
production in a large way and thus enable the Filipinos to pro¬
duce a high grade of sugar which would command a better price
in the world's markets, instead of the low grade of sugar which
they now produce.
I have no doubt that sugar production is one that requires
centralized operation. In the first place, you have to deal with
a large area of territory. In many cases you have to provide
for irrigation, which means large works of a costly character.
You have to provide a radial railroad running from the mill to
all parts of the large plantation, on which the cane can be trans¬
ported to the^central mill, and you have to provide a central
mill in which this cane shall be crushed.
It is of course impossible for an individual producer of
sugar, owning a few acres of land and producing only a few
tons of sugar, to engage in this system of centralized operation.
It is a form of operation that necessarily tends to monopoly,
and it should therefore always be a regulated monopoly. My
own view has been, with reference to this matter, that it is
best in the first place to facilitate the control of very large
areas, so that great corporations can undertake the construction
of irrigation works, of radial railways, and of central factories;
and then, when all that is done, the law itself should provide for
a system of gradual decentralization under which these estates
shall be divided up and sold in small holdings, within a period
sufficient to insure a profit to the promoters of the enterprise
and under which the irrigation works, the radial railway, and
89865—8464
t- Ko as tyublic utilities, "Und.Gr
the central ^ctory shon^kl J* ^ ^at is only way
public regulation, for tbe independent citizens in a
in whichi we can^ culture. Otherwise, yon will
country that is d plantations and the laborers attached
£Wthe sod in a lemSrvile capacity, without any right in it,
and without those rights which are absolutely essential to citi¬
zens in a free government.
In pursuance of that humane purpose to which President
Taft has devoted a large part of his life with singular disin¬
terestedness, it is suggested that this assistance should take the
practical form of direct aid to the Fillipino people in the great
work of education and industrial development rather than in
bounty or subsidy to exploiting interests.
We can take up the great work of the improvement of the
methods of agriculture in those islands. Their methods of agri¬
culture are the crudest possible. Organize there your agricul¬
tural schools, such as you have in this country. Train the
younger generation in improved methods of production, and if
you choose then to establish as self-supporting public utilities
these radial railways, these irrigation works, these central sugar
mills, imposing a charge for the use of the water and for the
carrying and the grinding of the cane, you will have a system at
a tithe of the cost imposed by this subsidy system that will be
of real service to the Filipino people, that will advance them
in the acquisition of a common language, that will advance
them in industrial training, that will increase their capacity for
the production of wealth, and that will enable them to meet
competition in the world's markets.
I understand, of course, the answer to all this is that it in¬
volves paternalism, and of course we all stand aghast at pater¬
nalism in our own country when it involves the protection of the
masses. The prevailing form of paternalism which we enjoy
in this country is that which consists in giving benefactions and
privileges to the great corporations and interests.
But confessedly the whole Filipino programme is an experi¬
ment in philanthropy. The whole government there is paternal.
We are there discharging a trust. The United States is the
self-imposed father of the Filipino people. If then the whole
government is paternal, if the whole administration is paternal,
why should we not make that paternalism effective, economical,'
and productive of results?
Mr. President, these are the views which I entertain regard¬
ing the Philippine tariff. I am sincerely desirous of aiding
President Taft in the work he has undertaken for developing
the Philippine Islands. I honor the great courage, energy, en¬
thusiasm, and humanity which he has shown in that great"work.
I have been in the Philippine Islands, and so far as the ad¬
ministration of those islands is concerned, within the limited
revenue which they enjoy, I have found nothing to criticise.
The administration there is a credit to the United States, but
the critical time has now come for us to determine what is
the best method of developing the Filipino people—one of sub¬
sidies to great interests or one of aid directly to the people
themselves. And the additional question is involved as to
whether we shall pursue a system that will invite hostility in
the entire Orient; that will close the Philippine Islands to the
trade of China and Japan; that will arouse enmity and jealousy
89865—8464
9
and suspicion there; that will make every demand that we
make for the open door in China absolutely inconsistent with
our maintenance of the closed door in the Philippines; and
above all, we have to face the question whether we shall pur¬
sue an economic system regarding those islands that will tie
them indissolubly to the United States, by the creation of its
favored interests there, which we all know have been so power¬
ful in the history of the legislation of this country and which
are likely to be as powerful hereafter.
*******
Mr. NEWLANDS. Mr. President
The VICE-PRESIDENT. Does the Senator from Massachu¬
setts yield to the Senator from Nevada?
Mr. LODGE. I do.
Mr. NEWLANDS. This arrangement also involves compel¬
ling the Filipino people to pay the same price in their markets
for refined sugar that the American people pay in theirs. In
other words, the price will be very nearly double the world's
price for sugar. Will not that be the effect, I ask the Senator
from Massachusetts?
Mr. LODGE. I do not know precisely the present duty on
sugar. It is lower than ours, I know. I could not tell without
looking at their tariff.
Mr. NEWLANDS. Instead of permitting our sugar to go in
subject simply to a duty of 25 per cent, I understand you are to
impose there a duty equal to the duty imposed in this country,
which is upon refined sugar nearly 2 cents a pound, or double
the world's price. It seems to me that if you are engaged in
an act of philanthropy to the Filipino people it is hardly the
proper thing for us to put their consumers of refined sugar
under the same burden the American people are under to-day,
for under the present system we impose upon the consumers of
sugar in this country a burden of $130,000,000 more annually
than would be imposed if our present duty did not exist, and
we raise the domestic price of sugar to nearly double the
world's price. It seems to me we should not force our highly
protective system upon the Philippine Islands and compel
them to pay for refined sugar double the world's price by im¬
posing this duty.
