The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-08-31
FOR THE ooUNTRy's GOOD.
Hon. Pope Barrow Believes in Hold
ing Every Part of Acquired Terri

ouited from Spain.
If 1 had the power" he said. when
spoken to yesterday, II would hold every
loot of land and water acquired by the
war, for the simple reason that it is to the
interest of the American people to hold It,
and use it. 1t is a plain business prop
osition, to my mind. Any manufactures in
the United States viii tell you that the
growth of manufacturing has out run the
demand of our home markets for manu-
featured goods. The closing of mills,
working on half time, reductions in
wages, I'm manufacturing establishments
and other like movements all point to this
as their cause. We need wider market.
The Philippines, Cuba and Porto Rico will
furnish it.
You perceive, the conditions that will
surround our trade with those islands are
as favorable as could be desired. American
goods viii enter the ports of the Philip
pines Cuba and Porto Rico free of duty,
because they will be domestic ports; the
goods of all other nations will have to pay
a duty In entering You can see a a
glance that this wiz give us the control
of commerce with those Islands for the
simple reason that we can undersei every
body else, and still make a good profit. On
tDe other hand the products of Porto Rico,
Cuba and the Philippines viii come into
our American ports free of duty which VIII
cheaper them to our home consumers. All
this il is true, may not be done in a day
but it will come. I know that there is a
tariff now In force, but 1t viii be done
away with as TO American goods Sugar,
coffee tobacco, and an hempen products
will be cheapened here because they viii
come in without the duty, from those is
lands, and the supply increased with the
same demand"
In discussing the matter Mr.. Barrow
said ESPECIALLY it seems to me is all
this true of the cotton producing states,
Porto Rico, Cuba and the Philippines are
all tropical or semi-tropical countries.
There are in those islands combined more
than 100000 of people. They are all
consumers Of light cotton goods for cloth
Ing. They have no winter and no Use
for wooden cloths. They wear cotton all
the year round The demand for all cotton
goods especially light prints and similar
cotton fabrics will be largely increased if
we can control the markets in those is
lands. 1t is easy TO see that this cannot
fail to act favorably upon the price of
raw cottons in our home markets. Such
an increase in the demand for American
cotton goods cannot fail to strengthen
the market for American cotton and di-
rectly benefit the American cotton plant
e..
II believe too Mr.. Barrow added, that
the retention of the Philippines and the
annexation Of Hawaii viii be step in
the direction of the construction of The
Ncaraguan canal and l have always
thought that the construction of that canal
would be great benefit to our Gulf and
South Atlantic ports, especially Savan-
nah We have never done much business
comparatively speaking, with the West
Indies, or the East Indies, for tnat mat
ter, and if the current Of trade Is once
turned that way there will be a new era
for South Atlantic ports, and for the rail-
roads entering them. Our immense trade
with Europe must necessarily always be
carried on mainly through Northern ports,
chiefly for geographical reasons. the
same reasons viii give to Southern ports
the lions share of the West Indian trade
and, with the canal, of the commerce of
the Pacific as well.
''As 10 the cost of holding and controll-
ing all these islands in my opinion it is
exaggerated. One-half of what we annual
~ pay for pensions will be amply sufti-
Gent for all the land and naval forces
needed Besides you overlook the fact
that it is difficult to find people so
besotted as not to learn quickly to APP
preciate a free government justly and
firmly administered. After awhile
It will be much easier for us
to govern the Philippines than 1t
ever was for Spain. There is 10
comparison between Spanish rule and
American rule and these people will see
1t and appreciate 1t.
'We hear a great deal said about the
time honored policy of our fathers which
was opposed to the expansion idea" Mr..
Barrow said. This same sort of talk
was INDUCED in when Texas was annexed
and before that when the immense ter
Titory embracing Louisiana and half
dozen other states was purchased from
the French by Mr.. Jefferson, when ne
was President, and the purchase of Flor
ida from Spain. 1t came out strong again
when as the result of the Mexican war
We acquired California and the adjacent
states. Would anybody now contend that
expansion worked badly in the acquisi-
ton of all these states? The truth is that
all the time the thing has been done from
FIRST to last which the people at the time
believed it was their interests to do.
There is no constitutional or legal ques-
ton in it and never has been. 1t has all
the time been and is now a mere ques-
ton of policy. Take the Monroe doctrine,
about which so much is said and so little
known, there is nothing in the constitu-
ton which commands it or forbids il.
The people of that day, under the
conditions which then existed, believed
1t to be the best policy. They consulted
their interests. In 1923, when it was an
nounced we were q comparatively weak,
poor people, occupied almost exclusively
IN agriculture and shipping; now we are
a powerful rich people, largely engaged
tn manufacturing. The policy that suited
then will not answer now.
The people of the United States know
what is best for them and they are not
go0g to vote against their interest. Abb
stract theories and so called time honored
doctrines, which have long ago served
their purpose and had their day, and
which are wholly hnsuited to the present
age and the country of to-day, viii be
cast aside, just as a man casts aside the
clothes which suited and fitted him when
boy. l venture the prediction that any
man or party whose political future is
etaked upon the success of a policy which
Is opposed to the financial prosperity of
the people will soon find itself in a help
less minority.
Why is Spain so anxious to keep the
fhlhppines? Why Is Germany so anxious?
II 1t Is so valuable to them, why not to
us! We have fairly won these islands in
open war; we are entitled to them and