The Commoner

TREASON IN THE PHILIPPINES.

The Commoner has received several requests for the publication of the law, or rather the official order, making it a criminal offense for any one to read the Declaration of Independence in the Philippine islands. It will be found in an order known as No. 292, entitled, "An act defining the crimes of treason, etc.," and was enacted "by the United States Philippine commission by authority of the president of the United States." Section 10 reads as follows:

Until it has been officially proclaimed that a state of war or insurrection against the authority or sovereignty of the United States no longer exists in the Philippine islands, it shall be unlawful for any person to advocate orally or by writing or printing or like methods, the independence of the Philippine islands or their separation from the United States whether by peaceable or forcible means, or to print, publish or circulate any hand bill, newspaper or other publication, advocating such independence or separation. Any person violating the provisions of this section shall be punished by a fine of not exceeding two thousand dollars and imprisonment not exceeding one year."

Circulating the Declaration of Independence would violate this order.

Section 9 of the same act provides a punishment for any one who joins a society for the promulgation of any political opinion or policy.

Section 15 provides that the act shall not apply to certain provinces unless the commanding general shall authorize and direct prosecutions under the act, "in which event it shall apply."

In such provinces no one can tell whether the law is in force until the prosecution is begun.

The anti-imperialists in the senate had ample reason for denouncing this sample of arbitrary power. What would republicans have said five years ago if they had been charged with contemplating such a policy?