The Writings of Carl Schurz/To Erving Winslow, February 20th, 1906
TO ERVING WINSLOW
Hotel Bonair, Augusta, Ga., Feb. 20, 1906.
Here I am again in pursuit of health. I have been seriously considering what I, or any of us old anti-imperialists, might write for the Filipino paper in California that would be of any real use to the Filipinos themselves or to anybody else. Might we tell them to hold fast to the idea of independence? It has always been our contention that the Filipinos were unanimously for independence, and would remain so, without being confirmed in their faith by us. This has been always, and is now, one of our principal points. Would it be wise now to do anything that might make it appear as if we had reason not to believe in our own contention? Will it not be much wiser to let those young men go on by themselves and to avoid the appearance as if they were in our leading-strings and as if they needed pushing from this quarter?
As Mr. Storey in his most excellent address has clearly shown, there is a public opinion in favor of Philippine independence outside of our ranks, which will finally accomplish our object. It will move slowly and try our patience. But we shall hardly be able to accelerate it, at least not in its present stage, by unnecessarily interfering in the name of the old anti-imperialism. I do not mean that we should be entirely silent. We may speak again on important occasions when our talk will have a chance to tell, coming out in strong volume instead of little squibs which cannot have any effect.