Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1898-11-03

to be her sold output In 1897 was s2iSs,ooo,
and her total gold production since tho
purchase has beeh almost Slooo,o"-one
mine, the Treadwell on the coast, having
paid In dividends s.fs2 slj to its stock
holders, and the Yukon Valley is yet 10 be
heard from.
The fish production of Alaska in lS,
was S29s7.0lq. and the total fish product
since the purchase is just about Su."lv",
not including the seal fur production,
which amounts to something over SSS,uo-
tsp more.
Thus do we see to what confusion these
prophets of evil are put by the outcome of
the Louisiana and Alaskan purchases and
much the same result CoulN be shown
from the Florida. Mexican and Gadsden
transac tons; all of which added TO our
territory an extent about oue-third great
~ than The original Is Sta tes No one can
now be found who will claim that any of
these acquisitions nave proved otherwise
than profitable. No one can now he found
who wou.d give up any part of them
1t viii! also be- soon that the American
policy has been on" of expansion ircm the
very first, until the extent OF our public
domain mas been considerably more than
doubled. Nor is it all new contiguous.
Alaska can be- reached only by go miles
of ocean travel, thus making II as scpar-
ate from the body of our country as an
island of the sea, But IL this be not SUI
:icient as precedent for Keeping tho
Philippines, The Aleutian Islands, part
Of the same purchase, must be- for thty
are N0u or 80 miles from the main land.
How then can IT be said that the rcten-
ton OF the Philippines will he contrary to
our national policy? How, also, judging
by the past. can it bc thought to cndan-
ger our political system:
Contrary to the opinion of some the
Monroe doctrine is not involved, That
L. in l.Ala nf hA
South American republics and has rever
hecE extended by any act of the United
States to the Islands of the sea. II WAS
simply a protest against the extension OF
NonarChical institutions in America, and
could not have applied tn outlying Islands,
as they We're already under European con
,rol. Resides island pc sessions are look
cd upon by the nations as incidental 10
and not an integral Part of government
They are accessible alike TO all the pow
crs of the earth. whose rights are equaI
on the ocean, the great highway of ma
lions. where the passing wheel leaves nc
track as on the highways of man. over
this thoroughfare of the deep our com
murication with these islands is rghtfu
and certain, and under present facilities
CT ocean travel they are very many time:
nearer than Oregon was 1T the time Joe
Lane went out Jas the first governor OF
that Territory. Manila is only about three
weeks away 1t lpNh NoN. l-tit 80
months 10 get from his home In Indiana
TO the mouth of the Columbia river.
Thus does our own history answer III,
objection that they are islands ard fal
away. II also shows the inapplicabi.ity o
the Monroe doctrine, which no forcis,
nation invokes, ana which no one il
troubled about except few of our Owl
people.
Some say the Philippines are not iitte,
for self-government. Neither We're th'
Indian tribes which We took with ever,
one OF our purchases already referred TO
but We handled them and can handle III
Philippines far more easily. because the.
are not warlike people. They are NOR
; like the Hlwaiians and Samoans, VINO ap
preciate kind treatment and are suhmis
sive To good government, Gen. Merritt
says lhis in substance, of them,
A territorial government with free re
ligion, and with an educational test 70
the voter. would silence all clamor abou
n serVile race, and v ould at once Great
a demand for the missionary and III
schoolmaster whose work. when supple
> mented by something in the way OF EN-
/ ployment which the enterprising Anglo
, Saxon would be sure soon to offer. woul
: help the natives on the way 10 highe
| life and To responsibilities of citizenship
Should they take no interest in qualifyin
themselves as citizens, the white ma
= could so along without them, as We di
9 without the American Indians.
, The fear OF some that these Islands wi
. soon be admitted as a State or States int
a the Union, with representation in Con
, gress based Oh the ll,0OoN barbarian
5 now inhabiting them may be summaril
dismissed as too preposterous for seriou
reply. The American people are not fool.
They may be trusted never to enter upo
/ any such absurd and suicidal course. I
o prove their conservatism on this point
Q need only cite the case of the territory Q
Q New Mexico. which has long had niue
larger population than other tsrritorio
: which meantime have been admitted a
: States, Why has not New Mexico bee
5 admitted? Simply because the Ang.t
): saxon has thought her mixed Spanish an
r Indian population not Mt to be put on a
a equality with himself in the matter {
a government, and she Is still territor,
X repeat the American people can be trus
9 ed There in no danger that they wi
. ever consent to make States out of any
: our island possessi )ns, When they fair
a outgrow the privileges of = territorial {