AMERICA IN THE PHILIPPINES
l-'ROM A FRENCHMAN’S VIEW
From tin- American Monthly Iteview of Keview*.
It li is become a f ishio i for I*'n rope an
writers t > declare that the United States
is bent on a policy of imperialism, and
make this policy date from the battle of
Manila. And so, of course, M. Rene
Pinou, the French writer on politics and
economies, begins in just this way his
study, in the Revue lies Fcux Mondes, of
what has been accomplished by Ameri
can admini: trillion in the Philippine
Islands, basing his article on the Taft
report.
In the Philip] ines, says M. 1 inon. the
Ameiicans encountered a slightly new
problem in colonization. Instead of hav
ing to do with a Pagan, savage people,1
they found they had conquered a Chi is*
turn people, with a certain degree of civ
ilization. llow , he asks, have the Amer
ican political ideals been applied to the
1 hilippine Islands ? On the w hole, this
French writer believes the Americans
have done well, but their ideals have
suffered. M. l’inon reminds us of the
fact that in the Philippines, Americans
are confronted by a debilitating climate;
that, having denounced Spanish tyranny
in Cuba and the Philipp lies, they are
confronted with temptations to exercise
the same tyranny; ardent advocates of,
the emancipation of peoples, they have
a chance to apply this doctrine in the
islands and decide whether they should
admit the yellow peoples and keep out
the blacks. How can they, he asks,
clamor for the “open door” in the ex-j
treme Orient and shut it in the Philip- !
pines? He compliments the United
States on having published so many ex-1
celleut reports on its work in its far
Kastern possessions.
The United States authorities, this
w riter declares, have displayed a naivete
which is remarkable in the matter of the
Philippines. They do not seem to have
understood that a people with all the
traditions of civilization, with an art and
professing one branch of the Christian
religion, could not appreciate the good
intentions of the Americans, but must
rebel and desire a government of their
own. He condemns the introduction ol
Chinese into the islands as being a viola
tion of the American idea,— the Philip
pines for the Filipinos. It is inevitable,
he declares, that the archipelago should
now become a colony of the United
States, exploited by the Chinese for the
Americans. Referring to the negotia
tions between the government at Wash
ington and the Vatican for the disposi
tion to be made of the church lands and
the friars in the Philippines, M. Piuon
remarks that the first step of the United
States on its road to imperialism con
ducted it to Rome. Americans should
beware lest they get deeper into ecclesi
astical politics than is good for them.
While they have done well, the Ameri
cans have not, this writer insists, really
accomplished any lasting result. In
overturning completely an ancient so
cial edifice, built upon an Oriental found
ition by Spanish hands, they have not
succeeded, and will never succeed, in
erecting in its plaie a modern state or a
lation organized on the republican model
of the United States of America.
SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA
WOULD JOIN WASHINGTON
Ariiele with a Skagway Date Line, from the Dawson New*.
some ol the people ol southeastern . lasKa
have a new remedy tor Alaskan governmental
ills. They propose to ask congress to annex
their section of the district, the panhandle, to
the State of Washington. The tailure of con
gress to give Alaska an elective delegate in
congress and the development ot the fact that
there is a strong faction in the Tinted States
senate that is opposed to the idea of ever making
a state of this district or any portion of it, are
gaining adherents for the proposition. There
are several influential Skagwnvans considering
it. Those who favor the annexation plan assign
two reasons why such would he a desirable solu
tion of the problem that confronts this section
of Alaska.
hirst, they point to the declaration of Senator
Matt that he is unalterably opposed to the crea
tion, now or at any tune m the future, ot any
states from non contiguous territory, including
Alaska, and the support that idea is receiving
from Senator Spooner and others, i he second
contention is that Southeastern Maska is not as
closely connected with other portions of the
district it is wuli Puget Sound.
Many of the prople of Southeastern Alaska d..
not -elish the idea of having their citt/euship
blacklisted While they are willing to wail
until Alaska shall have sufft* lent population
and wealth to maintain a state before they are
allowed to maintain a place ill the I ni' » they
want the privilege of looking forward to a time
when they shall be a part ami parcel of the great
nation It no other way .*«» rs itself they de
sire to be mad* into one <>r no >rr counties in the
state of W ashlllgt< >n
it is pointed out that the people of ’southeast
♦ in Alaska are mote closely connected by per
sonal .«ct|uaii»tau«e and business connection
with Seattle and other Washington cities than
they iiv with Nome and other towns tn the
main boats ol Alaska Steamships make tie
Vtewl trips (tone nearly every hamlet in the
panhandle to the w*und
i Ml the other hand the le n no swath connect Writ
between Southeastern Masks and the West* a id
«h the Yukon valley of the Munc country
« t is only a gweaiim sf
time until there nul »e two a# more radroudn
oi-iween trie (.nil ot Alaska auu the Yukon.
Then Southeastern Alaska will be cut off more
than ever from the remainder of the district.
