President William McKinley had been
in
a quandry for some time as to what to do with the Philippines. The
issue
preyed strongly on McKinley, a very
religious
man. Finally, as a visiting delegation of the General Missionary
Committee
of the Methodist Episcopal Church was about to leave his presence, the
president called them back and explained his reasons for deciding to
retain
the Philippines. His reason for revealing this explanation to this
particular
group was apparently because it showed how his faith had guided him in
the decision.
"And one night late it came to me this way - I don't know how it
was, but it came: (1) That we could not give them back to Spain - that
would be cowardly and dishonorable; (2) that we could not turn them
over
to France or Germany - our commercial rivals in the Orient - that would
be bad business and discreditable; (3) that we could not leave them to
themselves - they were unfit for self-government - and they would soon
have anarchy and misrule over there worse than Spain's was; and (4)
that
there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to
educate
the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them, and by
God's
grace do the very best we could by them, as our fellow men for whom
Christ
also died. And then I went to bed and went to sleep and slept
soundly."
(As a service to our readers, clicking on title in red will take you to that book on Amazon.com)
Millis, Walter, The Martial Spirit. (Cambridge: The Riverside Press, 1931) 383-384.