National Duties 243 



islanders themselves. Under the wise administra 

 tion of Governor Taft the islands now enjoy a peace 

 and liberty of which they have hitherto never even 

 dreamed. But this peace and liberty under the law 

 must be supplemented by material, by industrial de 

 velopment. Every encouragement should be given 

 to their commercial development, to the introduction 

 of American industries and products ; not merely be 

 cause this will be a good thing for our people, but 

 infinitely more because it will be of incalculable bene 

 fit to the people in the Philippines. 



We shall make mistakes ; and if we let these mis 

 takes frighten us from our work we shall show our 

 selves weaklings. Half a century ago Minnesota 

 and the two Dakotas were Indian hunting-grounds. 

 We committed plenty of blunders, and now and then 

 worse than blunders, in our dealings with the In 

 dians. But who does not admit at the present day 

 that we were right in wresting from barbarism and 

 adding to civilization the territory out of which we 

 have made these beautiful States? And now we 

 are civilizing the Indian and putting him on a level 

 to which he could never have attained under the old 

 conditions. 



In the Philippines let us remember that the spirit 

 and not the mere form of government is the essential 

 matter. The Tagalogs have a hundredfold the free 

 dom under us that they would have if we had aban- 



