Mr. Paul V. McNutt, U.S. High Commissioner to the Philippines, has issued a grave warning as to the possible fate of those {islands should there not be the indefinite continuation of the United States sovereignty over them, while granting their inhabitants! all possible autonomy and the "best trade deal possible" He urged that 'America should reserve to itself jurisdiction over the Islands' foreign affairs, tariffs, immigration, currency and public debt problems. It may be thought that the remnants leit to the Filipinos of the independence they are at resent to secure would not amount to much, but there can be no doubt about it that they cannot have full independence and at the same time the protection which will be necessary the Philippines are to continue as they are now. It has been said by a Japanese publicist that it did not matter what flag flew over the Philippines so long as the Japanese controlled their trade. To a great extent that may be true, but if the Filipinos persist in their demand for complete independence, if resent developments in the Far East continue to what appears to be their logical end, they may one day find that they would have merely changed flags and gained nothing. That has been felt, since the passing of the legislation giving the Filipinos complete independence after a period of ten years, by fairly large section of Filipino opinion, and in the course of one of his frequent visits to the Far East, Mr, Roy Howard made investigations into the matter. He found this sentiment to be so strong that some Filipinos even then talking about asking the United States Congress for readmission into the American commonwealth, were of the opinion that should this be refused: they should petition the British Empire with a similar request.
At the time Mr, Howard's article on the subject appeared in these columns, this Journal expressed the opinion that.such a Fequest was unlikely to receive favourable consideration by Great Britain, for there was no reason, despite the undeniable wealth of the islands, why she should extend her eommitements in the Far East by such means. It is doubtful whether any other Power would Accept so grave a liability, and the issue seems to resolve itself into two alternatives—either the United States should maintain what after all amounts to suzerainty over the Philippine Islands, or they should be given complete freedom' even at the risk of their eventually being absorbed by Japan. Mr. MeNutt is very emphatic on the subject for he dramatically announces that "I venture to predict that if our flag comes down, the Philippines wilt be the bloody ground' of a war within a war for a generation." But there are not only such considerations as. these which have to be recognized. Independence would have the effect of making the Filipinos aliens so far as the United States is concerned with all the disabilities that that would entail, and Mr. McNutt sums up the ultimate condition of the people of the islands as facing real threat of racial extinction......and economic disaster attendant upon the sudden loss of the American market." It may very well be argued that these considerations must have been well within the knowledge of the Filipino leaders who so energetically agitated for independence in Washington, and before Congress when it was considering the legisla tion which was then passed. That is true, but then, the High Commissioner speaks of the changed- conditions which have arisen since. They are of a political nature and cut right to the roots of the whole of the Philippines problem, Mr. MeNutt points out, and very rightly, oe, that treaties regarding the Far East have been violated, the open door has been more than seriously challenged and the American policy of freedom of the seas and of the air is in the balance. At the time the Philippines Independence Act was passed international morality, even then somewhat attenuated, had not lapsed so badly as it since has. There was some hope that, on a basis of the right to self-determination and international goodwill, the Filipinos might have been allowed to work out their own destiny unhampered by any sort of control. Such a hope has been denied by all that has occurred in the Far East since. Even if it were Possible to negotiate a treaty amongst the Powers recognizing and guaranteeing the independence of the islands, there would be little reason to expect, judging from all that has happened in recent years, that it would have any greater binding force than other and similar instruments which have been flagrantly disregarded by some of the parties to them. That being the case the independent Philippines would be thrown upon their own resources for their defence against aggression. Those resources are insignificant as compared with the "Oriental Power which has been taking so great an interest in the Philippines question, and it naturally follows that without the powerful backing which the United States can give, the Filipinos would be completely rigable to stand alone against the developments which are normally to be expected. These facts a section of Filipino public opinion is beginning to realize. They commence to understand that complete independence has its grave dangers, while a degree of self-autonomy under the wing of a powerful nation is about the most they can hope to expect and certainly the safest, It remains to be seen whether public opinion in the United States will readily adopt the view which Mr, MeNutt has so ably put forward. To so many in the western hemisphere questions such as this have but an academic importance, and as a result they are apt to be lethargic. If, therefore, it takes as long to induce Congress to modify its attitude as did to persuade it to give the Filipinos the independence which is now coming to them, the Inter may yet find themselves outside' the American commonwealth,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.