Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1898-11-26

| phOtSSllOnlSl 10 the core.
begin to grow doubtful about tn
President having convictions upon an
subject; but if he has a conviction it i
this, that it is the duty of an American
President to take care of American labor
Well, he will have done so when he an
nounces that he is going to obey the Con
stitution of the United States, although
in these days the Constitution seems t.
be, as Tim Campbell once said to Presi
dent Cleveland, "a small thing to stant
between friends"
But suppose the President is true to tn,
Constitution and his oath to support it
then there is free trade between all part,
of the United States and;the Philippines
as there is to Porto Rico-he has stood
true there-but there is a high tariff be-
tween the trade of all other nations and
the Philippines.
believe the President will be driven
to hold this position. What ensues1 War
Britain is our best friend today, but only
upon condition that we keep the "open
door, for her in the Philippines and in
all other of our distant possessions.
The London Times has already given a
strong hint upon this subject in referring
to the Presidents bottling up Porto Rico.
Let the President listen to this from the
London Times editorial: "Englishmen
have seen with ungrudging satisfaction
the entrance of America on the path of
imperial expansion which they have
themselves trodden with such conspicu-
GUS success. But it must be confessed
that considerable strain is put upon our
sympathy by such blunders as the order
regulating the trade of Porto Rico, which
our correspondent cites and which reads
as If it were borrowed from our own nav
igation acts which the Americans them
selves found so oppressive"
The most sensitive chord of Britain is
its foreign trade; upon that it depends.
Let the President of the United States
once show that the American system is to
be extended to the Philippines, and that
Secretary Gage had some foundation for
his idea of Commercial expansion" for
the advantage of American labor, and it
will not be necessary for Britain openly
to intervene.
France, Germany and Russia, as is we'll
known, are opposed to America entering
upon possessions in the far East Those
nations combined drove Japan out of Co
rea; they will drive the United States out
of the Philippines, always provided Brit
ain agrees to do what she did with Japan
occupy a neutral position.
But l go further than this. She will
require the United States to agree to keep
the "open door," as she required Ger
many to do. OF course, Germany has
agreed to keep the open door in her East
ern possessions. She wouldn't have any
if she had not Neither will the United
States, for let it be noted that 20 per cent.
of the total trade of the Philippines is
today British.
l have spoken of European nations,
but there is a nation quite near the Phil
ippines with which the United States
would find it most difficult to deal at so
great a distance, for. remember, it is a
question of naval strength. Here is
what the Minister of Japan said the other
day:
Every year its trade with the Philip
pines has increased, uutil now it has be- |
come of very respectable proportions. |
Naturally my government is interested in |
seeing that this trade shall continue, and |
as it firmly believes the ports of the
islands will be freely opened to Japan if |
the United States governs the islands, it |
would rather see America gain control |
than any other nation"
l was consulted last week in regard to |
taking an offer OF 10000 tons of steel
plates for delivery in Western Australia.
My feeling was that we should wait re-
suits. Let us see whether we do not get |
nto trouble in regard to the "open door"
Or the "closed door" in the Philippines.
# we do, of course there is no delivery
n Western Australia possible to the ex-
ent of 10000 tons of steel to be made by
American labor. Mr.. Cages commercial
is hindered. This steel may
lot be made in the United States. So
much for Imperialism and its foreign
Suppose, however, President Mckinley
IL order to hold the Philippines at all has
o grant the "open door" where will Sec
etary Gage and his commercial expan-
ion stand them What will labor in the
United States say to the recreant Presi-
lentl What compensation is it to have2
What justification can be pleaded for
laying twenty or forty millions for the
and for sacrificing the blood
# our soldiers and the lives of our civil
ervants involved in this acquisition, if
10 advantage accrues1 What answer will
lie make to the people upon whom he
imposes additional taxation?
1 think / know what the laboring
masses of the United States will say to
lin and to any government that throws
pon the country such sacrifices of life
nd such burdens, only to open its costly
cquisitions to the nations of the world.
If it be fair competition with other ma
ions that we require for commercial
expansion, we are certain of that already,
ecause Britain will never permit the