Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, TUESDAY, APRIL 30, 1907. THE PHILIPPINES.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10959, 30 April 1907, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, TUESDAY, APRIL 30, 1907. THE PHILIPPINES.

When at the conclusion of the war with Spain nine years ago the United Statebecame possessed .of the Philippines, » Puerto Rico, and Cuba, it was freely i 8 predicted that Uncle Sam had "bitten off I ■- a good deal more than he could possibly che»v." Subsequent event, appeared Ho fully justify this expressive colloquial . statement. The United. States Govern;v ment were very glad after they had Secured, at ho little trouble and expense, pacification of the island, to give babk , control to the people of Cuba, who have _ now more or less settled government. With the Philippines, however, they wer & not able to escape their .self -imposed burden, and the future of this extensive archipelago still remains a r great problem for American statesmen. Nine years' occupation of the islands has given the United States no greater fixity of tenure' than it had when it brought them under the Stars and Stripes. The bellicose inhabitants of .the interior still refuse to be ' pacified, and America has to retain a large fore© at the islands to preserve' a semblance of order. It is only at the main seaports and on the fringe of the country that I peaceful settlement is allowed to exist, f and the United States has as yet had no real chance of developing the great commeroial possibilities of an intensely fertile •group. It is nob surprising, therefore, tliat we should hear from a source of high authority that there is developing m tlie i, minds of American statesmen, tired of bearing indefinitely the white man's bur- . den, a project for removing, tlie Philippines for ever from the field of international politics, and rendering them no I longer subject" to the fortuities of war be- \ tween. the United States and any other nation. The proposal, which is to secure neutralisation of the island, is given pub. licity to by the Washington correspondent of the London 'Tribune; who points out J that the burden of- the Philippines has not seemed lighter as tlie years' have passed since, by the Treaty, of Paris, these islands were transferred to the United States ; and thoughtful men m the Senate and m the Administration are not satisfied that the problems surrounding American , proprietorship m the islands have been permanently settled. High authorities on the subject, like Secretary Taft, believe that the 'best progress possible m the administration., of.- affaire m the Philippines hot) been accomplished by the American Government ; and so far as the internal affairs of the archipelago arc concerned there is no serious cause of uneasiness. But nobody with knowledge believes that native self-government is otherwise than remote. The' immediate problem, so far as the United States Government is concerned, ;.is Hhe wise administration of the inteiiial affairs of the Phil, ippihe Islands m such a way as to. promote the prosperity of the. inhabitants and to prepare them for some 6orl of autonomy. The commercial value of the islands to the United States, was. a thing to conjure with m 1899, when tlie Paris Treaty mus trembling m the balance of ratification, but it is a fact that m the calendar year 1906 the total commerce between the States and those islands was not hulf as great as that between tlie States and either Alaska, Hawaii, or Puerto Rico. Not unnaturally, those senators, even among the ruling political party, who regretted the necessity of accepting the Iburdeu of the .Philippines m 1899, still fail to see any strong compensating advantage m tliis far-distant possession which the country has -assumed. ■ Thoughtful men, therefore, are looking into the future. Apart from the immediate problem of administration there is the question- of what might happen should the United States become involved m an international war. „At this very time the people, on the Pacific coast of , the United Stated are dissatisfied because the Navy Department, is keeping a great fleet m the Orient, and only. a. few vessels of the cruiser and gunboat classes m home waters of tlie Pacific. It is one of the problems before the General Board of the Navy; for it is recognised that both the west coast station and the Asiatic station should be kept as strong as possible. In the ©vent of Mar with Japan the distribution of the American naval forces on the Pacific would probably become a very nice question indeed, since these islands, .thou-' sands of miles from the mainland of the United States, must be defended 'as an American possession. The plan for neutralisation recognises the fact that each of the leading Powers of the world prefers that the United States should own the Philippines rather, than that any. other Power (except itself) should own them. It i s held that even England, although allied by treaty with Japan, would prefer the continuance of' American authority 'to

tho advent of Japanese authority m the islands. It is the belief, therefore, that, m the event of a war between the United States and any one of tlie Powers, there would be genuine anxiety among the other Powers lest the islands should be wrested from American authority. With every threat of war involving the United States would come uncertainty throughout Europe with reference to the disposition of tlie Philippines ; and the islands might easily Ibecome a bone of contention among the nations, producing constant uncertainty and frequent international strife. To make tlie islands neutral ground among all the Powers would remdve a cause ol anxiety not only from the United States Government, but from the leading nations of Europe. To render the plan practicable, of course, no military base could be utilised m these islands by any nation, not even the United States; and since, under the neutralisation arrangement, th© Philippines could not be seized by any Power, the American Government would be under no necessity of defending them.