The military and colonial policy of the United States; addresses and reports by Elihu Root

Front matter

BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE

r

SAG E E N DO W IVI Eim ^F.U ^D.

PART I The Ameeican Soldier .... 3

Address at the Marquette Club, Chicago, October 7, 1899.

The Character and Office of the American Army . 15 Address at a Banquet at Canton, Ohio, January 27, 1903, in Honor of the Birthday of the late President Mc- Kinley.

"The United States and the Philippines in 1900 . . 27 Address at Canton, Ohio, October 24, 1900.

American Policies in the Philippines in 1902 ... 65

Address at Peoria, Illinois, September 24, 1902.

Address as Temporary Chairman of the Repubhcan National Convention, Chicago, Elinois, June 21, 1904.

Address at the Centennial Celebration of the Establishment of the United States Military Academy, June 11, 1902.

Address at the Laying of the Corner Stone, Washington,

D. C, February 21, 1903.

Address at the Dedication, November 9, 1908 ... . 127

The Army Medical School . 131

Address at the Graduation Exercises, Washington, D. C, April 14, 1903.

The Citizens' Army 135

Address at Junction City, Kansas, May 2, 1903.

Addresses at the Fifth Annual Convention of the Interstate National Guard Association of the United States, Columbus, Ohio, May 4, 1903.

iv CONTENTS

The Export of Abms and Munitions of War .... 153 ^ Address in the United States Senate, March 13, 1912.

The Power of the President to send United States

Troops ottt of the Country . .

Address in the United States Senate, August 14, 1912.

PART II The Principles of Colonial Policy . . . 161

Porto Rico, Cuba, and the Philippines.

Porto Rico 177

The Military and Civil Government of the Island.

Conditions in Porto Rico .... 177

Organization of the Civil Government ... 179

The Development and Establishment of the Republic.

Conditions in Cuba ... . . 189

The Organization of the Civil Government of Cuba . . 193

Further Progress in Civil Government . . ... 203

The Constitutional Convention . 208

The Piatt Amendment. ... 212

Cuban Commerce . 217

Inauguration of the Republic 219

The Philippines . ... . 225

The Suppression of the Insurrection and the Building-up of Civil Government.

Military Operations in the Islands . . . 225

Continued Military Operations in the Philippines . 234

The Beginnings of the Civil Government . ... 239

(Extract from the Report tor 1900)

Final Military Operations in the Philippines . . 246

CONTENTS V

The Civil Government of the Philippines 250

Instructions to the Philippine Commission ... . 287

The Work of the Philippine Commission 294

Conditions in the Philippines 302

The Finances of the Philippines . . 306

The End of the Philippine Insurrection . . . . 316 (Extract from the Report for 1902)

Relations with the Moro Tribes .320

The End of the Moro Rebellion 325

The Armt in Cuba and the Philippines . . 329

A Tribute to its Courage and EfSciency.

The Chinese Relief Expedition . 333

The Reorganization of the United States Army . . 349 The Increase of the Army and the Abolition of the Permanent Administrative Staff Departments.

Army Reorganization . 350

The Military Needs of the Nation 365

Progress of Reorganization 373

The Chief of Artillery 379

The Disposition to be Made of the Army in Peace . 383 (Extract from the Report for 1902)

West Point and the Army War College 388

(Extracts from the Reports for 1901 and 1902)

General Military Education 398

Letter to the Chairman op the Senate Committee on

Militaet Affairs ... ... 401

The BUI to Increase the Efficiency of the Army.

VI CONTENTS

The Effective Organization of the Army 411

Statement before the Senate Committee on Military Affairs, Washington, March 12, 1902.

Statement before the House Committee on Military AfiFairs, Washington, December 13, 1902.

Organization of the General Staff 426

Joint Army and Navy Board 431

An Act to Increase the Efficiency of the Army .... 433

The Beginning of the New Militia System . . 441

Militia and Volunteers 442

The Militia System 445

The Militia and Coast Defense . 450

Fort Riley Maneuvers and Camp Sites ... . . 453

Progress of the Militia Reorganization . . . 456

Promotion of Rifle Practice 468

The Act to Promote the Efficiency of the Militia . 470 Approved January 21, 1903.

