Artistic R. O. Scott Memorials A. W. Horton may be true, but if the Filipinos persist in their demand for complete independence, if present 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 inpendence after a period of ten years, by a fairly large section of Filipino opinion, and in he 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 iberi 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 ihe 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 request was unlikely to receive favourable consideration by Great Britain, for there was no: reason, despite the undeniable wealth of ihe islands, why she should extend her com-mitements 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. McNutt is very emphatic on the subject for he dramatically announces that "I venture to predict that if our flag comes down, the Philippines will 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 con tion of the people of the islands as facing "a 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 legislation 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. McNutt points out, and very rightly, too, 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
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.