*******
APPROPRIATIONS, IF NECESSARY, FOR EDUCATION, INDUSTRIAL TRAINING,
Olj. AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT, BUT NOT ONE DOLLAR TO FAVORED
INTERESTS.
Mr. NEWLANDS. Mr. President, I understood the Senator
from Rhode Island to state that this remission of duty to the
Philippine Islands constitutes a bounty to the Filipino pro¬
ducers, and that it will doubtless so stimulate the production
of sugar that they will perfect their processes and make 96°
centrifugal sugar, upon which the duty is 1.68 cents per
pound, or about $35 per ton. I thus understand the Senator
from Rhode Island to admit that upon 300,000 tons the total
annual bounty to be paid to the Filipino producers by the re¬
mission of this duty is about $10,000,000. _
Now, Mr. President, the question arises as to who the Fili¬
pino producers are. Are they the masses of the people, or are
they the owners of large estates; and if the lattei, as I under¬
stand is the case, will any of the benefit of this bounty filter
89865—8464
10
down to the masses of the people themselves, whom it is our
purpose to benefit? Then the question arises as to who will
be the producers of sugar after this bounty is voted.
I take it for granted that the American sugar trust will be
as active in the Philippine Islands, in case this bounty is given
to sugar production, as it has been in the island of Cuba; and
the indications are that this trust and the persons associated
with it will ultimately absorb the cultivation and production
of sugar in Cuba, just as they have absorbed the control of the
beet-sugar companies in this country.
The total bounty amounts to $10,000,000 annually. The pe¬
riod of our occupation in those islands is assumed to be not
less than fifteen or twenty years; so that during the period of
fifteen years we will pay a bounty of $150,000,000, and during
twenty years, if our occupation lasts that long, we will pay a
bounty of $200,000,000.
What is the purpose of the bounty? The purpose of Mr. Taft
doubtless is to benefit the Filipino people, not to subsidize the
sugar trust, not to subsidize the large owners of land in the
Philippine Islands, but to benefit the people themselves.
We all know that the class of labor engaged in cane culture
is semiservile, attached to the soil, with no rights in it. We all
know that this bounty will go either to the sugar trust or to
the large planters, and that very little of it will go to the peo¬
ple themselves, whom it is the President's desire to benefit.
If this philanthropic purpose of the President is to be car¬
ried out, and I have no objection to the purpose, on the con¬
trary, I would applaud it, is there not a better way of bene¬
fiting the Filipino people than to subsidize the sugar trust or
the Filipino planters to the extent of $10,000,000 annually? The
Senator says that if production is stimulated there the Philip¬
pines will soon produce the highest standard of sugar. How?
By the erection of sugar mills. I am told by the Senator from
Louisiana, who sits at my side [Mr. McEnery], that the cost
of a sugar mill, which turns out 30,000 tons of sugar per annum,
is about $300,000. Ten sugar mills would turn out 300,000 tons
of Philippine sugar, the amount which it is proposed to import
into this country free of duty. So that $2,500,000 would cover
the total cost of 10 modern sugar mills which the Government
could help to establish, and thus accomplish some good to the
small producers of cane sugar, who would have access to mills
having an established toll for the purpose of crushing sugar
cane and turning it into sugar, according to the most improved
methods.
So in the place of this enormous bounty of one hundred and
fifty million or two hundred million dollars, contemplated by
this tariff, to the producers of sugar, the Government could, at
a cost of $2,500,000, aid in establishing in the Philippine
Islands these great mills, which would assure improved methods
of sugar production at reasonable tolls.. The small producer of
cane would thus be protected, and the great masses of the people
would be more effectively reached.
So there is the contrast. A present expenditure of two and
a half million dollars against an expenditure of one hundred
and fifty million or two hundred million dollars in a period of
ten or fifteen or twenty years, the most of which would go
to the sugar trust or to the great land proprietors of those
islands.
89865—8464
11
Mr. President, I am in absolute sympathy with the President's
purpose to discharge in full our trust regarding the Filipino
people. It is true that I was opposed to the assumption of
such trust. When Dewey won his great victory at Manila, I
urged President McKinley to immediately order Dewey and his
fleet to Cuba, claiming that whilst the destruction of the
Spanish navy, wherever found, was a legitimate part of the
humane war inaugurated for the freedom of Cuba, it was not a
legitimate part of that war to take possession of any of Spain's
possessions except Cuba and that our efforts should be con¬
centrated there.
I would have been glad if this had been done, but we have
now assumed a certain responsibility toward the Philippine
Islands. We have assumed a trust toward those islands, and
it is obligatory that we should discharge it in a manner becom¬
ing the intelligence, the honor, and the conscience of our
country.
So, I stand ready to vote direct appropriations, if they are
necessary, in aid of the education, in aid of the industrial
training, in aid of the agricultural development of the Filipino
people, but I will not vote for one dollar of bounty to favored
interests; I will not vote one dollar to the sugar trust, which,
in my judgment, in the end will become the monopolistic pro¬
ducer of sugar in these islands; nor will I vote one dollar to
the great sugar planters of those islands who view the laborers
upon their plantations as mere slaves, attached to the soil, but
without right in it. I do not believe that this kind of agricul¬
tural development will advance the capacity of the Filipino
people for self-government.
* * * * * * ❖
CONDITIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES A COMMON LANGUAGE EDUCATION,
ETC.
