The record-union., 1898-08-15

ready to be admitted as a State. All
this the Constitution can stand, and in
it there is no danger Of Imperialism.
Il believe in natural growth. AS
rule. the prosperous farmer wants to
buy the land that adjoins him, and
think a prosperous nation has the am
bition of growth. 1t is better to ex-
pand than to shrivel; and, If our Con-
stitution is too narrow to spread over
the territory that we have the courage
| to acquire, why we can make a broader
one 1t is a very easy matter to make
| a constitution, and no human happl-
ness, no prosperity, no progress snoulu
| be sacrificed for the sake Of a piece
of paper with writing on 1t; because
there is plenty of paper, and plenty OF
men to do the writing, and plenty OF
| people to say what the writing shouio
| be- / take more interest in people
than I do in constitutions. / regard
constitutions as secondary; they are
| means to an end, but the dear old
conservative gentlemen seem to regard
constitutions as ends in themselves.
Il have read what ex-President Cleve-
land had to say on this important SUBJ
ject, and / am happy to say that l en-
tirely disagree with him. So. too,
/
with Mr.. Bryan and with Senator
Hoar. and with all the other gentle
men who wish to stop the growth Of
the republic. I want it to grow. Some
times 1 have thought that there is
only air enough on this hemisphere to
float one flag, and in time that dream
may come true.
| DESTINY OF SPANS ISLANDS.
LAS to the final destiny of the island
possessions won from Spain, my idea is
is that the Philippine Islands will finally
be free protected, it may be, for
long time by the United States
think Cuba will come to us for protec-
ton, naturally, and, so far as l am
concerned, / want Cuba only when
Cuba wants us. l think that Porto
| Rico and some of those islands VIII
| belong permanently to the United
States, and I believe Cuba will finally
become a part of our republic.
When the opponents of progress
found that they couldn't make the
| American people take the back track
by holding up their hands over the Con-
| stituion, they dragged in the Monroe
doctrine. When we concluded not to
allow Spain any longer to enslave her
colonists In the New World, that was a
| very humane and a very wise resolve
and it was strictly in accord with the
| Monroe doctrine. For the purpose of
conquering Spain, we attacked her
fleet in Manila Bay and destroyed it.
/ cannot conceive how that action OF
ours can be twisted into a violation OF
the Monroe doctrine. The most that
can be said is that 1t is an extension
| of that doctrine, and that we are now
| saying to Spain: You shall not en-
slave, you shall not rob, anywhere
that we have the power to prevent it,.
MONROE DOCTRINE NO BAR TO
GROWTH.
Having taken the Philippines. the
| same humanity that dictated the dec
laration of what lis called the Monroe
doctrine will force us to act there in
| accordance with the spirit Of that doc
trine. The other day 1 saw in the paper
an extract, l think. from Goodwin
Smith, in which he says that il we We're
| to lombard Cadiz we would give up the
Monroe doctrine. / do not see the ap-
plication. We are at war with Spain
and we have a right to invade tha,
| country, and the invasion would have
nothing whatever to do with the Mon
roe doctrine. War being declared. we
have the right to do anything consist
ent with civilized warfare to gain
the victory. The bombardment OF Cadiz
would have no more to do with the
Monroe doctrine than with the attrac.