Mesa free press., 1898-11-25
CONTEMPORARY CLUB.
1t Discusses the Effect of Territorial
Expansion.

"The effect of territorial expansion
upon our domestic relations" was the
subject of discussion at the last meet
ing of the Philadelphia Contemporary
Club, the speakers being John Bash
McMasters, historian; Thomas q.
Shearman of New York and former
Senator Edmunds. The first speaker
favored and the others opposed the ac-
quisition of territory not contiguous to
the United States.
DR.. McMaster gave a history of the
policy pursued by the United States
in it's acquisition Of foreign territory,
and its method of governing it to show
that the proposed taking of the Philip
pines would be III line with previous
acts. He said he believed there was
no reason why we should not govern
these islands as acceptably as the great
West, which was acquired by several
purchases.
Referring to the Declaration of Inde-
pendence and its enumeration Of sew
eral rights of the governed quoted by
opponents of a colonial system, DR..
McMaster said the principles there
stated had never been literally incor-
porated into the government system
of the United States or any State
Jefferson, who drafted the declaration,
and negotiated the purchase of Louis
lana, and Federalists of. that day
urged the same objections in force, to-
day-that we would be compelled to
admit to citizenship on equal terms the
creoles, the Spanish, the French, the
negroes, and all other persons inhab-
iting these large territories. It was
their claim that the Mississippi was
the natural boundary of the United
States, and later that Providence had
erected the Rocky Mountains as a
proper boundary for our Union.
He quoted from Daniel Webster that
the Constitution could not be stretched
to cover territory. 1t related only
to states. The territory was simply
owned by the United States, as man
would own horse. He showed, also,
that from the beginning Of our acqui-
sition of territory that the President
had been the supreme authority, ap-
pointing a governor and council, and
that territories were admitted as
states, not as a matter of right, but
of expediency.
Former Senator George F. Edmunds
said in part:
"Our sons and daughters cannot live
in the tropics. Look at the case of
Great Britain and her hundreds of
years of Indian mastery. Everybody
knows that there never has been an
English settlement within the tropics,
but civilians go there and nine out Of
ten die before they are so years old,
and the loss of the battalions that
go there is greater than that of our
sons and brothers who went to Santi-
ago and Camp Alger."
Referring to the Philippines, Mr..
Edmunds said: 1--WE now have from
these islands all the commodities they
produce on the same terms that other
nations do. Suppose we take them and
adopt the British colonial policy and
make them close colony and allow
no one to trade with them except our
selves. How soon would the other ma
tions meet us by saying, We will treat
you the same way in our colonies
and then the balance Of the CONNER
cial gain would bankrupt the United
States in ten years. We told Spain and
told the world by a solemn declara
ton of our Congress when we began
this, war against Spain that we reject
ed the idea of territorial aggrandize-
ment. Was that a lie, sham, false
pretense? And we stand up in the face
of the world and say, Yes, we have
been lying"