Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1898-08-26
Labor Unions are Opposed to
EXPANSION.


SARATOGA, Aug. 2O.-The following II
an extract from the address OF Samue
Gompers at the foreign policy conference
to-day:
~ have been invited as wage-earne
and representative of labor to address
thisconfcrence upon the subject for which
1t 10 called, and it IS not unfair to assume
that the reason which prompted the in
vitation was the desire to learn as nearly
as possible the view which the ORGANIZED
wage-earners of our country hold regard
ing this, at present, all-absOrbing ques
ton.
1--WE have annexed Hawaii and appoint
ed acommission to determine the form o.
its government. How many OF our peo
pie are aware that of less than lOO,OOO
inhabitants of Hawaii. $4,000 are con.
tract, and practically slave, laborers;
that of these there are 80 per cent Chi
nese and Japanese, and about 20 percent.
Portuguese from the Azores islands and
South Sea islanders; that the terms OF
these contracts usually run seven years;
that the laborers have no right to change
heir employers or leave their employ
nent; that the contract to labor is spe-
ifically enforceable by law, and that the
esolution adopted by congress specific
lily declares that the laws Of Hawaii
shall govern until the new form OF gov
eminent is adopted; that any time
.aborer may serve in prison because OF
his desertion from labor is added to the
term of the life of the contract to labor.
''As to the Philippine islands, they have
between seven and eight million inhabit.
ants of semi-barbaric population, almost
primitive in their habits and customs, as
unlike the people of the United States in
thought, sentiment, education, morals,
hopes, aspirations or governmental
forms, as night is to day. What advan-
tage, then, can the possession of these
islands with such people bring to our
country? The nation which dominates
the markets of the world will surely con-
troll it's destinies. To make the work
shop of our manifest destiny and our
duty, and thus, side by side with other
nations in industrial and commercial RI
valry, we basing the consideration of the
workers upon the highest intelligence
and the most exalted standard of lite, no
obstacle can be placed in our way to the
attainm mt of the highest pinnacle of
national glory and human progress.
But, to attain this end, is the acquire
ment of the Philippines, with their semi
savage population, necessary? Surely
not. Neither its gates nor those of any
other of the globe can long be closed
against our constantly-growing indus
rial supremacy
1.-The most reckless advocate of the an
exation of the Philippines or of any
,opulous island Of the group must admit
hat this program involves the govern
nent and domination of the many by
he few. to an extent and degree never
efore known under the American flag.
Ne have dispossessed savages against
heir will in the process of our uproot
ing of lndiau tribes, but never where it
was not reasonably certain that their
places will soon be taken by a settled
White population many times as great
as that of any wilderness occupied only
by nomadic hunters and warriors. In
the Philippines, with its seven or eight
millions, In an area of less than half that
of the state of Texas, no such change
can ever take place.
! "The whole moral effect of the acquisi-
ton of the Philippines, it's semi-savage
must be to undo what has
been accomplished by organization and
upon the lines Of social, eco
nonuc political and moral reform, par
ticularly in raising the standard of hv-
ing for the wage-eafners of the United
States. 1t will tend to breed contempt
for the manual toiler and encourage the
pernicious notion that the strong may
properlyexploit the weak and he used to
furnish the lusuries for an oligarchy."
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