Mr. NEWLANDS. Mr. President, the Senator from New
Hampshire [Mr. Gallinger] inquired of the Senator from Mis¬
souri [Mr. Stone] whether he thought these people were
capable of self-government. I wish to add but one observation
to the observations made by the Senator from Missouri, and
that is, that whilst the intelligence of many of the Filipinos is
of a very high order, and whilst the local government, insular,
provincial, and municipal, is largely under the direction of
native Filipinos, yet there is one difficulty regarding self-govern¬
ment that is perfectly apparent. The Senator from Missouri
stated that they were as competent for self-government as are
the people of Cuba or the people of Central or South America;
but in those countries the people have a common language,
whilst in the Philippine Islands a common language does not
exist. The two leading races there are the Tagalogs and the
Yisayans, and they comprise more than one-half of the entire
population of the islands. I believe that they can not under¬
stand each other's language.
It is claimed that there are numerous other races and tribes,
each of which has its own language and dialect. The effort of
the Philippine Commission is to give these people a common
language. Their hatred of Spain is so great that they are
unwilling to acquire the Spanish language, while they are eager
to acquire the English language. I was struck when in the
Philippines with the fact of the absence of a common language.
At a celebration in one of the islands, given in honor of Mr.
89865—8464
12
Taft, there was a procession and a banquet and a large gat -
ing in the open, which Mr. Taft addressed, his speech being
interpreted into Spanish, sentence by sentence, by a very apt
interpreter, Mr. Ferguson. It was a speech of rare power and
dignity. I observed that the people did not respond to the senti¬
ments which he uttered, and I called the attention of one of
the prominent American officials there to the fact. I said:
" It is impossible for me to understand why these people do not
respond to the nobility of Mr. Taft's utterances." The reply
was that the people in this large gathering understood neither
English nor Spanish. That brought me to a realizing sense of
the absolute necessity of a common language in the Philippine
Islands.
Upon that point I wish to say briefly that there are about
2,000,000 children in the Philippine Islands. If those 2,000,000
children were taken into the schools in which English is taught
by American teachers and by Filipino teachers to whom English
has been taught by American teachers, these primary schools,
these industrial schools, these manual-training schools, these
agricultural schools, which the commission has established
there with so much wisdom, bearing in view the fact that it is
much more important that they should train the hands of the
Filipino people at present than it is that they should train
their heads, and that the best way of training their heads is
through their hands, and that thus they will not only enlarge
their intelligence, but bring them into habits of industry and
thrift—if those 2,000,000 children could attend these schools
and receive thorough training, they would within ten years
constitute a large part of the adult population of the islands,
and they could then have a common language. But as it is,
there are only 500,000 of these children in the schools, and the
revenue of the islands is so scanty that if you were to employ
the entire revenue of $17,000,000 annually you could hardly
meet the expense of educating 2,000,000 children.
There is the difficulty; there is the danger—that we shall
simply give these children a smattering of" English, and that
then, when they return to their families, their old language will
reassert itself, just as is the case with the Indians, who attend
the schools which we have furnished, and who, when they get
out, return to their tribal life.
I am, therefore, in entire sympathy with Mr. Taft in his de-
sii'e to see those people properly trained and educated in a
common language. I think that it would be economical to do
this quickly, to take ten years in accomplishing it, rather than
to take one hundred years. If we take one hundred years, we
shall probably never accomplish it. If we take ten years and
train all these childi'en at one period of time in the English
language axxd give them a newspaper which can circulate among
them and in their families, we shall fixxd that in ten years
English will be the predominant language in those islands and
that they will have a comxixon language through which they
caxx communicate their ideas to each other and thi'ough which
they can obtaixx some conception of the great political and eco-
xiomic and governmental questions that are addressed to them.
TI-IE PHILIPPINES NOT A SOUKCE OP REVENUE, BUT ALWAYS A BURDEN.
I wish to say also repai*ding these islands that I do not
share with the Senator from Missouri the opinion that they
89865—8401
13
can be made at any time the source of opulence. The forests,
to which the Senator refers, are beautiful to the eye, but they
are mainly forests of soft wood. Here and there you will find
a magnificent tree of hard wood of great value; but I was told
that the cost of taking out these occasional trees here and
there in the forest was very great. The islands are moun¬
tainous, and you can hardly cultivate a mountain side. The
only level and cultivable land is the land in the river valleys,
which is very limited, and the land on the coast formed by
the wash from the mountains. The area of cultivation is ex¬
ceedingly limited.
In addition to that, all nature seems to be hostile to the de¬
velopment of the Philippine Islands. They have a constant
recurrence of cholera; they have a constant recurrence of
surra and rinderpest among their cattle; so that their draft
animals and animals with which they cultivate their farms, the
buffalo, and so forth, are destroyed year after year.
I do not believe that those islands can be made a source of
great wealth; and that being the fact, I prefer to present it
in all its baldness to the American people, for I fear that if
those islands are represented to the American people as the
source of great future wealth, the greed of many of us will
prevent us from letting them go. I believe the very fact that
those islands have cost us this great expense of $500,000,000 or
$600,000,000,- including the war, that they are to-day costing us
one-fourth of the military and naval expense of the Nation; and
that they will cost us a large expenditure in the future in forti¬
fying them with a view of holding them, not only against a
foreign foe, but against domestic violence has had much to do
with the present sentiment which exists throughout the country
in favor of letting the islands go. The American people are
becoming convinced that there was no glory in their conquest
and that there is no profit in their occupation; and I believe
that they will have to be convinced of both before they will let
them go.
THE CASE SUMMED UP.
The objection I have to this legislation—and I will simply
say a word upon that, for I have already stated fully my
views—is that we are proposing to give $10,000,000 annually
to the planting interests, with a view to stimulating the produc¬
tion there, so that those islands, which are now poverty stricken,
may become prosperous. I would rather, in the discharge of
the great benevolent trust which we have assumed to those
islands, appropriate a tithe of that money annually to instruct¬
ing those people, to aid them in getting central sugar fac¬
tories which can develop sugar production there in the per¬
fection which the Senator from Rhode Island thinks will at
some time be attained.
