The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-02-23
IN A FLAME OF ORATORY
Mr.. johnson Blows Up the Ha-
waiian Annexation Treaty.
HOW THE SPARKS FLEW
The Speech Was Unexpected and Elec-
trified Everybody-Johnson Is Vol
cano of Eloquence When He
Gets Started.

Washington, Feb. 22.-Washington's
birthday was celebrated in the house,
after a motion of Mr.. Bailey to adj
journ had been voted down, with a
vast deal of political speech making,
and it was also signalized by the firing
of the first gun in opposition TO Ha-
waiian annexation. Mr.. johnson of In
diana delivered a speech that electrified
the house and the galleries in denunci-
alton of what he termed an attempt to
cut loose from the traditional policy of
the house and further a scheme of coll
onization that had proved the ruin of
empires and of nations.
He used some very strong language,
but his remarks were enthusiastically
applauded, and the minority and many
republicans Joined in the demonstra-
ton. He declared that While he had
denounced at the time the statement
that the Hawaiian monarchy had been
overthrow with the aid of American
citizens, he now firmly believed it was
true. The Speech coming entirely I'M
heralded, produced a deep impression.
The general debate on the sundry
civil bill was concluded to-day, and to-
morrow the bill will be taken up for
amendment.
Mr. Johnson, rep, Ind, in opening,
ate over Hawaiian annexation, and
said the friends and supporters of the
treaty, both inside and outside of the
senate, We're turning heaven and earth
to secure its adoption, and that Presi-
dent Mckinley was laboring to change
the convictions of senatorial opponents
of the measure. He discussed the re-
cent visit of President Dole, and sug-
gested that the Hawaiian nation, un-
like the United States, had everything
to gain and nothing to lose. He urged
the concentration of popular attention
on the issue and the disabuse of the
minds of the people or erroneous inn
preSSions, and asserted that once put
to the test either in the senate or the
house, the American people would be
quick TO discover the danger involved
and so condemn 1t,
1T will be buried he said, beyond
the possibility even of an ultimate res
direction" (Applause.)
Il am opposed to the annexation of
Hawaii" he continued, because | be-
lieve the people of Hawaii are opposed
to it, / am not to be confused by this
special plea that the real sentiment of
the people of the Sandwich islands is
( only to be obtained from the news of
those who assume to govern them.
That, sir, is the merest technicality.
There is no room here for the applica-
ton of the narrow doctrine of estop
pal.
Whether the present government of
Hawaii was a de facto or a de jure
government he declared that it misrep-
resented the people of Hawaii, whose
rights it was ready to proffer away.
when 1t was charged, in 1898, at the
| time when the republic succeeded the
monarchy, that the revolution was aid
4 ed by the interposition of American
/ citizens. / did not believe it was true"
/ said Mr. Johnson, and | denied it very
vigorously at the time: but the per-
+ sistency with which the treaty of an
nexation is being pressed gives color
/ to the accusation then made, and which
! | then so earnestly denounced"
! Mr.. Johnson continuing gave some
+ of the reasons which impeled him to
/ opposition to annexation-one was the
I ignorance of the population of Hawaii.
4 How long had it been, he asked, since
! we had passed a bill to keep out the
/ ignorance of the old world that we now
j propose to annex territory in which ig-
/ norance was the rule, not the excep-
/ ton. We had passed the Chinese ex-
cluSion act, now ii was proposed to an
mex territory which contained the larg
est share of Chinese population. He
did not favor the holding of territory
under the shadow of the American
flag. A colonial policy might be adapt
ed to the nations of antiquity, but it
would not do for q free country, which
derived it's powers from the consent of
the governed. 1t would be unwise and
short-sighted, he said If we should cut
loose from all the traditions of the past
and rashly embark on the unknown
sea of territorial ACKNOWLEDGMENT. We
had confined our expansion to contig-
uous territory in the acquisition of
Florida. Louisiana and Texas. In 1853
under Filmore's presidency. we had
been wise enough and sensible enough
to reject these very islands. We had
:. ~
st. Thomas, and under the administra-
| ton of General Grant congress had
voted down a proposition to purchase
San Domingo. Only once had we de-
! parted from our rule-in the purchase
. of Alaska from Russia-and only the
! future could determine whether that
/ had been a wise move.
Possession of territory meant con-
| slant source of irritation. The history
of the world proved this. 1t was urged
that the Sandwich islands We're the
key to the Pacific. Its strategic i'm
portanee was emphasized as If guns
mounted there could command the Mic
ara qua canal and the Pacific coast
thousands of miles away. The annex
alton of Hawaii would establish a bad
precedent. The appetite grew by what
it fed upon. To-day the cry was. Give
us Hawaii" tomorrow it would be
Give us Cuba" and the next day
Give us Samoa"
These appeals would all be justified
by the pleasant sophistries which APP
pealed to our vanity and cupidity unit
at last we would find ourselves ire
trievably committed to a policy unnec.
essary to the material happiness o.
our people, hurrying along patti
which was strewn with the wrecks o.
empires and nations. fApplause)
He did not deny he said. that the ac
QUESTION of foreign territory had added
to the prosperity of nations. But his
tory showed ii to have been nltimatel.
a source of weakness. Cupidity hret
opposition. 1T piled up taxes 1t stirred
up strife, il shed human blood, it wa
the first step toward ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Let the nations of the old world pur
sue this policy of ACKNOWLEDGMENT 4
their hearts content: let them saddl
their people with debt. equip armies
and navies and shed oceans of blood
Let England boast If she pleases tina
the sun never sets on her territory; blu