The Philippine Imperialist Mistake
THE Washington Post says: “Undoubtedly Congress shares the almost unanimous conviction that our rush into the Orient as a colonizing power was a deplorable mistake.” This is part of a comment by the Post on a quotation from a Boston Republican paper, which says that “deep in their hearts the members of Congress are to-day sick of the Philippine experiment. . . . Like a child with a new toy, Congress took the Philippines all a-tremble with eager interest, but now that it has taken the toy apart and seen the works, it is wholly ready to discard it.” But it is now too late to discard the “toy;” it is too late to turn back from the imperialistic pathway. A fearful price in blood and treasure, closer relations with Rome, the turning down of the Constitution, and an unlimited prospect of future trouble when Japan or some other formidable power shall turn covetous eyes on the islands, are the fruits of this “deplorable mistake.” Just government is now held to require only the consent of “some” of the governed. The nation is fast preparing to act the part assigned it in the prophecy of Revelation 13.