The Argus Democrat and Ypsilanti Weekly Times

FRIDAY, MARCH 3, 1899.

Isn't General Otis a little careless in killing so many Filipinos? He should remember they cost Uncle Sam $2 a piece in cold cash.

General Otis has cleared a semi-circle of about 12 miles radius round about Manila of Filipinos in 20 days of sharp work. During this time he has also captured Iloilo and Cebu. He has also taught the Filipinos some costly but valuable lessons. They probably do not love us more as a result of the 20 days experiences, but they may have a little more wholesome respect for us. This in time may beget a higher regard.

Chief Surgeon W. H. Daily, of Gen. Miles' staff, who is the author of the report on which the general based his beef charge is a graduate of the Michigan University. He is of Scotch-Irish descent, saw service in the confederte medical crops during the civil war. He is a self made man, a great lover of hunting and fishing, belongs to the British and American Medical Associations and is way up in his profession. His home is now in Pittsburg, Penn.

The question he discussed Saturday night at Ann Arbor was one already settled. - Ypsilantian.

Thus remarks the learned editor of our esteemed contemporay of the Greek city relative to Bryan's speech on Imperialism. But evidently President McKinley does not agree with him for he said in his recent Boston speech that the question is now before the American people for determination. "You pay your money and takes your choice." Maybe the president does not know aud the editor of Ypsilantian does.

It must have been a heart warming occasion for old Gen. Gomez when he rode into Havana the other day under the conditions which greeted him. The honors paid him by his countrymen and the Americans were such as are caculated to touch the heart. He has spent a large part of his long life in fighting for the independence of Cuba from Spanish rule. This has at last been accomplished and if the Cubans are wise in their day and generation they need have no trouble with Uncle Sam. Gen. Gomez is justly entitled to feel gratified at what has been accomplished and to feel proud of the honors shown him.

The only things which marred the flow of republican spirit at the Michigan Club on the birthday of the paternal parent of his country were the speeches of hizzexcellency and Attorney General Monnett, of Ohio. They said too much about the hold the trusts have on the g. o. p. and the people to please the mass of those present. But it should not be forgotten that Ex-President Harrison said as much in his Chicago speech of one year ago. He arraigned the trusts for their sins and declared they should not be permitted to have rights not allowed to the mass of the people and individual citizens not in a corporation. Edward S. Lacy, formerly of this state and controller of the currency under Harrison, in his speech before the bankers' convention in Detroit, gave utterance to familiar warning. These men are not professional agitators. They are not men of straw. There must be dangers in existing conditions which impel such conservative men to use such language.

The commission which has been struggling with the differences between Canada and the United States for the past six months adjourned the other day without having completed anything. They are to meet again in August. The irreconscible differences grow out of the protective policy. The American congress placed a two dollar tariff on Canadian lumber for the benefit of our lumber barons. Canada retaliated by placing an export duty on their timber. This prevents the owners of large tracts of Canadian pine on this side from manufacturing their timber into timber without paying a heavy duty to the Canadian government which would eat up the profits. Apparently the only way to settle these differences is for Canada to apply for admission to the union. If her commissioners will come to the August meeting, with such a proposition it will be entertained. In no other way probably can the two countries be induced to stop "chewing the rag" of protection to the detriment of both. There would be advantages to both countries in political union.

The following from the speech of Seth Low, president of Columbia university, on Washington's birthday, in the Academy of Music, Philadelphia, is worthy of careful consideration by every citizen who desires to approach the great issue now before the country in a spirit of fairness. If our people study the question of what our policy shall be toward the Philippines in the spirit of the seeker after truth, leaving politics out of it as completely as possible there is little doubt but that their decision will be right. President Low spoke as follows:

"Unless our treaty with Spain has been dictated by lust of empire, it is not fair to call those who advocated it imperialists; unless it has been dictated by lust of territory, it is not fair to call them expansionists, unless a better way can be shown by which peace could have been secured, it is not just to criticise the government for accepting even unwelcome oblgations that the war has brought in its train. Undoubtedly the United States should and undoubtedly we shall give to the natives of the Philippines as great a measure of self-government as they are capable of exercising, but we could not in justice to civilization assume in our treaty with Spain a capacity for civilized government on the part of the natives which has never been shown to exist."

The higher education of women in Japan has met with a rude shock. Some years ago the higher education of women took on something of the nature of a fad and great progress was made. But the sweet girl graduates whose mind had become expanded with education, refused to submit to the condition of servitude which exists there in the homes. It seems that the status of the wife is that of a servant and that whatever rights or privileges or protection she enjoys depend upon the generosity of the husband. She is regarded as having no soul and the husband may discard her whenever she does not please him. Now the young women who had acquired something of higher education, refused to submit to such humiliating conditions and then the young men refused to marry any young woman who had a modern education. They could not stand the self respect and independence which education had inspired in the girl graduates. As a result the schools became unpopular and many of them were cloeed. Later a re-action set in and in 1898 there were more schools for women and more young women students than ever before. An interesting fact in all this is that the men, the lords of creation, had to have a rest, as it were. They could not grasp the idea that their mothers and wives and daughters were the same kind of clay as themselves. When they caught up with the procession, however, and were able to realize in some measure this truth the schools were again opened and the education of the womeu continued.