The matter of greatest concern in the policy of expansion is, after all, not financial or political gain, but the reflex influence upon the individual citizen, and here we can only speculate. It is alleged on the one hand that expansion offers opportunities for corruption such as we never have known in municipal misgovernment, that it will lodge power in the hands of officials at a distance from those to whom they are responsible, that our treatment of inferior races at home does not justify our undertaking the same thing abroad, and that it is downright hypocrisy for us, a democratic people, to attempt the government of any other people. There are certain defects common to all of these objections. It should be noticed, in the first place, that they seize upon the most conspicuous features of misgovernment in America as if they were typical, and consequently the very thing to be expected in foreign service; secondly, they indicate a pessimistic distrust of men—a distrust masquerading as prudence and conservatism—which is neither justified by the sum of the facts nor is it healthful for those who urge them; thirdly, they assume the equal right of all men to govern themselves regardless of capacity. It should be noticed, moreover, that, as a rule, officers who receive their positions by appointment are held more strictly to account than are those who are elected by ballot; for the latter are not as apt to be removed for inefficiency or corruption as the former. Besides they have the machine back of them instead of the people or the President. Hence, since officers for the foreign administrative service would necessarily be chosen by the administration, as are those in the consular and diplomatic service, it is not too much to expect even a better government for the dependencies than for ourselves—however strange it may seem to say so. It should be noticed again that good government is more likely to be the rule than the exception in our dependencies for the following reasons: First, oppression, or misgovernment of any kind, does not pay. As has often been pointed out, this is the one great lesson that England learned in the Revolutionary War, and she has made good use of it ever since. The primary object, first, last and always, must be the welfare of the dependency; otherwise it is all a hypocritical delusion, containing nothing so good as the seeds of its own destruction. Second, American pride in what Americans can do will not accept any but the best results, especially when nearly all the world is looking on distrustfully. Third, the one race which by common consent has best solved the problem of self-government is the Anglo-Saxon, and the Philippines are to be congratulated upon being under its instruction.