Life — January 19, 1899 — page 4: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ife there's Hope.” ARY 19, 1899. No, S42, New You. Publi very Thursday, $5.00 a year tn ad- er Peteaxe co forelan countries it the Postal Deayear extra. Single current, coples, lcents. Back numbers, after three months from date of publication, 2 ceots. No contribution will be returned unless accompanied by stamped and addressed encelope, The illustrations in Live are copyrighted, aul are wot to be reproduced reithout speciat arrangement rith the publishers. Prompt notification should be sent by sub- scribers of any change of address, M R. CROKER has come out in favor of expansion, Thatis good. We need his help, In the j statement of his position furnished to the newspa- pers. he says: If the great country west of the Rocky Mountains were filled with wild Indians at the present moment, how long would it take us to sup- press them and make them respect our laws and Constituuon? The same thing appiles to the Philip: pines, It {s an insult to the Amertcan people and to our fag to suggest that we atandon the peoples we have released from bondage. The inference is that, in Mr. Croker’s opinion, we should make it our immediate business to instill into the Filipinos re- spect for our laws and Constitution by processes analogous to those we have found effective in our dealings with the Indians. That is, we should thrash them promptly and thoroughly, if vecessary, and perhaps pen them up in reservations under military guard. Mr. Croker evi- dently recognizes the possibilities of the situation and has a stomach equal to it. Very many of us are more squeamish, and need the support of his firm ex- ample. We bate like anything to thrash the Filipinos, especially as we have to goso far to do it,and there seems so little in it for us when the job is done. But, as Mr. Croker correctly states, “it is insulting to suggest that we should abandon a people that we have released from bondage.” He feels that we must stick to them, whether there is a profit in itor not. ‘It is too great a question.” he says, “to be considered as a mere matter of dollars aud cents, Our people want their rights protected; they will not figure on the cost.” To be sure, COPYRIGHT FOR GREAT BRITAIN BY J. “LIFE* What account shall we make of money when our rights are at stake! Our rights? Yes, indeed, the rights of the Filipinos, We took them away from Spain, and their rights are ours now, and if anyone tries to get them away from us some- thing will drop. GAIN Mr. Croker says: Our country tems with young men fail of life, bope and ambition. Why not give these young men a chance to develop our newly Acquired possessions? I say by all means hold on to all that rightfully belongs tous... 6... When the question Is brought to an Issue our people will rise as one man and demand ex- pansion as a sacred right. He is the only man who has had the courage to group all the reasons for expansion in one brief and comprehensive discourse, The usual way has been to spread them out and keep them separate. To the common mind there is an appear- ance of conflict between the ideas of sticking to the people we have freed and that of resubjugating them, and using the country they live in for the possible benetit of our likely young men. Most arguers, accordingly, have used the duty- to-the-liberated argument on Mondays and Thursdays, and the chance-for-our- young-men argument on Tuesdays and Fridays, laying stress on Wednesdays and Saturdays on the difficulties of the situation and the probability that if we don’t act someone else will. But Mr. Croker blends all considerations, and his mixture is bound to do the business for avyone who can keep it down, As for those whose insides are inclined to be restless, they must go on feebly hoping that the Filipinos will be reason- able and welcome the assistance and authority of Mr. Croker’s young friends, or else, if our liberated friends insist on being allowed to run that part of our country which they inhabit, that means will be found to give them the fullest opportunity for governmental experi- ment that their appareat capacity may seem to warrant. HERE are rumors of friction he. tween General Wood at Santiago and General Brooke at Havana over HENDERSON certain details of administration in Cuba. General Brooke is head Governor, and, as such, doubtless bas some degree of authority over the other military Guv- ernors. He is a Major-General of the regular army, and has a high reputation as asoldier. He alsoseems to have some renown as a person with a gift for rub- bing folks the wrong way. The general public does not know General Brooke as intimately as it hopes to know him, but it would regret to see him commended to its special attention as the man who had the row with General Wood. Gen- eral Wood, by all accounts, is one of the best-tempered and most efficient and worthy men the late war brought out, If he and General Brooke don’t hit it off, it is impossible that the gencral pub- lic should not wonder what ails General Brooke. ~O-f A’ Havana newspaper assumes to believe that it knows who blew up the Maine, and gives out that it is on the trail of the criminal and hopes to make apparent bis connection with his crime. Havana uewspapers, like newspapers elsewhere, may overestimate the value of what they profess to know, and be oversanguine about proving what they wish to disclose; but the persons who blew up the Maine are still in request, and anyone who is really prepared to show them up can have the chvuice of position and type for his news in every daily paper in this country, OVERNOR ROOSEVELT has found, and at this writing still finds, extreme difficulty in refilling the office of Superintendent of Public Works. The trouble seems to be that the Governor wants a first-rate engincer to take a two years’ job ata salary of six thousand dollarsa sear. No wonder he is having trouble, Uncle Sam can get good engincers tor .ittle money, because he educates them and insures them steady employment. The State of New York should do one of two things: either maintain a State engineer corps like Uncle Sam’s, or else arrange to pay the market price for the work it requires.