s none of our business. Moreover, before
pronouncing upon the matter, we should in all fairness hear the other
side, although it does look as though the electric wire fence must be
admitted. But there is enough in what is reported from Formosa to give
us pause when we consider the possibility of parting with the control
of the Philippine Islands, whether to Japan or to any other nation.

In so far as the wild tribes of the Archipelago are concerned, we have
made a happy beginning; we owe it to our self-respect to carry on the
work to a happy end. This we can do by heeding the simplest of rules:
Leave well alone.

The Independence of the Philippines.

"Am I my brother's keeper?" _Genesis iv. 9._

"If we lose sight of the welfare of the people in a creed or a phrase
or a doctrine, we have taken leave of our intelligence, and we have
proved ourselves unfit for leadership."--_A Letter to Uncle Sam._

Shall we give their independence to the Philippines? To this question
an answer is still to be made by the American people. Not only do
we not know whether we shall give this independence or not, but we
have not yet decided whether we ought to or not. Even if we could
suppose that the country had made up its mind on the subject, it
would still be true that no competent authority has considered the
manner in which our country would translate its desires into action,
whether in one direction or another.

The reason of this state of affairs is not far to seek: our people
neither know anything about these islands, nor do they care anything
about them. Perhaps it is more accurate to say that our ignorance is
the logical result of our indifference. The Islands are far away, as
it were, inhabited by a different race, busied, on the whole, about
things that form no part of our life, whether national or private. We
have, as a people, bestowed no serious thought upon them; we have
not yet raised the disposition to be made of them to the dignity of
a national question.

I.

The Philippines became ours by the fortune of war. On the subsidence
of the immediate questions raised by the war, we have continued
in the ownership of the Islands without concerning ourselves thus
far as to the ultimate place they are to occupy in our national
ecomony. Of this state of affairs, but one opinion can be expressed:
it is extraordinary. Even in a grossly material point of view,
our attitude is indefensible; if we regard ourselves a