I would rather appropriate money to train them in agri¬
cultural methods, in modern methods, to train them indus¬
trially, to train their hands and their heads, and to train
them in a common language—I would rather do that than
o-ive the planters this large bounty, which in fifteen years will
amount to $150,000,000 and in twenty years to $200,000,000.
I auite join with the Senator from Missouri in the desire
,, . we should make this declaration of our purpose now, for
if we once determine to let them go fifteen years hence, we will
89865—8464
14
then shape our course with a view to that result. I
to attempt to determine now the method of our withd '
would all differ as to details; but we can determine up
thing, and that is that we will withdraw in fifteen year , u
then we can leave the elaboration of details to the future, ana
we will have plenty of time to accomplish our work ot giving
these people a common language and of training them m in¬
dustrial and manual pursuits.
The prospect at best is not the most roseate. The tropical
islands throughout the world have been beaten by the Temperate
Zone in the products which they used to monopolize. Disease is
against them; the climate, tending to ease, apathy, and inertia,
is against them. They have not that hard contest with nature
itself, so far as food and clothing and shelter are concerned,
that impels to work; and so I am not very hopeful that these
people will develop a high order of self-government, but they
can maintain some form of autonomy there. They may have
wars among themselves; they may have race wars; they may
finally fall under the control of some dictator, some man of
great power and ability, but if they are to be killed, I
would rather they should kill each other than that we should
kill them.
I believe that they must go through the process of evolution
that every country composed of diverse races must go through,
resulting, perhaps, in the domination of a single race, and per¬
haps in the dominance of a single man.
But I do feel assured that in the future those islands will be
the source of great peril to the United States. They are 7,000
miles away from our basis of operations. If we should have
internal difficulties there, the expense of conducting the de¬
fense of our power would be enormous. Besides that, those
islands push us into all the activities and all the jealousies
and all the contentions of the Orient; and with these two
countries, Japan and China, just rising from their sleep—Japan
already a great military nation, China bound at some time to
be a great military nation, I do not think that we can escape
war with those countries if we maintain our intrusion in the
Orient. So I would prepare to withdraw at a time when we
can withdraw with honor, rather than be compelled, perhaps, to
withdraw in the future as the result of a useless and costly war
maintained so far from our base of supply.
June 15, 1909.
Mr. NEWLANDS. Mr. President
Mr. BACON. I have finished. I yield to the Senator from
Nevada.
Mr. NEWLANDS. I merely wish to state, Mr. President,
that the Senator from Georgia [Mr. Bacon] has inquired of
the Senator from Rhode Island [Mr. Aldrich] what amount
of duty would be lost to the Treasury of the United States by
permitting the free importation of 70,000,000 of Filipino cigars.
The Senator from Rhode Island was unable to give an esti¬
mate, or, at all events, did not give an estimate. The Senator
from Rhode Island was able to give an accurate estimate of
the amount that would be lost to the Treasury of the United
States by the bounty on their sugar to the Filipino producers
89865—8464
15
I quote from his language of yesterday at page 3180 of the
CONGKESSIONAL JRECOED :
Mr. Aldrich. Mr. President, this proposition is practically to pay
the sugar producers of the Philippine Islands a bounty of about 1.68
cents per pound.
One and sixty-eight one-hundredths cents per pound means a
little less than $35 a ton, and that rate on 300,000 tons would be
$10,000,000 in bounty, as the Senator from Rhode Island states,
to the Philippine producers. That amount is lost to our Na¬
tional Treasury as the duty paid upon the importations of
foreign sugar and is turned over to the Philippine producers.
With reference to cigars, an equally accurate estimate can
be made by the Senator from Rhode Island. The duty upon
cigars is $4.50 per pound and 25 per cent ad valorem. The table
which the Senator from Rhode Island has prepared states that
the total ad valorem duty on cigars is 151 per cent. The action,
then, of the committee proposes to take this duty out of the
National Treasury and to turn it over as a bounty to the Fili¬
pino producers of cigars. Certainly four dollars and a half
per pound and 25 per cent ad valorem would amount at least
to 5 cents on each cigar, for 100 cigars must weigh approxi¬
mately a pound; so that 5 cents on 70,000,000 cigars would be
three and a half million of dollars lost to the National Treas¬
ury and paid over as a bounty to the Filipino producers.
to whom will the bounty be paid.
Now, I wish to remark regarding the Filipino producers that
this bounty is not paid to the humble worker who makes the
cigars, but it is paid to the great combination in the Philippine
Islands that has practically the control of the cigar industry
there, just as the Bocks have the control of the cigar industry
in Cuba. Those who have been to the Philippine Islands will
recall the fact that there is an immense building in the city of
Manila, the largest and most valuable building there, devoted
entirely to the business of the great tobacco combination and
trust organized under the Spanish law, which had a monopoly
practically of the tobacco business before our occupation, and
which has continued it since. So that the action proposed by
the committee means that $10,000,000 of sugar duties will be
taken from the Federal Treasury and turned over, not to the
workers upon the sugar plantations, but to the big planters
owning large tracts of land, and probably to the sugar trust
itself, which will ultimately monopolize the cultivation and
production of sugar in the Philippines if it shall prove profitable,
as they are now doing in Cuba. It will also take three and a
half million of dollars out of the National Treasury, which
otherwise would go there as duties upon 70,000,000 of cigars,
and pay that over, not to the workers, but to this great tobacco
combination. I ask how much of it will filter through the
hands of these great combinations and into the pockets of the
Filipino workmen, the common men, the peasants, whom these
bounties are intended to benefit and whose education and ad¬
vancement and prosperity it is intended to promote?