Extracts from a Hearing before the House Committee on Military Affairs in January, 1904.

The Spirit of National Service 487

Letter from Mr. Root to Lieutenant-General S. B. M. Young, President of the Association for National Service, September 17, 1916.

Index . . 439

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

The collected addresses and state papers of Elihu Root, of which this is one of several volumes, cover the period of his service as Secretary of War, as Secretary of State, and as Senator of the United States, during which time, to use his own expression, his only client was his country.

The many formal and occasional addresses and speeches, which will be found to be of a remarkably wide range, are followed by his state papers, such as the instructions to the American delegates to the Second Hague Peace Conference and other diplomatic notes and documents, prepared by him as Secretary of State in the performance of his duties as an executive officer of the United States. Although the official documents have been kept separate from the other papers, this plan has been shghtly modified in the volume devoted to the military and colonial policy of the United States, which includes those portions of his official reports as Secretary of War throwing light upon his public addresses and his general military policy.

The addresses and speeches selected for publication are not arranged chronologically, but are classified in such a way that each volmne contains addresses and speeches relating to a general subject and a common purpose. The addresses as president of the American Society of International Law show his treatment of international questions from the theoretical standpoint, and in the Ught of his experience as Secretary of War and as Secretary of State, imrestrained and uncontrolled by the limitations of official position, whereas his addresses on foreign affairs, delivered while Secretary of State or as United States Senator, discuss these questions under the reserve of official responsibility.

viii INTRODUCTORY NOTE

Mr. Root's addresses on government, citizenship, and legal procedure are a masterly exposition of the principles of the Constitution and of the government established by it; of the duty of the citizen to understand the Constitution and to conform his conduct to its requirements; and of the right of the people to reform or to amend the Constitution in order to make representative government more effective and responsive to their present and future needs. The addresses on law and its administration state how legal procedure should be modified and simplified in the interest of justice rather than in the supposed interest of the legal profession.

The addresses delivered during the trip to South America and Mexico in 1906, and in the United States after his return, with their message of good will, proclaim a new doctrine — the Root doctrine — of kindly consideration and of honorable obligation, and make clear the destiny common to the peoples of the Western World.

The addresses and the reports on military and colonial policy made by Mr. Root as Secretary of War explain the reorganization of the army after the Spanish-American War, the creation of the General Staff, and the establishment of the Army War College. They trace the origin of and give the reason for the policy of this country in Cuba, the Philippines, and Porto Rico, devised and inaugurated by him. It is not generally known that the so-called Piatt Amendment, defining our relations to Cuba, was drafted by Mr. Root, and that the Organic Act of the Philippines was likewise the work of Mr. Root as Secretary of War.

The argument before The Hague Tribimal in the North Atlantic Fisheries Case is a rare if not the only instance of a statesman appearing as chief counsel in an international arbitration, which, as Secretary of State, he had prepared and submitted.

INTRODUCTORY NOTE ix

The political, educational, historical, and commemorative speeches and addresses should make known to future generations the Uterary, artistic, and emotional side of a statesman of our time, and the publication of these collected addresses and state papers wiU, it is believed, enable the American people better to understand the generation in which Mr. Root has been a commanding figure and better to appreciate during his lifetime the services which he has rendered to his country.

RoBEKT Bacon.

James Brown Scott.

Foreword

The addresses and those portions of Mr. Root's reports printed in the present volume deal with the problems which may be regarded as the consequence or aftermath of the war with Spain in 1898, except such as refer to the Chinese ReUef Expedition due to the Boxer troubles of 1900. It therefore seems advisable to prefix an introductory note of a general nature, in addition to such introductory matter as precedes certain of the addresses and reports.

