The record-union., 1898-08-15

4
vera appears to be a civilized man, q
gentleman, and feel obliged to him.
gentleman, and feel obliged to him for
his treatment of Hobson. The great
mass Of the Spaniards, however. must
be exceedingly ignorant, and as pas
sionate as ignorant. Their so-called |
leaders dare not tell them the truth |
about the progress Of the war. They |
seem to be afraid to state the facts. |
They always commence with one then
change it a little. then change it
little more, and maybe at last tell the
truth. They never seem to dare to
tell the truth at first, if the truth is
bad. They put me in mind OF the story
of man telegraphing to a wife about
the condition of her husband. The first
dispatch was, Your husband is we'll,
never better The second was, Your
husband is sick, but not very The
third was, Your husband is much
worse but we still have hope The
fourth was, You may as we'll know the
truth-we buried your husband yester-
day. That is about the way the Span
ish people get their news.
That is why it may be incorrect to
assume that peace is coming quickly.
If the Spaniards were q normal peo-
pie, who acted as other folks do, we
might prophesy a speedy peace, but
nobody has prophetic vision enough to
tell what such a people will do. In
spite of all appearances. and all our
successes, and of all sense, the war
may drag on. But hope not. not only
for our sake, but for the sake Of the
Spaniards themselves. l can't help
thinking Of the poor peasants who will
he L; I11v, inJy
of the poor peasants who will have to
toll for many years on the melancholy
fields Of Spain to pay the costs of this
war. I am sorry for them, and 1 am
sorry also for the widows and orphans,
and no one will be more delighted when
peace comes.
CONSTITUTIONAL PHASE OF THE
QUESTION:
1.-THE argument has been advanced in
the national Senate and elsewhere that
| the Federal Constitution makes no pro-
vision for the holding of colonies or de-
pendencieS, such as the Philippines
would be; that we can only acquire
| them as territories, and eventually
must take them in as States, with their
population of mixed and inferior races
That is hardly an effective argument.
When this country was an infant,
still in it's cradle, George Washington
gave the child some very good advice;
told him to beware Of entangling al
lianceS, to stay at home and attend to
| his own business. Under the circum-
stances this was all very good. But
the infant has been growing, and the
republic is now one Of the most pow
erful nations in the world, and yet from
its infant days until now, good, con-
servative people have been repeating
the advice of Washington. 1t was re-
peated again and again when we were
talking about purchasing Louisiana,
and many Senators and congressman
became hysterical and predicted the
rail- OF the republic if that was done
The same thing took place when we
purchased Florida, and again when we
got 1,oOO,OO0 square miles from Mexico,
ana still again when we bought Alaska
1hese ideas about violating the Con-
stitution and wrecking the republic
were promulgated by our great and
wise statesmen on all these previous
occasions, but after all the Constitution
seems to have borne the strain. There
seems to be as much liberty now as
there was then, and, in fact, a great
deal more. Our Territories have given
US no trouble, while they have greatly
added to our population and vastly in
creased our wealth.
I Beside this, the statement Of the
olden time. the wise men with whom
wisdom was supposed to have perished
could not and did not imagine the i'm
provements that would take place after
they were gone. In their time, pracri-
cally speaking, it was further frcm
New York to Buffalo than 1t is now
from New York to San Francisco, and
as far as the transportation Of intelli-
gence is concerned San Francisco is
as near as New York as it would have
| been in their day had it been just
across the Harlem River. Taking into
| consideration the railways, the tele-
graphs and the telephones this country
now, with it's area of 100000 square
miles. is not as large as the thirteen
4! original colonies were; that is to say,
the distances are more easily travelled
| and more easily overcome. In those
days 1T required months and months to
] cross the continent Now it is the
work Of four or five days.
! CONSTITUTION CAN STAND EX-
PANSION.
Yet, when we come to talk about an
| nexins the Hawaiian Islands, the ad-
! vice of George Washington was again
| repeated, and the older the Senator tha
| fonder he was of his advice. These
Senator's had the idea that the Consti-
tuition, having nothing in favor of it,
must contain something, at least in
spirit against it. OF course our fathers
had no idea of the growth of the re-
public. We have, because with us it
is matter of experience. / don't see
that Alaska has imperiled any of the
| liberties of New York. We need not
admit Alaska as a State unless it has
| population emitting it to admission,
and we are not bound to take the Sand
wich Islands until the people are civil
| lied, until they are fit companions of
free men and free women. 1t may be
that good many Of our citizens will go
to the Sandwich Islands, and that in
short time, the people there will be
->->-<->->-\->