I call attention to the fact that in cigars and sugar alone we
are to give annual bounties of over $13,000,000 to these great
interests. Would it not be better, instead of doing that, to con¬
sider direct aid to the Philippine Commission itself, either in the
shape of a bond issue or of a direct appropriation, that will
89865—8464
16
enable them to go right down to the class of people whom it is
intended to benefit, and train them in agricultural and industrial
pursuits, and let them receive the benefit of this bounty, instead
of the favored interests?
*******
ENORMOUS TOTAL OP THE SUBSIDT.
I call attention to the fact that this bounty is not for one year;
it is for twenty years; it is for all time if those islands remain in
cfur perpetual occupation; and during twenty years the total
sum taken from the Federal Treasury and paid to special
interests will amount to $300,000,000, or approximately that;
and that by direct aid—involving only a tithe of that expendi¬
ture, only a few million dollars annually, and expended wisely
by the Philippine Commission itself—in the advancement of the
agricultural methods of the common people themselves would do
more to train those people, to give them an education, and to
train them in habits of industry and improved methods of pro¬
duction, than to turn this money over to the great combinations
and the employers of these people, who are simply serfs attached
to the soil.
Mr. HEYBURN. I should like to ask the Senator, if he has
the knowledge—and I think he has—have the Filipinos ad¬
vanced since the conquest intellectually or in a material sense?
If so, how much does the Senator think they have advanced?
Mr. NEWLANDS. It is very difficult for me to say, from
the casual observation I had there during a six weeks' or a
two months' experience; but I should say, from my observa¬
tion and from what I heard whilst there, that the Filipino chil¬
dren are quite apt at learning; that they are quite apt in learn¬
ing the English language; and that they are quite apt in acquir¬
ing new methods. There is a disposition among them, I must
say, to avoid labor, as their is amongst white people in that hot
climate; and whenever they get a little education, the disposi¬
tion is to drift away from manual labor into clerical and other
pursuits.
Mr. HEYBTJRN. Will the Senator permit me further?
Mr. NEWLANDS. Certainly.
Mr. HEYBURN. Had they advanced in material prosperity
as a people at the time the Senator had an opportunity to
observe them?
Mr. NEWLANDS. I should judge they had not improved
much materially from what I saw at the time and from what
I heard and from the representations which we have received
since from the commission.
Mr. HEYBURN. Will the Senator permit me to inquire
whether or not, in his judgment, this bill would benefit the
Filipinos?
Mr. NEWLANDS. I do not think it would benefit the masses
of people themselves; I think that it would promote these great
interests; I think they would absorb the profit; and I think
the masses of the people would get very little of this proposed
bounty.
Mr. HEYBURN. Would they be injured by the provisions of
this bill in their material prosperity?
Mr. NEWLANDS. Injured only in one way. I should say
that if we stimulate production in those islands by giving them
89865—8464
17
fl(V1,L. J? country, prices double the world's prices, and
lot *° suck Prices, then, if we should conclude to
„ j m £°> they would have to drop down to the world's prices,
can uieasure the industrial collapse that would be
sea in those islands by the change. For instance, in this
untry they will get 4 cents a pound for their sugar under
is arrangement. At Hongkong they can only get 2 cents,
■p ii h T part with them, they would be compelled to
| back to the Hongkong price, the price which sustains Java
and which sustains other sugar-producing countries. The Sen¬
ator can understand that the collapse would be a very serious
one.
Mr. HEYBURN. Would this larger use of money tend in
any way to elevate the grade or character of the lives of those
people?
Mr. NEWLANDS. I can not understand how it would. I
am inclined to think that if you give the great interests that
are employed in production there $15,000,000 or so annually out
of the National Treasury as a subsidy it will be reflected per¬
haps in a partial increase in the prosperity of the masses of the
people; but I bare no doubt that the mass of this money will
be absorbed by the great employers themselves, and that little
of it will accrue to the benefit of the people. I am talking
now about the comparative efficiency of the aid given to those
islands. If we have in view a philanthropic purpose there of
aiding the people themselves, so that ultimately they will be¬
come prosperous and self-supporting, the thing to do is to aid
them directly.
Mr. HEYBUBN. If the Senator will pardon me just a mo¬
ment, I was in some doubt whether the Senator's plea was on
behalf of the Filipinos or the American Government, and I
wanted to ascertain, if I could, whether or not it would elevate
or depress the standard of the civilization of the Philippine
Islands.
Mr. NEWLANDS. It is impossible for me to say that the in¬
creased expenditure of bounty of nearly $15,000,000 to the pro¬
ducers of sugar and to the great combinations that control the
tobacco there will not to some degree benefit the employees of
those great industries. I would not deny that. But I say the
degree is entirely inconsequential when you compare the large¬
ness of the bounty with the results obtained, and I contend if
we are disposed to enter upon a philanthropic work of giving
these people $15,000,000 annually in order to increase the pros¬
perity of the masses of the people, there is a much more effective
and a much more economical way.
I should be glad to avoid it myself; I should be glad to en¬
tirely administer the Philippines with their own revenues; but
we know now that those islands are comparatively poverty
stricken; that they are almost worthless; that the total exports
do not exceed $32,000,000 annually; that the total revenue is
only $17,000,000, a .sum hardly adequate to support the municipal
administration of the District of Columbia. The whole revenue,
insular and municipal, amounts to only $17,000,000. At the rate
of $5 a head, if you propose to educate 2,000,000 children in those
islands, it would take $10,000,000 annually, two-thirds of the
entire revenue.
89865—8464 2
18
You have entered upon an impossible task in endeavoring to
train those people in a common language and to train them in
industrial pursuits with the small revenue of those islands, and
you will have to abandon the task or else you will have to in¬
crease the amount of money with which it is to be done.
