Territorial Expansion—II. The Philippines—The Oriental Problem [pp. 23-32]

Territorial Expansion
longs being rated as the wealthiest, per
capita, of any colony in any zone of the
world. If this island of Sumatra will sustain fifty thousand prosperous Dutchmen,
what would prevent, so far as climatic
conditions are concerned, another fifty
thousand, or any multiple of that number,
doing equally well?
Java is a neighbor of the Philippines.
Her native population of 23,000,000 is not
unlike that of the Philippines and possesses, as do the Filipinos, many characteristics of the Japanese. There are 48,000
Europeans residing on the island,
who are helping to work out the problem of a better civilization for the
people and to develop the natural resources
of the country. The Netherlands in the
East India islands. furnish a striking example of what may be done by a paternalism not altogether wise, under the
direction of a superior race, in the control
of these island people. The population
of Java increased after 1831 from 6,000,000 to 23,000,000 and the revenue from
$1,250,000 to $50,000,000. In 1889 the
imports of Java were $70,000,000 and the
exports $78,000,000. The balanee sheet
of the Government for 1889 is an interesting, exhibit: REVENUE.
Taxes............$16,000,000
Monopolies........... 12,400,000
Receipts from govern ment farms for cof fee and sugar....... 19,600,000
From Railways, school
f e e s a n C other
sources............ 5,600,000
$53,600,000
EXPENDITURES.
Instruction.......... $ 4,000,000
Army and Navy...... 16,000,000
Public Works, rail roads.............. 4,000,000
Other.............. 4,000,000
Administration..... 24,000,000
$52,000,000
The item of $16,000,000 for the army
and navy is largely increased by insurrections in Sumatra, and is not a constant
quantity. But we cannot fail to observe
that it is small, and that $8,000,000 are
expended in public works and $4,000,000
in public schools. It is observable, also,
that the revenues exceed the expenditures,
and the taxes by which they are produced
are less burdensome than in most States of
the U'nion.
I cannot avoid the conclusion that if
Holland, with less than 5,000,000 population, at her remote position on the globe,
can successfully control her possessions in
the East Indies, with their 32,000,000 of
people, we may not despair of the task we
have undertaken. The experience of the
Netherlands in India shows that the Philippines may not only be able to support a
good government, without excessive taxation, but will probably produce a surplus
revenue. Nor does it follow that we must
govern the islands entirely by external
force after peace shall have been restored.
The results of a year's campaigning show
that our soldiers have not suffered from
climatic causes as has been predicted.
There is no evidence to support Senator
Edmund's statement that "the climate is,
of course, unwholesome for Americans,"
or that "the death-rate of our officers
there would be very large."
I would not ignore the New England
opposition to the annexation of the Philippines, of which Senator Hoar and exGovernor Boutwell are perhaps the most
sincere and among the ablest representatives. This opposition assumes to plant
itself chiefly upon the principles of the
Declaration of Independence, wherein our
forefathers proclaimed that all men are
endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, and declared that: "To
secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just
powers from the consent of the government."
As civilization has advanced in the
world and in its onward march has displaced barbarism, it has never halted to
obtain previous consent. The overmastering spirit of moral and material advancement, actuating the progressive
nations of the globe, has found its justifieation for aggressions in the ultimate
enlightenment and betterment of those
whom it has assumed to dominate.
Among savage and barbarous tribes and
peoples occupying, as they once did, a
large part of the earth's inhabitable surface, previous consent was unasked, and
was unattainable by the invading fores
of civilized man. The testimony of history is that where a higher civilization
has supplanted a lower civilization it has
resulted in the ultimate improvement of
mankind. If the means have not always
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