Article January 5, 1899 Issue

The Control of the Coloníes

In a thoughtful editorial on "The Control of the Colonies," the Boston Herald says:—

While England is not the only colonizing nation in the world, it is generally admitted that it is the one which has achieved the greatest measure of success in operations of this kind. England is the only country in the world which possesses colonies and dependencies that are loyally attached to the mother country, and, as we wish to govern by affection and well-founded self-interest on the part of the colonists, we should be blind to the obvious teachings of experience if we did not carefully study, and, as far as we could, adapt her methods to meet our own case. The English colonial system has been built up by slow degrees, often as the outcome of hard experiences arising from the practice of bad methods, methods which have been discontinued after their unfortunate results have been discontinued. What we must endeavor to do is, to place ourselves in the position of inhabitants of these various possessions, and endeavor in this way to formulate such laws and regulations as we should adopt for our own well-being if we were thus circumstanced. We must consider what is good for the Filipinos, what is best calculated to build up their industries and encourage their public spirit, more than what is best calculated immediately to promote the enlargement of our own trade. This may seem a sentimental method of treating dependencies, and, if England's experience could not be pointed to as an emphatic indorsement of its practical value, it might be asserted to be altogether too sublimated a method to warrant adoption. But when it is found that in the practices of the world it is the only sure and solid tie by which colonies and dependencies can be bound to the mother country, we should not. permit selfish interests to stand in the way of its adoption.

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