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16 MARINE REVIEW. [May 29 THE OPPORTUNITY OF THE UNITED STATES. Andrew Carnegie in the North American Review for May. The American people are at last learning the truth about the Philippine situation. At this moment they are shocked at the perpetration of such atrocities as have rarely appalled civilized man, the proof of which is found in the testimony of four of our own Officers, trusted men of honor. For- tunately, the president and Secretary Root are aroused and resolved that the good name of the American people is not to be thus foully stained. The guilty will be punished. Gen. Kitchener. in South Africa, has shown them how he deals with savagery in war--two Australian butchers of pris- oners have been shot. If Gen. Smith has not been libeled by the four officers who agree about his orders, "Kill all over ten--take no prisoners-- burn and slay," what is the commander-in-chief going to do with him: But all these details, sickening though they be, are only of passing moment compared with the problem which confronts us. We now learn from the commanding officer that in Samar the people are now more intensely aroused against us than they were at first. Has not the time arrived for the president and cabinet to consider our position in these islands? The president inherited the dammnosa hereditas. So did Secre- taries Root, Moody, Shaw, Knox and Payne. These men are to be pitied, and no one with a modicum of sound sense would hold them responsible for the serious situation. It is one question whether one should plunge into an unknown stream; quite another when one sees one's friends in mid-stream, struggling with the dangerous current and liable to be over- whelmed, and plunges in to save them. _ s In a moment of aberration, and against the calm decision arrived at with the hearty approval of his cabinet, President McKinley suddenly reversed his policy. His first decision was merely to get a suitable coal- ing station in Manila bay. He never entertained the idea of entangling his country with "possessions" in the far distant tropics, where Americans could not settle. The writer had the honor of an interview with him before the war broke out with our allies, and ventured to predict that, if he attempted to exercise sovereignty over the Filipinos--whom he had bought at $2.50 a head--he would be shooting these people down within thirty days. He smiled, and, addressing a gentleman who was present, said: "Mr, Carnegie doesn't understand the situation at all." Then, turn- ing to the writer, he said: 'We shall be welcomed as their best friends." But there was the discharge of a shot by some unknown man on one side or the other and peace vanished. The commanders of the Filipinos were absent at the time, which gives credibility to their assurances that it was an accident, wholly unexpected. War between the two previously co- operating forces ensued and has lasted till now. Even if it were sup- pressed for a time it would surely break out at intervals, as the Dutch have found in Java. The Filipinos justly expected the independence for which they had risen against Spain when the Spaniards were vanquished, not an exchange of masters. ae Recent events have produced a profound impression upon the public mind; and after years of killing these people and burning their homes we begin to see those best qualified to judge now speaking out as a matter of duty. The president himself has told congress that the Philippines are a burden--a great burden, indeed, they are and must be. The loss of life is great, both of American and Filipino. The ruin of the health of our men is certain. Judge Taft is only one of many who returned to us in- valid. The cost in money is not less than sixty millions per year. But more than all this is the false position into which we have drifted, as the invaders of a civilized Christian land, using force against the aspirations of a people for a country for which to live, or, if necessary, to die. A people which has shown itself willing to fight and die for independence has earned the right to a trial of it. Upon this point President Schurman closes his instructive message with this truly American sentiment: 'And, to repeat what ought not to need repetition anywhere within the limits of our free republic, any decent kind of government of Filipinos by Filipinos is better than the best possible government of Filipinos 'by Americans." We seem to hear the voices of the fathers echoing this statement of American doctrine--Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Hamilton, Adams, -and the voice of one who ranks even with these--Lincoln, who held that God never made a people good enough to rule over another people. _ The American people need only to be satisfied upon one point: Is it not our duty to continue forcing our rule upon these six and a half millions of Christian people, for their good? If all our people really knew the tropics, and had seen the result of foreign rule there, or had read its history, the question would be answered as soon as stated. All history teaches that the influence upon the inferior race of such members of a superior race as go to the tropics is injurious to both. Where a superior race can go freely and settle a land hitherto inhabited by an in- ferior race, as our race settled here among the Indians, genuine good is -done--but even then not to the Indians, but to the cause of civilization as a whole. It is a step in advance. To a superior race no portion of the earth is closed which it can populate and which it can make its dwelling Place. If Americans could and would go, in great numbers and of all classes, and make their permanent homes in the Philippines, their doing so would undoubtedly result in progress there; but it would involve loss to our own land, which needs all its people and all proper people who can be induced to come here, for we have only thirty-two people to the square mile, while England and Wales have 502. We have a rich continent of our own to develop. Asa matter of fact there will go to the Philippines a few male adventurers, who, not being able to succeed here, will try abroad. There will have to go 40,000 soldiers; but let any one who has traveled the tropics tell you of the malign influence an army has upon the natives and of the not less serious influence exerted upon an army by its Situation there. Contact is ruinous to both races. I have traveled round the world and talked to many people in the tropics. India is a good illus- tration of the rule of our race over alien races. The British are best gov- ernors of dependencies, and they have been in India for more than 200 years, time enough, one should think, to educate 'a people sufficiently 'to give them a trial of self-government. Yet, if Britain left India today, she would leave behind scarcely a trace of her influence. Railroads, telegraphs and canals would remain, which might not have been so extensively built but for the-British occupation--though even this may be doubted. for thle independence of a people stimulates action and insures progress. Britons can not grow in India. The few merchants and members of. professions iwho seek fheir biehrsers there must have seasons out of that climate. & aM 4 owiwole 4 : ee : ie cs 2 \perfectéd." 