P. is because of this condition that many people i
have advocated that the panhandle of Alaska be
made a territory by itself. Such men as the late
Judge Delaney and oth« i- urged to the United
States senatorial committee that visited Alaska
a year and a half ago that the territory be cut in
two by a line drawn from Mount St Klias to the
coast and that all that portion of the district
south of the line be made into a separate terri
lory The annexationists say that would be all
right but now the hope of final statehood is
becoming remote, and the territory indicated is
smaller than that of any I it Western state.
Many pcopde have urged that Hawaii be made
a county in Califcrnin Many still conterd that
such is the destiny of tlio.se islands They are
milt- away fr« m San Ktanciaco The Alas
kan advocates of annexation to Washington
compare the condition of the lluwaiiaim to that
of their «.*% n country The farthermost section
of Southeastern Alaska is less than i .000 times
from Seattle The ptop’.e 111 the Hawaiian
Island- .ire American » g}> in a very smalt part
Those of Southeastern Alaska are practically all
American ant) most of them are former resi
dents ot w ashington. with w huh state they are
very closely allied
To those who say it would be an anomaly for
.1 state to have » few tout*ties .»s lur away from
its main body as southeastern Alaska is from
Washington ;»nn» xalionist* point out the tact
that %tlm and the Canadian portion of the
porcupine country are in Hritish Columbia
file district scud* a in* in be 1 of the provincial
parliament to %*ivi'-tta who has to go through
miles of t m* riven territory and American water
«»u hi* way to the provincial capital
*%.i«th*a-lrru Abd 1 would matte three at four
good counties including Ketchikan. with 1 aev
hi habitants Wruuget, with 1 nw Juneau. Iku*
>a* *ud freadwelt with * comb n«d population
of tan, hkagwav with i.uw. and an ha and
Ma»ue« with wwisl hundred tacit besides
several thousand* in communities scattered
throughout the % tea am I* a Archipelago, end the
ten league strip of the mainland
RECEPTION SALOON
S. K. HKKTKR
W. W. CKOCKKTT
WINES,
LIQUORS
AND GOOD
CIGARS
|
i
St. Louis
ABC
BEERS
The Highest Priced but
the Best Quality.
L
BILLIARD
AND
POOL
ROOMS
1:M ear-old Crow Whiskey—The Only Stock.
Sometliiny; New Try Our Apricot Coclttuil
Leaves for («ien Every
Five Days.
Freighting and Packing
T'o and From All
Good Teams.
Good Service
THE
HEETER
TANANA, ALASKA
S. E. HEETER, ED FERGUSON,
PROPRIETOR MANAGER
1 IIIST-t LASS
Wines, Liquors and Cigars
A New Process
For Getting Gold
A London cablegram contains the
following regarding the endeavor to
extract gold from sea water:
The old scheme for extracting
gold from sea water dies hard, but
while there has been some dealings
in the shares of the latest syndicate
formed thus to obtain the precious
metal, few persons in stock ex
change circles are disposed to re
gard the venture as more than a
scientific experiment.
The new suggestion for collecting
gold from the sea comes from a
remarkable quarter the Lancet ar
trcle- and begins bv supplying a
marvelous inducement lor the com
1 any promoter by saying that on
the estimate that a ton of sea water
contains approximately a grain of
gold, the yield would amount to
something like ’ o tons of gold a
cubic ntile, and as the volume of
the world's ocean is estimated at
400,000.000 cubic miles, the total
possible yield ol gold would be no
less than $1,000,000,000 tons. The
Lacet g( 1 h on to observe:
“It should le borne in mind,
however, th t original observations
as to the >ta containing gold were
made regarding waters which wash
the shores ol a gold U aring coun
try namely. New South Wales.
Still, time, no doubt, xuthces to
effect a unitorni distribution oi the
mineral salts ol the sea, although
the c< nip* sit uni <>| sea water varies
with the locality from which it is
taken.
“We should have thought that an
eminently practical experiment in
this direction would before now
have been undertaken by the great
steamship companies Most steam
ships are equipped with electric in
stallation and it would be an easy
matter for them to start a system of
electroplating while at sea without
interfering seriously with the prog
ress of the ship. A couple of large
copper plates suspended in the sea
and connected with dynamos would
serve as electrodes and collect the
gold contained in sea water during
the voyage.
“At the end of the voyage the
plates could be examined for gold
and some knowledge regarding the
practicability of recovering the
metal would he gained If it was
proved that steamship companies
| could add to their equipment an
effective electrical gold dredger they
might possibly be induced to cheap
en passenger rates according to the
success • a the system.”
I do not believe in governing l>y
force, or threat, or any other form
of coercion. 1 would not arouse in
the heart of any one ot God's crea
tures a thought of tear, i r discord,
or hate, or revenge. I would in
fluence men, if I can, but it shall
he only by aiding them to think for
themselves; and so, mayhap, they,
ot their own accord, will choose the
better part the ways that lead to
I,tie and Light.—T.llwit lluhlmrd.
editor ot The t’hillstinc.