CONTROL OF DEPENDENCIES 389 



Having celebrated annually for more than a hundred years the 

 attainment of independence as our greatest national festival, we are 

 likely to lay much stress on political independence and regard it, 

 everywhere and under all conditions, as the paramount political 

 good. But it is quite possible that this is an exaggerated view. An 

 impartial examination of it is presupposed in a critical discussion of 

 a nation's colonial policy and administration; and when it is deter- 

 mined that in the present state of international politics the barba- 

 rian tribes or rude peoples have not, under the actual demand for 

 universal intercourse, the opportunity for independent development, 

 part of the basis of the claim that such tribes or peoples should be 

 independent appears to fall away. 



In view of these considerations, it becomes necessary to recognize 

 dependence, or union with some great nation, as inevitable in these 

 cases. For the inhabitants of regions like the Dutch East Indies, 

 the Philippines, and similar countries there is practically no alterna- 

 tive to control by some superior power. The question of the inde- 

 pendence of such countries in the present political state of the 

 world is a purely academic question. Dependence in these cases is 

 not only inevitable, but it may also be advantageous for the social 

 body over which authority is exercised. The advantage, however, 

 does not appear in all cases. The advantage to such communities 

 brought under foreign control appears when that control is exercised 

 by a liberal and enlightened nation. They become associated with 

 representatives of a higher form of life, and acquire a knowledge of 

 the arts by which wealth is increased and the physical well-being 

 of a community is promoted. They become familiar with the more 

 effective modes of social organization. They learn the language of 

 an enlightened people, and through it they are brought under the 

 influences that make for cultivation. The dependent body is drawn 

 into the current of the superior nation's life, and is carried along by 

 the momentum of its progress. There is, moreover, no necessary 

 connection between political independence and personal liberty. 

 Paraguay threw off the rule of Spain and was politically independent 

 under Dr. Francia. After the death of Francia, the Paraguayans, 

 still independent, fell under the even more brutal domination of 

 Lopez. To them independence brought only tyranny and disaster. 

 Under independence the nation was broken under the heel of an 

 absolute ruler and led into wars that brought it to the verge of ex- 

 tinction. Independence is not a universal social remedy, nor every- 

 where a sure introduction to a higher phase of political life. 



The dominant political ideal of the societies now on the lower 

 level of civilization is that of arbitrary personal rule. The Javanese 

 accepted the decrees of their native princes as if they were the inevi- 

 table decrees of fate. The subjects of the native princes of India have 