The insurrection in Cuba, which finally cost Spain not only Cuba but Porto Rico, broke out during the year 1895. The cause was the same as made twenty-one republics out of the European colonies in America — misgovernment by the mother-country and the desire on the part of the colonists to be free and independent states. On April 11, 1898, President McKinley sent a special message to Congress devoted to Cuba and recommending that the United States should intervene in Cuba for the following reasons:

First. In the cause of humanity and to put an end to the barbarities, bloodshed, starvation, and horrible miseries now existing there, and which the parties to the conflict are either unable or unwilling to stop or mitigate. It is no answer to say this is all in another country, belonging to another nation, and is therefore none of our business. It is specially our duty, for it is right at oin- door.

Second. We owe it to our citizens in Cuba to afford them that protection and indemnity for life and property which no government there can or will afford, and to that end to terminate the conditions that deprive them of legal protection.

Third. The right to intervene may be justified by the very serious injury to the commerce, trade, and business of our people and by the wanton destruction of proj)erty and devastation of the island.

Fourth, and which is of the utmost importance. The present condition of affairs in Cuba is a constant menace to our peace and entails upon thb xu FOREWORD

Government an enormous expense. With such a conflict waged for years in an island so near us and with which our people have such trade and business relations ; when the lives and hberty of our citizens are in constant danger and their property destroyed and themselves ruined; where our trading vessels are liable to seizure and are seized at our very door by war ships of a foreign nation; the expeditions of fihbustering that we are powerless to prevent altogether, and the irritating questions and entanglements thus arising — all these and others that I need not mention, with the resulting strained relations, are a constant menace to our peace and compel us to keep on a semi-war footing with a nation with which we are at peace.

Congress replied to this message by the following joint resolution, approved by the President on April 20, 1898:

Whebeas: The abhorrent conditions which have existed for more than three years in the island of Cuba, so near our own borders, have shocked the moral sense of the people of the United States, have been a disgrace to Christian civilization, culminating, as they have, in the destruction of a United States battle-ship [the Maine] with 266 of its officers and crew, while on a friendly visit in the harbor of Havana [on February 15, 1898], and cannot longer be endured, as has been set forth by the President of the United States in his message to Congress of April 11, 1898, upon which the action of Congress was invited :

Therefore,

Resolved hy the Senate and Hoitse of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

First. That the people of the island of Cuba are and of right ought to be free and independent.

Second. That it is the duty of the United States to demand, and the Government of the United States does hereby demand, that the Government of Spain at once relinquish its authority and government in the island of Cuba and withdraw its land and naval forces from Cuba and Cuban waters.

Third. That the President of the United States be, and he hereby is, directed and empowered to use the entire land and naval forces of the United States and to call into the actual service of the United States the nuhtia of the several States to such extent as may be necessary to carry these resolutions into effect.

Fourth. That the United States hereby disclaims any disposition or intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control over said island except for the pacification thereof, and asserts its determination, when that is accomplished, to leave the government and control of the island to its people.

FOREWORD xiii

The joint resolution of Congress was communicated by the American Minister to the Spanish Government, and inasmuch as Spain responded by treating, as President McKinley informed Congress, " the reasonable demands of this Government " as measures of hostility, that body passed the following act, approved April 25, 1898:

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled.

First. That war be, and the same is, hereby declared to exist, and that war has existed since the 21st day of April, a.d. 1898, including said day, between the United States of America and the Kingdom of Spain.

Second. That the President of the United States be, and he hereby is, directed and empowered to use the entire land and naval forces of the United States and to call into the actual service of the United States the militia of the several States to such extent as may be necessary to carry this act into effect.

It is no part of the purpose of this introduction to enter into the details of the war. Suffice it to say that, by virtue of a protocol of August 12, 1898, due to the good offices of the French RepubUe, a general agreement was reached upon the terms of peace and an armistice was concluded between the erstwhile belligerents; and that peace was concluded between Spain and the United States by a treaty signed at Paris on December 10, 1898, of which ratffications were exchanged on April 11, 1899. Inasmuch as the protocol and the treaty state the results of the war and the obligations assumed by the United States growing out of it, these documents are appended to the foreword.

