34 



REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



March 1, 1013. 



II.-HOW PRESIDENT WILSON'S ELECTION MAY 



AFFECT US. 



We are won't here to take but little 

 interest in the internal politics of our 

 cousins in the United States. But the 

 arrival to power of the Democrats, after 

 sixteen years sojourn in the cold shades 

 of opposition, may soon have results 

 which will force themselves upon our 

 attention. We realise more and more 

 each day that the balance of power in 

 the Pacific is a matter of vital concern 

 to us. At present the Americans occupy 

 the Philippines, and consequently form 

 a barrier between Australia and that 

 Yellow Peril which so haunts the im- 

 agination of our politicians. What if 

 they withdrew from those islands? It 

 is estimated that the occupation costs 

 every man, woman and child in the 

 States over los. a head per annum to 

 maintain. One of the foremost planks 

 in the Democratic platform is the grant- 

 ing of independence to the Filipinos, 

 as soon as a stable Government can be 

 established. Such indej:)endence to be 

 guaranteed by .American until the 

 neutralisation of the islands can be 

 secured by treaty with other powers. 

 Although President Wilson, and, still 

 more, Chief Secretary Bryan, are 

 pledged to evacuation, they may find 

 it almost impossible to reverse the Re- 

 publican policy of the last ten years, 

 which has been for permanent retention. 

 Still they will try hard to follow the 

 mandate of their party in this and other 

 respects. 



IF AMERICA LEAVES THE PHILIPPINES. 



Our chief concern is how the disap- 

 pearance of America from our side of 

 the Pacific affects us. Obviously it 

 would be followed by an entire altera- 

 tion in her attitude to China. She now 

 takes her place with the other great 

 powers who have vital interests in or 

 near the Celestial Republic. Once out 

 of the Philippines, the main reason for 

 her desire to influence Oriental politics 

 will have gone. Her interest will no 

 longer be personal. It will mean the 

 disappearance of an important influence 

 on the side of peace from Oriental 



councils. As long, however, as the 

 Philippines are protected by the powers, 

 it will be impossible for Japan, for in- 

 stance, to discover that the Filipinos 

 needed assistance in governing them- 

 selves, but the moment a European war 

 broke out the Philippines would ^e at 

 the mercy of the strongest fleet, guaran- 

 tee or no gviarantee. At present to 

 annex the smallest island in the gr:)up 

 would mean war with the United States. 

 To annex the whole Archipelago if in- 

 dependent would mean war with die 

 whole world — or with nobody ; and a 

 temporary occupation of harbours r>i;d 

 ports during a general war would be 

 almost inexitable. If we really do be- 

 lieve in the Yellow Peril, anything 

 which makes it easier for the Orientals 

 to reach Australia is bound to affect us. 

 We cannot, therefore, but hope that Pre- 

 sident W^ilson will be unable to realise 

 the Democratic desire in this case. 



WILL THE MONROE DOCTRINE BE 

 ABANDONED ? 

 Another plank of the Democratic 

 Party is the abandonment of the ad- 

 vanced application of the Monroe doc- 

 trine, now recognised by the Republican 

 Government? Logically, this means 

 that America should no longer stand 

 behind an)- Go\ernment or faction in 

 South and Central America, but allow 

 the people of those States to settle their 

 own disputes in their own way ; that 

 the United States should no longer take 

 charge of the Customs houses and re- 

 Venues of these Latin Republics to settle 

 claims on them made by European 

 Powers. If President Wilson does carry 

 out the Democratic Party's expressed 

 wishes in this matter, two things seem 

 inevitable. The first is that there will 

 at once be a recrudescence of revolutions 

 in the smaller States. Control of the 

 finances is the aim of every revolution- 

 ary leader — at present the United States 

 denies him this, and the chief cause and 

 object of insurrection in a Latin Re- 

 public has thus disappeared. The 

 second is that if the United States no 



