The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-12-21
REPRESENTATIVE WILLIAMS op1
POSES RETAINING PHILIPPINES
AS SUGGESTED
INELIGIBLE TO STATEHOOD

Predicts That Islands Would Prove
Anything but Desirable, wbiIa
America Would BE Pro;ac.aa
Ahto the MaeIstrOm of European
SquabbIes-Cubans Could Even.
tuaIIy BE AssimiIated.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 20-The houss
To-Day listened to the first speech on
| the subject of the annexation Of the
Phll1pplnes Mr.. Williams, of Mlssis-
| SIppl' Democratic member of the
Iorelsn affairs committee in an hours
speech, stated his opposition to a policy
winch would bring the islands under
the sphere of United States influence.
Mr. Williams took advantage of the
latitude allowed in debate While the
mouse was in committee of the whole
10 make an argument against the an
nexation Of the Philippines. Physically.
ne SAID, the islands would prove a.
| great disappointment They were
thlckly populated with peoples of hete-
| Iceeneous races. They could never af-
fcrd homes or opportunity for Amerf-
can cltlzens. In the annexation of ter
r1tory In the past the area annexed had
always been coterminous, except in
the case of Alaska, and we had in each
case increased our population and orr
power of national defense These had
been the tests in the past The Philip
pines fulfilled none Of these tests. In
the case of Cuba, if Cuba should he
| willing in the future to throw in her
lot with us, the case would be differ
ent. Sixty-six per cent of Cuba's pop-
| ulation was Caucasian. Her peonIe
could easily be assimiIated Cuba was
practically contiguous. She lay direct
" within the sphere of American in
| fuence
I'VE want no unwilling subjects"
said Mr.. Williams. 1--WE want no op-
portunity for the exercise Of tyranny.
The South is especially hostile to the
absorption of a great population alien
In race. color and customs
Annexation would project us 1000
miles in the melee in the Orient. We
would have to hold in subsection 9,OOO,-
OOO F1Ilp1nos al cost of $40, ,000G 600 an
nuaIly, and, as the house was consider
Ing an agricultural bill, it might he
| well to bear in mind that increased
taxes could be shifted and shifted nm
I'll they reach the farmer, who pays in
| the end. He argued that, under the
/ fifteenth constitutional amendment.
citizenship could not be denied the
natives of the islands, If they were
annexed. He had been asked why. If
Mississippi had been able to deal with
| the race question, the people of the
United States would not be able to do
! so In the Philippines The difference
was that the people Of Mississippi un-
derstood the problem with which they
had to deal. It came home to them
by actual contact. If the people of the
| United States would have to solve it,
they would do so theoretically, and
they would fail. Even if supremacy
was not guaranteed IN Hawaii, he said
that so per cent of the Caucasians
would not remain there. While he op-
posed annexation. he said he would
not return the Philippines to Spain.
Il would leave the islands where
they were the day after Deweys glo-
rfous victory at Manila 1 would haul
| down the flag. 1 am for the flag for
what it means, and not for what it is.
1t is piece of bunting, and when any
one says it must not come down, 1 care
not how high his station, he says some
thing that is worthless. The flag
| should come down If need be, and our
| own people would pull it down We
would not let any other people do it,
| prolonged cheering on the Democratic
side)
Proceeding, Mr.. Williams argued that
If the Philippines could not take care
of themselves they would fall under
the interest of England. France or
Germany Our interest in them was
the commercial interest We had in
the East generally an interest in the
open door" policy. IL any other
country got possession of the Philip
pines it would not do worse than Spain
| did. In any event our trade with the
Philippines was a mere drop in the
! bucket, and if we retained them we
would have to sacrifice the open door
policy in the Orient, or go back on the
constitution. There was still another
| solution of the problem Mr. Williams
said If we did not want to give the
| islands their independence or let them
! fall under the sway of another country,
we could sell them, as war indemnity
to England. She would bring to them
civilization. The islands would get
freedom of religion and freedom of
trade and we would get rid Of naval,
military, political, racial, social and
naval problem, and an everlasting,
perpetual foreign policy.
Mr.. Williams remarks were listened
to with careful attention, and his coll
leagues gave him u hearty round Of
| applause when he concluded.