THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1925. PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19125, 17 September 1925, Page 8

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1925. PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENCE.

When victory over Spain left the United States in possession of the Philippines, the legacy had a doubtful value. Many Americans were for getting rid of them as quickly as possible, so alien to their thought was any territorial interest overseas. Even the Government was at pains to impress upon the Filipinos that American occupation did not mean permanent sovereignty. There was an obvious and expressed disinclination to extend American rule so far from Home. How far afield the Philippines are is best realised by adding to geographical measurement the regard in which they have been held by earlier , owners. By the Portuguese, their first Western discoverers and rulers, they were called Islas de Oriente; they marked the eastern boundary of Portugal's world. By the Spaniards they were renamed Islas do Poniente, in token bf their being on the western limit of Spanish sway. The seizure of these Old World frontier islands by America was certainly a strange encroachment by a nation making much of its exclusive attachment to the New. Centuries were turned j back and half a world crossed, in a trico. It was a concession to conscience when the Filipinos were told emphatically that America had, not come to stay, in successive revolts the Filipinos had tried to throw off the grievous Spanish yoke. The first known uprising was in 1574; the first considerable success came in 1896, when!the entire archipelago, with the exception of Manila, was taken ba<?k from Spain a.nd the Philippine Republic established. A longing for independence is consequently running deep in Filipino blood. The delegation now in America, headed by the president of the island Senate, goes to Washington with more than a whim; and the United States cannot dismiss this plea for national freedom as if it were of no moment.

The hope of the Filipinos that the United States will restore the fruits of long struggle against Spainfruits that American occupation suddenly snatched away—has been encouraged by America. At first, it is true, there wq,s a, considered attempt, despite assurance to xhe contrary, to make the islands another State in the Union. A few Filipinos were persuaded to further this aim. The vast majority would have none of it. They resented the decree prohibiting agitation for independence as disloyalty t© the United States. They pleaded for permission to organise an independence party; and, when this was yielded, with the exasperating proviso that the word "independence" was to be cut out of their platform, they had spirit enough to scorn the empty concession. At length, in 1916, the American Congress passed the Philippine Autonomy Act, generally spoken of as "the Jones bill." It provided for "present autonomy and future independence." As a ! result, there are Filipino municipal government, Filipino provincial government, a Filipino Legislature, Filipino representation in the United States Congress, and many more Filipinos than Americans in executive and judicial positions. But with an American GovernorGeneral responsible to the American President, an American majority on the Supreme Court bench, where interpretation of constitutional points rests, and plenary power in the hands of Congress, control still resides in the United States. Yet it does not purport to remain there indefinitely, When the Philippine Legislature sent its first independence mission to the United States in 1919, President Wilson was in Paris; but he sent a significant message. "I am sorry," he said, "that I cannot look in the faces of the gentlemen of this mission from the Philippines and tell them what I have in mind and heart as I think of their patient labour with the end almost in sight." That message went through his Secretary for War, who* on his part said: "I think I express the prevailing opinion in the United States when I say we believe the time has substantially come, if not quite come, when the Philippine Islands can be allowed to sever the

mere formal political tie remaining and become an indepsndent people." In the following year President Wilson recommended Congress to grant independence, as the Filipinos had fulfilled the one condition stipulated—they had established stable government in the islands. > That was five years ago, and Congress has since repeatedly rejected the Filipinos' plea. They sent a second mission in 1922, and another in 1924, all to no purpose. Last year several measures providing for Philippine independence were before Congress, without avail. The attitude of the majority in Congress is dictated by diverse motives. Party politics are more than a little responsible : that the independence of the Philippines was an item in the Democrats' programme is not forgotten by Republicans with good party memories. It has been urged that the Filipinos do not now so eagerly want it :> General Wood, the last Governor-General, has said so. That it would not bfe good for them has been loudly declared. President Coolidge has pointedly advanced the need for the "protecting arm" of the United States. But the influence of shrewdly self-centred reasons has played a large part. America frankly wishes to safeguard her trade in the Orient and to this end wants a naval base and coaling Btation there. Good reasons these latter, doubtless, but hardly such as to satisfy the delegation. Against General Wood's statement is continued Filipino agitation, and together with his criticism must be read both the Filipinos' strictures on his high-handed administration and his own admissions of their "auspicious progress and stability." They have certainly a strong case to present to a people openly prizing national freedom and Republican government.