The Portland daily press., 1898-11-03
AS AN INDEMNITY.

A dispatch from Washington which
purports to give an outline of the discuss.
ion in the Cabinet in regard to the Philip
pines conveys the impression that our claim
to the Philippines is not to be based upon
conquest but upon indemnity. That is ia
say the United States is going to take the
ground that Spain is reponsible for the
war and must indemnify us for every
dollar of our expenditure on account Of
it, not only in the past but in the future.
and that the Philippines are to be
taken as a part of this indemnity.
With the justice and sonndness of this
proposition we are not concerned at pres
emit, though 1t may be said in passing
that it indicates some lapse from the high
ly unselfish position which we assumed
at the beginning What we are concerned
about Is the kind of indemnity we arc
going to get. The underlying idea OF an
indemnity Is relief. An indemnity for the
expense of the war is something that will
recoup us for the money we have spent
1t need not be cash, it may be territory,
but If the latter Is to constitute an tndem-
nifty it must be Of a character that will be
of some value to us either as revenue
producer or as means of defense. No
man would consider that he had been in
IDENTIFIED for loss by having piece of
la turned over to him which would cost
him more to hold than he could possibly
get out of it. The Philippine Islands
cannot possibly relieve as of any Of the
expense we have been to to free Cuba,
States as means Of protection or defence.
On the contrary 1t is perfectly well under.
stood and admitted on all hands that the
expense Of keeping them must sor great
many years to come at least far exceed
any revenue we can possibly get out OF
them. We are only holding at the present
time small part of one island. Yet we
have got nearly $4,000 troops there under
pay and ten or twelve war ships with two
more on the way. To enable us to take
and hold possession all of them-that is
Of all the populous ones-will require an
army certainly three times as large. But
this is not ALL The affairs OF these islands
must be administered by civil officers.
and thousands of men will be needed for
that duty, all of them paid by the United
States. We may be able to get something
out of their people by taxation, but lit
can't be much for they are exceedingly
poor and shiftless and have nothing to
pay with. AS to trade Mr.. Peabody OF
Boston who is more familiar with facts
than any body else in this country, says
it cannot be increased much above its
present amount which is insignificant
Here then is our indemnity-our relief
for the expenditures we have ..gone to to
free Cuba. Here 1t is in the shape of 1906
islands, inhabited by races savage OF
semi civilized. poor and shiftless, living
in the most primitive way, wanting notk-
ing except what the country produces and
able to buy nothing il they did. To keep
this indemnify from getting away, worth
less as it Is, probably 3 hundred thousand
American soldiers will bc needed, and a
large feet of war ships, all to be paid for
largely by the taxation of American wage
earners. Take the Philippines, no matter
under what guise, and attempt to reduce
them to subsection and govern them. and,
as Senator Hoar says, 1.-THE most frequent
and best known visitor to every American
household will be the tax gatherer."