Now, those alternatives being before you, I contend that this
sugar and tobacco bounty is the most expensive and costly and
ineffective way of giving aid to the Filipino people.
SENATOR ROOT'S VIEWS ON ULTIMATE INDEPENDENCE AND THE " OPEN
DOOR."
Mr. NEWLANDS. May I ask the Senator from New York
whether his proposal for training the Philippine people in self-
government also involves ultimate independence, and, if so,
when, in his judgment, that can be attained?
Mr. ROOT. I will cheerfully answer the Senator from
Nevada. My proposal to train the people of the Philippine
Islands to the capacity for self-government involves the expec¬
tation and the belief that the time will come when they will be
able to assume relations to the United States quite similar to
those that now exist between Cuba and the United States, prob¬
ably not precisely identical, because the conditions must neces¬
sarily differ, but that the people of the Philippine Islands shall
assume toward the United States such a relation that they will
exercise the privilege and the right of self-government under
the protecting care of the Government of the United States.
It may be that at some day in the far distant future they will
be able to maintain themselves without that care, but I think
that that period must be regarded as too far in the future to
be made the subject of consideration or discussion now.
As to the question when, I do not think, sir, it will be possi¬
ble for the people of the Philippine Islands to reach such capac¬
ity for self-government as to make them able to go alone, even
with the protection of the United States, during the life of the
present generation or until a new generation and, perhaps, more
than one new generation, has been trained up under the influences
of education and with observation of the practice of constitu¬
tional governments which they now have before them in those
islands.
Mr. President, nations in their development move slowly.
The rules to be applied to them are not those which we apply to
human life. It is impossible to develop a people from the civi¬
lization of one century to the civilization of future centuries in
a few months or a few years. Self-government does not come
by nature. It is a matter of development of character, and the
development of character among a people is slow and laborious.
I believe, sir, that we have now upon us a duty we can not
escape, but must perform, and that we shall be engaged in the
performance of that duty, doubtless with many protests and
many expressions of dissatisfaction, but with a fine, faithful,
and loyal purpose on the part of the American people, after the
Senator from Nevada and the Senator from New York shall
have passed off the scene of action. I do not look to its ac¬
complishment during the lives of any who are within the hear¬
ing of my voice, but it will be accomplished, and I am not one
of those, sir, who think that my country will be the worse for
89865—8464
19
the performance of this great act of unselfish altruism, which
befits the mission of liberty and justice to the poor and the
weak of the earth that is a part of our heritage from our
fathers.
Mr. NEWLANDS. Mr. President, I will further ask the Sen¬
ator from New York whether within the last twenty years or
more, in the contention which has taken place amongst the
great and powerful nations of the world for the Asiatic trade,
he knows of an instance where any power obtaining territory,
port concessions, or other favors or concessions of that charac¬
ter, has sought to exercise its power in such a way as to ex¬
clude from the territory controlled by it the accustomed trade
of other nations. Is this effort made by us for a reciprocal ar¬
rangement with our own dependency, which we hold in trust
for the Filipino people, to secure a favored arrangement for
ourselves, which permits our imports into the Philippine Islands
free, and to cut out the trade with other nations with those
islands, now constituting over three-fourths of the Philippine
imports, justified at a time when the United States is demand¬
ing that the policy of the open door should he maintained in
China, and that no nation, whatever readjustment it may make
with China, whatever status it may obtain in any port, what¬
ever control it may acquire over any territory there, shall grant
such a readjustment or secure such control in a way to inter¬
fere with the open door to all nations? I ask the Senator
whether the policy which we propose to inaugurate there is con¬
sistent with the pretentions of our country in China?
Mr. ROOT. Mr. President, I have never heard any one ques¬
tion the right of any government to determine itself what the
tariff dues should be upon imports into its own territory.
That, sir, is not the open-door question. The " open door"
is a phrase that is used as an equivalent for the proposition
that no country should undertake to secure advantages in trade
in the territory of any other country to the exclusion or
detriment of still other nations. Its immediate application
was to the Empire of China, in which a number of countries
were securing concessions and establishing spheres of influence.
It was apprehended a few years ago that those countries would
seek in the concessions and within the spheres of influence to
secure preferential advantages to the exclusion of other coun¬
tries It was against that that the open-door policy was
directed and not for a moment against the right, the privilege,
the propriety of any country, or every country, fixing its own
tariff dues around its own territories as it saw fit.
Wp have never questioned and, so far as I know, no one has
ever questioned, the right of China to impose tariff duties at
ail her ports Indeed this country is under a treaty with
Phina which will naturally and necessarily lead to an increase ot
fhe dutTes of China at all her ports. But sir, what we objected
S and what the countries of the western world agreed to
a ™ha+the countries of the West and the East have now
and what the ^ country should secure over any part
of'"the territory of China a preference which would close the
d°Mrt0PresiSrbitrfollows that, whether wise or unwise, the
estabhshment, a's between the United States and the Philippine
89865—8464
20
Islands, of a tariff arrangement stands on the same basis as
tlie establishment between the United States and Porto Rico
of a tariff arrangement. It is upon the same basis as the estab¬
lishment between the United States and Hawaii of a tariff
arrangement. We determine for ourselves what shall be the
tariff duties upon the admission of goods to our territory, and
we do not question the right of every other country in the world
to determine for itself what shall be the tariff dues upon the
admission of goods to its territory.
*******
A GREEDY FOREIGN POLICY.