Even a hasty reading of the treaty of Paris shows the nature, variety and extent of the problems confronting the United States by reason of the Spanish-American War, and as Porto Rico, Cuba and the Philippines were placed under the supervision of the War Department it followed that the Secretary of War was, by virtue of his office, forced to consider these problems and to find if possible an appropriate xiv FOREWORD

solution. Mr. Root recognized from the beginning that the United States was confronted with problems of a colonial policy, and that Porto Rico, Cuba and the Philippines should not be considered separately but as part of a larger whole. As the result of a careful study of colonial government and misgovernment, he formulated the principles of colonial policy to be found under the caption " Insular Government " \ in his first annual report as Secretary of War, which was and always will be considered to be a masterly statement of the principles of colonial government and administration.

On July 20, 1899, President McKinley offered Mr. Root the position of Secretary of War in his Cabinet, to succeed General Russell A. Alger of Michigan, and he was appointed and

jl entered upon duty on August 1, 1899, under circumstances which are best described by Mr. Root himself, in an address he made before the New York County Lawyers Association, in 1915, which is printed in another volume of the series. " Sixteen years ago ", he said, " in the month of July, having just finished the labors of the year and gone to my country home, 1 was called to the telephone and told by one speaking for President McKinley, ' the President directs me to say to you that he wishes you to take the position of Secretary of War.' I answered, ' Thank the President for me, but say that it is quite absurd, I know nothing about war. I know nothing about the army.' 1 was told to hold the wire, and in a moment there came back the reply, ' President McKinley directs me to say that he is not looking for any one who knows anything about war or for any one who knows anything about the army;

Liie has got to have a lawyer to direct the government of these Spanish islands, and you are the lawyer he wants.' Of course I had then, on the instant, to determine what kind of a lawyer

-. I wished to be, and there was but one answer to make, and so 1 went to perform a lawyer's duty upon the call of the greatest of all our clients, the Government of our country."

FOREWORD XV

In the same address, Mr. Root described the fundamental principles upon which he worked out his colonial policy in Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippines ; and his own words supply the most appropriate conclusion to this foreword :

" It was a fascinating work. It was the work of applying to some ten millions of people in Cuba and Porto Rico and the Philippines, the principles of American liberty. They were living under laws founded upon the customs of their lives, customs drawn from old Spain and developed in social and industrial activity quite unlike that of the United States; and the problem was to apply those principles which are declared in our constitutions, which embodied the formative idea of the Declaration of Independence that all men are endowed with inalienable rights, among which are life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness, to the customs and the laws of peoples which had come down from the Spain of Philip the Second and the Inquisition. Those principles were alien to their thoughts and their conceptions, to their habits of life, to their ideas of the relations between men and between men and their governments. In the first instance they had to be applied at the hand of the military officers who had their own code and methods of procedure. It was x, a test not to be undervalued, of the vitality, the universality, and the essential truth of the principles themselves. Through the strong and sagacious control of Governor Taft in the Philippines; through the sound administrative instincts and devotion to duty of Leonard Wood in Cuba; through the loyalty of George W. Davis, and his successors in Porto Rico, those principles of justice, principles of state morality, which we have embodied in our constitutions, constitutions which are but the expression of the conception of individual liberty that has grown through a thousand years of Anglo-Saxon freedom, proved stiU to be vital, and the laws of these Spanish countries received, embodied and made effective

XVI FOREWORD

the preservation of individual liberty and the protection of the individual against the tyranny of government. The ideas that were forced upon King John when he signed the Magna Charta, — that great and conquering conception of liberty which has been the formative power moulding the social and political life of the hundred and ten million people who inhabit this continent north of the Rio Grande, — prevailed and became effective as applied to the daily life, the protec- .tion, the prosperity and the happiness of the little brown brothers in the Philippines; of the men whom we fought the war of 1898 to liberate in Cuba and of our wards in Porto Rico. Surely no lawyer was ever more fortunate than in the opportunity to help in the demonstration of the eternal verity of the principles of justice and liberty which underlie all the efforts and the struggles of our American bar." '

1 Addresses on OovernmerU and Citizenship,hyE\iimBoot,pp.50i,505. Harvard University Press, 1916.

FOREWORD xvii