57 Presidential Addresses 



islands with any reference to considerations of po- 

 litical influence, or to aught else save the fitness of 

 the man and the needs of the service. 



In our anxiety for the welfare and progress o-f the 

 Philippines, it may be that here and there we have 

 gone too rapidly in giving them local self-govern- 

 ment. It is on this side that our error, if any, has 

 been committed. No competent observer, sincerely 

 desirous of finding out the facts and influenced only 

 by a desire for the welfare of the natives, can assert 

 that we have not gone far enough. We have gone 

 to the very verge of safety in hastening the process. 

 To have taken a single step further or faster in ad- 

 vance would have been folly and weakness, and 

 might well have been crime. We are extremely anx- 

 ious that the natives shall show the power of gov- 

 erning themselves. We are anxious, first for their 

 sakes, and next, because it relieves us of a great 

 burden. There need not be the slightest fear of our 

 not continuing to give them all the liberty for which 

 they are fit. 



The only fear is lest in our overanxiety we give 

 them a degree of independence for which they are 

 unfit, thereby inviting reaction and disaster. As fast 

 as there is any reasonable hope that in a given dis- 

 trict the people can govern themselves, self-govern- 

 ment has been given in that district. There is not a 

 locality fitted for self-government which has not re- 

 ceived it. But it may well be that in certain cases 

 it will have to be withdrawn because the inhabitants 

 show themselves unfit to exercise it; such instances 