Mr. NEWLANDS. Air. President. * * * As I understand
the Senator from New York, he proposes that the policy of the
United States toward the Philippine Islands shall involve ulti¬
mate independence, though that independence may be under a
protectorate and the time is indeterminate. He therefore real¬
izes that the Philippine Islands are to be regarded not as the
possessions of the United States, but as a separate entity tem¬
porarily under our control, under a great trust declared by us,
that our occupation is simply for the benefit of the Filipino
people and not for our own advantage. Our position, therefore,
with reference to the islands is not that of absolute sovereignty
over and ownership of a Territory to be held for all time as
a part of the United States, but it is the position of tempo¬
rary occupation under a trust to the people entitled to inde¬
pendence, whose independence is absolutely assured by the
pledged faith of our own Nation.
In that view the Philippine Islands constitute a part of the
Orient entitled ultimately to independent national life, and the
question I presented is, Whether we can intrude ourselves into
the Orient and under the plea of philanthropy, take possession
of numerous islands there, and then impose upon them the
policy of the closed door to the trade of other nations while we
are insisting that the open door shall be maintained in the
neighboring country of China.
What has been our contention in China? Our contention has
been that whatever control the great nations should obtain in
China, whether by concession of privilege or concession of terri¬
tory, the power of that nation should not be exercised in such a
way as to close the door to other nations, but that equal trade
privileges should be maintained to all the nations of the world;
that while China might impose a tariff, that tariff should be
equal to all; not a tariff which would give concessions to Ger-'
many because of the power of Germany there, or concessions to
England because of the power of England there, or concessions
to Japan because of the power of Japan there.
So conscious has Japan been of the nature of this pledge
demanded by Air. Hay of the open door, that when she entered
upon a war intended to check the aggressions of Russia, and
took possession of Korea and of Alanchuria, she declared her
purpose, in accordance with Mr. Hay's manifesto, to recognize
the integrity and the independence of Korea, and to maintain
the open door in Korea and Alanchuria to all the nations of the
world. Japan was entering upon an era of conquest as a means
of national preservation. We in our movements in the Philip-
89865—8404
21
nf inf -s were entering simply upon an era of benevolence—
"5 international philanthropy. How can we claim that Japan
hnouid keep the faith as to Korea and Manchuria, which she
nas won by the force of her arms, by the expenditure of enor¬
mous sums of money, when we propose to break the faith in the
Philippine Islands?
What is the position of the trade of the Philippine Islands
to-day? She has about $32,000,000 exports and about $32,000,000
imports. From what countries do those imports come? Eight
million dollars from England, something less from Germany,
something less from the United States, and the rest of the
importations from Japan, China, and other countries. It is
proposed by this arrangement to give the United States the
right to put its importations into the Philippine markets with¬
out the payment of the 20 or the 25 per cent duty imposed by
the Philippine Islands upon importations from every other
country. The purpose is to absolutely monopolize for this
country the importations in the Philippines; to exclude the
importations of England, Germany, France. Japan, and China;
to cut off even her importations in the Orient from her neigh¬
boring people. And we do this at the same time that we are
demanding of all these nations, England, Germany, France, and
Japan, that in all their negotiations and in all their acquired
concessions, and in all their gaining of spheres of influence in
China, they shall, whatever may be their expenditures, either
in bloood or in treasure, preserve the open door and maintain
equal trade facilities in all the ports of China to all the nations
of the world.
So, I ask, what consistency is there in this policy of greed in
attempting to exclude and cut off and annihilate the trade of
other nations with the Philippine Islands, whilst in China we
are demanding the open door, and whilst, on the part of Japan,
we are insisting upon the observance of faith regarding the
Manchurian country, which she has absolutely won by force
of arms just as thoroughly won as we have won the Philippines?
We are intruders in the Orient. Japan is a part of the Orient,
yet we demand of her a policy regarding Manchuria and China
which we ourselves refuse to pursue in the Philippines.
WHAT IS OUB DUTY TOWABD THE PHILIPPINES?
The Senator from New York has commented upon the great
duty which we have to discharge to the Philippine Islands; that
we stand before the world facing all history as to the perform¬
ance of the assurance we have given of our philanthropic and
humane intentions. I would not abate one jot of the perform¬
ance oif that duty. I only differ as to the method in which that
duty shall be performed. I would much prefer if we could
simply administer those islands upon their own revenues But
w(T have something in view beyond the mere administration of
™eA i^qnrt!rwe have in view the termination as quickly as
ZslTafour occupation there. ^^at, that^mvolvej^ Not
islands b^t Xe^insfructioVof their people in a common lan¬
guage in improved industrial and agricultural methods m
the principles of self-government, and in the capacity to stand
alone.
89865—8464
22
In that work I would utilize the Philippine revenues, and I
would not call upon the Government of the United States for
a dollar if the work .could be performed with the Philippine
revenues. But all our illusions have vanished regarding those
islands. We realize that they are not the source of wealth, and
though beautiful to the eye they never can have any great
productive capacity. We realize that all nature is against
them. The cholera is there, the Asiatic cholera, destructive of
man; the surran and rinderpest, so destructive to animals; the
hurricane, and the typhoon, destructive of property and life.
We all realize that the Philippine Islands to-day are taxed
to their utmost capacity, that only $17,000,000 can be raised,
and that that amount of money for the insular government, for
the municipal government, is not adequate, is hardly adequate
to meet the requirements of administration, much less the great
humane, educational, and philanthropic work which we have in
view.
If we are to carry out our pledges to the world it has got to
cost us something. We have assumed the r61e of international
philanthropy, and philanthropy always costs something. What
has it cost us already? Nearly $600,000,000 in war and mili¬
tary occupation there. What is it costing to-day in military
expense? One-fourth of the annual expense of our army and
navy is attributable to our occupation of the Philippine^ a
sum aggregating nearly $50,000,000 annually. That is what it
has cost us—$600,000,000 in the past, $50,000,000 annually in
the future. Is it not about time that we were bringing this
great trust to an end, not by abandonment of it, but by working
vigorously and energetically toward the goal of accomplish¬
ment? Is it working vigorously and energetically in giving
these people a common language when we put only 500.000 of
their children in their schools and leave 1,500,000 out of school?