'incident: itt"no way' detracts from',Martoni's ol it 4g: "probable 't! ab he ha att "oP THe nis glory, as it hi British children can not be sticcessfully reared there. Soldiers must be transferred, as ours are to be every three years from the Philippines. Therefore the races remain apart. One knows nothing of the other. There is another important point. After 200 and more years of occu- pation it is still necessary for Britain to keep 70,000 British troops in India, besides many Indian troops which are sent to regions far from their native homes, so as to be among strangers, and therefore trustworthy as oppressors. And, pray, let my readers mark this: Not one piece of artillery is given to any native regiment. That would never do. Why? Because no invader can ever trust the oppressed not to strike when oppor- tunity offers. The aspirations of a people for self-government may be suppressed for a time, but seldom if ever eradicated. We all remember the fearful mutiny. Britain sits today upon a volcano. Many of the edu- cated Indians have learned English in the schools. Those to whom I talked, knowing I was an American and not a Briton, quoted American ideas, and referred to Washington and the war for independence, and always ended by saying: 'Some day we shall be free like you." It was a crime to teach the slave to read--a mistake to teach the people of India English. We prohibited the reading of the declaration of independence in the Philippines last Fourth of July. To the incredulous reader let me repeat this fact. It is on record and acknowledged by our officials. We can imagine the first thought of so good a man as Judge Taft and so good an American as he has been hitherto when this was suggested to him, "Ts thy servant a dog that he should do this thing?" But, alas, he did it! We are engaged in work which requires suppression of American ideas hitherto held sacred. If the republican candidate for the presidency, even if it were President Roosevelt himself, popular as he is, could be taxed with having approved this next Fourth of July he would probably be defeated in the next campaign. Were I of the democratic party I should base the campaign largely upon this order, and ask the people if they wished a president capable of suppressing the reading of the declaration of independence in any part of the world. The American idea of the rights of man and of the right of self-gov- ernment is not false. It is true. I submit that we make a grave mistake in not following in the Philippines the American policy which has' tri- umphed in Cuba. President McKinley said to the Cubans that he would "aid them to establish a stable, free, and independent government, and thus realize the highest aspirations of the people." This kept the peace; not one Cuban was shot. It would have kept the peace in the Philippines. The opportunity lies at our feet today, and President Roosevelt may be- come, as some predict, the man of destiny. He is still free, being uncom- mitted. He has but to copy President McKinley's words to Cuba and address them to the Philippines and the glory is his and his country's to endure while history lasts. Is he bold enough? Has he really the courage with which he is credited; or is he at heart but the commonplace oppor- tunist? Democracy loves a leader. Is he one or only an official? NAVAL FIGHTING STRENGTH OF NATIONS. In the new issue of the Naval Annual, Hon. T. A. Brassey writes on the subject of "Comparative Strength" and points out that in this respect considerable modifications have recently taken place. Ten years ago the only navy that could bear any comparison with that of Britain was France. Next to France came Russia, and then Italy; Germany and the United States were almost negligible quantities, while the Japanese had scarcely begun to construct a fighting fleet. But much has happened since then. France and Italy have dropped back relatively to other powers. Russia, Germany and the United States have all improved their position, and when the vessels now building for them are completed they will each possess a larger number of fitst-class battleships than France. The fol- lowing tables show how all the powers stand as regards battleships and cruisers, built and building: BATTLESHIPS. First' = Second - Third class. class. class. Total. Great Britain. ....2-. FE ee eee 41 1B L7 -- 69 BYaNee 2: ae a 13 10 15: - - 88 RUSSIA a ee 15 10 8 33 Waly Sia plies oi ke a OG 5 2 «16 Germany 05.6.2 6.. oe eee 16 -- ae: Oe 2 31 Linited States ..42, 3, soe 17 -- A - 28 JADA Se ese. toe eens & -- Dong <8 CRUISERS. First Second Third class. class. class. Total. Great Bedi 49 62 AG 157 France Spas Scere eae. poe ee ee ne 23 13. 55 Rassias, cae oe ee " 8 31. Ttaly! saa bes odereeae es be, a 5 & ce el (REMITIANV UG, ice, aes oo ee 6 8 20 34 United: States: ie. oa 3k). ee 13 10 11 34 Ja bane soe 35 bles as Pe a 6 Ve 8 24 _ The following from Engineer of London is interesting: "A dispute is now going on as to who invented wireless telegraphy. The real in- ventor--though none of the disputants seem to know it or mention it-- of wireless telegraphy for practical use was an officer on the British tor- pedo school ship Vernon. This was many years before Marconi. The admiralty of the day refused to sanction any expenditure on the research, which was then carried on at the private expense of a few officers who were interested. A practical proficiency was obtained: also an admiralty verdict 'that 'the thing was no good. It was then dropped, the experi- menters having, we believe, exhausted their available resources. Some years later, Marconi, working independently, went over the same grotnd, produced and patented his system. The admiralty then bethought them _of the Jackson system, which was tried in the 1900 maneuvers. A certain "20 miles and aa uncertain 40 miles was reached, but the system failed | Ve ; ee) BERLE ' y im- Pe Jarksom syste di ls Qin Was because progtess'was possible only by infringing Marconi patents. The High : : & ees ; s goon gorod get gholy iienees v one