Evening star., 1898-08-19
Senator Cannon Opposed to Surrender
ing the Philippines.
TO BUILD UP A POWER IN THE PACIFIC
PeriIs Threatened in Holding the
Islands Permanently.
VORS INDEPENDENCE

| House and the War Department today
| After his interview with the President he
| expressed the opinion that there would be
| no extra session of Congress, or even of
| the Senate, before the regular short ses-
| sion. He said that he well satisfied
| that there would not be an extra session
| this fall that he was going back to his
| home in Utah with the expectation of re-
naming there until time to come to Wash
| ington for the regular session He said
| that he did not regard it as possible to get
| matters in shape with respect to peace ne
gotiations in time for the Senate to take
the matter up before the regular session.
An extra session of the next Congress-
| Immediately following the short session, he
| said he regarded inevitable. There
would be little more than two months of
! working time in the short session, and
| that would not be sufficient in which to
| dispose of the immense amount of import
| ant business resulting from the war. Some
| questions of the greatest Importance would
| have to be settled and Congress would in
| sist upon dealing with these questions to its
| satisfaction. For this reason he thought an
! extra session following the regular short
session was inevitable.
Should Take Philippines.
| Speaking Of the result of the war Senator
| Cannon said that he thought we would take
| the Philippines and that, in his judgment,
it would have been as well to have settled
| that at once by requiring Spain, as con-
dition of peace, to relinquish her sover-
| eighty over the Philippines, as well as over
| Porto Rico and Cuba. The terms of peace
| offered by President Mckinley and accept
| ed by Spain, he said, were strong in every
thing except the last clause, which left the
! Philippine question open.
I'VE acquire at once he said, the
| Island of Porto Rico and adjacent islands,
and at the very threshold of the cstab-
| ment of government in Cuba that island
Will come into our possession. BY the time
things are settled into any sort of shape
there the island will have become SO far
Americanized that the first act Of free gov
ernment there will be to attach itself to
| the United States. We will take the Phil
| ippines, and it is right that we should do
| SO. 1t is the manifest destiny of this gov
ernment to develop great power on the
| Pacific.
| Regardless of what has been said about
| the Hawaiian Islands being out of the track
| of commerce, it will in my judgment be the
| depot and base from which will spread
great commerce in the Pacific. With bases
there and in the Philippines this country
VIII peCcHle d great power, the
| controlling power, in the commerce of the
| Pacific and participant in the trade OF
| the orient. The possession of the Philip
pines is almost certain to draw us into the
| participation in settlement of the oriental
| question. This 1 think will be unfortunate
90 not believe that we should participate
\ in that. There is going to be a great war
| resulting in the partition of China. I do
not think ShOnld Interfere mai
Disme NIB rment of China.
THE dismemberment of China, in my
| judgment, is going to occur, but the social
and industrial condition of the people will
remain the same, only that capital and en-
| terprse will rapidly increase the produc-
| tiveness of the empire. 1t will become the
great producing country of the world 1t
| has almost unlimited resources, an indus
trious people and a low scale of wages
| which will give the country a produc tive
ness, under the impulse of European capi-
| tai and enterprise, which cannot be COM
peted with Ii we participate in the open
| ing up and development of that country
we shall only hasten the development of
manufactures there which will compete
with us. AS far as the opening Of the ports
of China is concerned, that is not matter
| that can long be of benefit to any country.
Crina will furnish markets for foreign pro-
ducts but a short time after the country
has once been opened. 1t will soon produce
| all that its people want and will compete
in manufactures with the world.
Industrial Struggle of the Future.
'If we take part in the great industrial
struggle upon which the world is now en-
| tering. trusting to our ability to get our
| share in the universal grab, the natural
| ac compa niment cf this will be reduction in
prices reduction in wages and a lower
| scale of living for our people.
'1n some respects I believe that this
country should maintain its isolation. We
| should not enter into any scramble which
| must depend for its success upon our abil-
| ity to compete in cheapness of production
with race of inferior habits of life That
| the Chinese will, under European domina-
| ton, become dangerous rival in manufac-
| lures appears almost inevitable, but if we
| take a hand in the partition of China we
will aid in the more rapid development of
| this rivalry. England has gone from agri-
| culture to manufacture and from manufac-
| ture to trade and commerce, and now she
| is the financial power of the world. We
| may in the progress of our development
pass In the same way from one kind of eff
| fort oanother, but under present condi-
tions we cannot compete with England for
| financial supremacy, and China will threat
en- in manufactory.
| >"If we enter into the struggle with the
rest of the wtorld for control In the orient
| it must eventually be for the carrying
trade, China being the producer To sue
ceed in this would necessitate free trade
| in this country and the lowering of all the
| industrial conditions. I think that we
should protect ourselves against this, and
Eshould devote ourselves to this hemisphere
and within that sphere of influence make
| the fight to maintain the higher civilization
and social position.
ITO my mind, this inevitably points out
| the necessity of restoring our currency by
| the remonetization of silver This, in NV
| opinion, would operate to relieve us in part
from the financial domination of England
and on the other hand cut off half the
danger of Chinese rivalry in manufacture
by increasing prices and wages there grad
ually as the mandatory under the stimu-
lus of European capital develops.
Peril of Holding the Islands.
Il fear that the retention of the Philip