Are we training them in habits of industry, in improved meth¬
ods of agriculture, when we fail to give them in all their
provinces industrial schools and agricultural schools which can
improve their methods of industry and of agriculture? Will
it not be money saved to accomplish all this work of philan-
throphy in twenty years, instead of stringing it out over one
hundred years?
Are we to continue this plan of philanthropic work over one
hundred years, costing the United States in military and naval
expenditures $50,000,000 annually and with the prospect of a
war in the end costing us a billion dollars? Are we to continue
this for a hundred years when by putting a little fire and a little
energy into this philanthropic work we can accomplish it in
twenty? Are we to continue for one hundred years to teach the
Filipino people a common language, or shall we accomplish it in
ten, fifteen, or twenty years? Do we not all recognize that the
work is to be done with the children and not with the adults,
and that the thorough training of 2,000,000 children for ten
years will mean that in the next generation the majority of the
people of those islands will be speaking the English language,
and that they will then have a common language through which
they can convey to each other their ideas upon government, upon
economics, upon administration, upon morals?
Now, I protest against an ineffective way of doing this. The
Senator from New York says I would make gifts to the Filipino
89865—8464
23
^ple tibat would demoralize them. I would not make gifts to
the Filipino people. I would avoid a bounty of $15,000,000 an¬
nually to favored interests in the Philippine Islands, to the great
planters, to the sugar trust which in the future will monopolize
the production there, to the great tobacco organization which
is now there and which will monopolize the tobacco indus¬
try in those islands, and I would devote a tithe only, a small
proportion of it, to the advancement of the Filipino people, and
I would put it in the hands of the Philippine Commission and
give them the power to expend it in a way that would best ad¬
vance the educational and industrial development of the Philip¬
pine Islands.
I wish to bear witness to the rare judgment and disinterested¬
ness and efficiency with which the Philippine Commission is dis¬
charging its difficult duties. Their work there is a credit to the
United States. Our work here is not. Instead of appropriating
this $15,000,000 annually to favored interests, a part of which
only will filter down to the masses of the people and give them
perhaps a slightly increased prosperity in a slightly increased
way, I would apply only a portion of it to the Filipino govern¬
ment itself, not for gifts to the people, not for the purpose of
debauching them, not for the purpose of demoralizing them, but
for the purpose of enabling the Philippine Commission to carry
out the philanthropic work which we have inaugurated, and
which we must always keep in view, not the simple administra¬
tion of the islands, but the instruction of the people in a
common language, the development of industrial and agricul¬
tural training, the development of the capacity to stand alone.
Mr. President, I am proposing no gift to the Filipino people.
I am not to-day proposing any gift to the Filipino people. I
say that if they can not get along with their revenues, if the
United States can not discharge its great obligation to those
people and to civilization out of the revenues now afforded by
the taxation of that country, then we must either abandon our
trust and leave the islands or we must put up some money;
and I suggest that that shall be done in an efficient way, not in
a way that will debauch and demoralize.
THE PHILIPPINES DIFFEBENT FBOM POBTO EICO.
The Senator from New York says that their relations are
somewhat similar to those of Porto Rico. Porto Rico is a
part of the United States. We are exercising no trust regard¬
ing Porto Rico. We realize the fact that for all time Porto
Rico is a part of the United States. It will soon receive a
territorial government. It may sometime be admitted to state¬
hood. I hope the time will come when Cuba, by voluntary act,
will apply for political union with this country, instead of
the maintenance of a mere commercial union; that she will see
the large advantage of political union with this country, which
will also involve the advantage of commercial union; and I
hope to see Cuba and Porto Rico one of these days, first as
Territories and then united as a single State, in the Union.
Our policy regarding Porto Rico, therefore, is entirely dif-
fprent from that which we should pursue toward the Philip-
•rie Islands Our occupation there is temporary. The Senator
from New York admits that it is temporary. And what policy
89865—8464
24
are we to pursue under this bill? We are to pursue the policy
of accustoming those people not to the world's prices for their
products, but to the favored prices that exist in the United
States, the subsidized prices, prices double the world's prices.
We propose to stimulate sugar production there by giving them
not the $40 a ton which they get in the Hongkong market, but
the $75 a ton which they get in the American market.
We propose to stimulate production not by giving them the
power by improved methods to meet the low prices which they
now receive for their products in China, Japan, and in the
Orient generally, but by giving them the subsidized prices
maintained in this country by a tariff amounting on sugar to
nearly 100 per cent and on tobacco to 151 per cent. When our
temporary occupation ends, as he admits it will end, and the
Philippines have a separate autonomy, absolutely distinct from
us, with their own government, their own fiscal system, their
own revenue system, I ask the Senator from New York whether,
under those conditions, those islands can sink to the acceptance
of the world's prices without an utter collapse of their indus¬
tries?
True humanity dictates that we should not accustom them
to the subsidized prices of this country, to these props to their
industries, which later will be withdrawn; but to teach them
by improved methods of industrial training and agricultural
development to meet the world's prices; to be able to accept
in Hongkong the price of $40 a ton for sugar, instead of seek¬
ing the favored price in the United States of $75 a ton; to be
able to accept the price that Bremen gives and London gives
in the sugar market. Then the Philippines will be able to
maintain their autonomy; but if you once give them autonomy—
an autonomy based upon the subsidized prices of this country—
and then cut the cord that binds them to this country, they will
be a derelict in the ocean and will go to wreck.
89865—8464
o