Clemson University - Taps Yearbook (Clemson, SC)

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THE CLEMSOX COLLEGE CHRONICLE 385 tion is congratulating itself for the success which has crowned its efforts and is hoping that the time is not far hence when every knee shall bow in submission to the United States. I desire to call your attention to a few facts which, I think, should furnish not a reason for congratulations but rather a reason for profoundest thought on the part of our citizens. The first is : that the policy which we are pursuing is morally wrong. At the time of the Revolutionary War there was practically but one form of government in existence. It recognized that all powers of government were vested in one man. and that he could grant such privileges to his subjects as he deemed proper. Such a government was called a mon- archy. It was in the early years of our colonial history that the people along the Atlantic shore began to reason why one man should have power to rule another. Their reasoning ere long was crystallized in the principles of the Declaration of Independence, the grandest writing ever penned by man. Among other things this document declares that man is entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and to attain these ends, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just power from the consent of the gov- erned. These principles are declared to be self-evident truths. They form the basis of the moral law. Any viola- tion of these truths is a violation of the moral law itself. I know that some will say that the Filipinos are ignorant and incapable of self-government and therefore we should gov- ern them that they might attain life, liberty, and the pur- suits of happiness. It is the doctrine of thrones that man is too ignorant to govern himself. In our colonial days. George III. spoke of us as ignorant backwoods men. and incapable of governing ourselves. There may be degrees of proficiency in self-government, but it is a reflection on the Creator himself to say that he denied to any people the ca- pacity for self-government.

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3S4 THE CLEMSON COLLEGE CHRONICLE exceptional issues, has broken in upon the even tenor of our way and disturbed the usual serenity of our reflections. When the treaty with Spain was signed on December 10, 1898, and the Philippine Islands were ceded to us, it be- came necessafy for the United States to formulate some policy toward the islands. Upon the question of what that policy should be, the two great parties of the United States held opposite views. Democrats advocated the granting of independence upon the ground that it was the only consist- ent policy, since we had been their allies in their late war with Spain ; Republicans, I know not why, advocated the governing of the islands as a colony of the United States. The Republicans being in the majority in Congress, obtained the adoption of their policy. Accordingly, the President published a proclamation to the Filipinos asserting the sov- ereignty of the United States over them. It is true that the advocates of this colonial policv did not then admit that it was the intention of the government to hold the islands in perpetuity, but there is not a single advocate of that policy to-day who will deny that such is its intention. The bills introduced in Congress which have reference to the Philip- pines are as permanent measures as any ever enacted in our legislative halls. As soon as the Filipinos perceived that it was not our inten- tion to grant them independence, which they had just won from Spain, they took up their muskets against us. The President, alarmed at the position they had taken, issued a call to a liberty-loving people for seventy-five thousand vol- unteers to crush the spirit of liberty in the hearts of those people of the far away islands. Thus was begun a war which will leave a black spot upon our country ' s hitherto stainless character. Volunteers many in number were called for. and now after three years of hard fighting the Filipinos have been almost overpowered. The Administra-

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386 THE CLEMSOX COLLEGE CHRONICLE The second is : that the policy of conquest is entailing an immense debt upon the people of the United States. The statistics put the cost last year as eighty million dollars, mak- ing a total cost since the war began of over three hundred million dollars. Although real war has practically ceased, a war of conquest is bound to leave its legacy of hatred rank- ling in the breast of the conquered. Experienced officers tell us that it will take an army of thirty thousand men to garrison the islands for thirty years. The average cost per annum for a soldier is fifteen-hundred dollars ; hence to keep such an army as is needed there, requires the expenditure of one billion four hundred and fifty million dollars. Besides this enormous loss in dollars and cents, we have the many thousand lives sacrificed on the battlefield and in the hos- pitals. We have already sent one hundred and twenty thou- sand men to those islands ; how many we have left there and how many have returned to fill early graves God only knows. There are some who would justify this sacrifice of life and money upon the ground that it offers a field for increased commercial possibilities. Against the sordid doctrine of those who would put a price upon the head of an American soldier and justify a war of conquest upon the ground that it will pay, I desire to place the philosophy of Franklin, who said, To me, it seems that neither the obtaining nor retain- ing of trade is an object for which men may justly spill each others blood. Then, there is the further fact that our commerce in those islands has not increased, although we have owned them for three year-. We exported t them last year goods to the amount of a little over two million dollars, most of which was for our army, while Great Britain exported over twice as much. Ladies and gentlemen, it is not necessary to own a people before we can trade with them. The idea that we can control the Oriental trade through