The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-12-13
QUESTION OF EXPANSION.
An Open Letter from Mr.. w. ID. FOuIke
to MIR. Frank Drew.
Frank Drew, Esq. Worcester. Mass. !:


of your attempts to get discussion over the
national policy of expansion. The Ameri-
cans" you say, who realize the gravity
of the undertaking which America Tin it's
ideal sense) represents, have tried to argue
with the expansionist. They have cited his
tory, have dwelt on the principles on which
our political structure rests, have exposed
the bubble nature of the expansionist' $
plans, and yet the expansionst is unaf-
fected. The only way to bring the
expansion fatalist to deliberate is to block
his way with a human will. One emphatic
no, such as Senator Hoar has uttered
makes the fatalist who fancies destiny
overrides all human wills. cast about for
human means to break through the obsta-
Gle. And this entrance of the expansionist
into a rational state is what is now so
needed, for it brings him back to history
and experience, matters that are trines to
his unpolitical mind, and in this field he
may take his place-behind men of saner
Judgment
1 address you because your letter is rep
resentative of the attitude of much of the
anti-expansion press and of some of the So
called leaders of alleged thought upon
this subject, toward the rest of the uni
still retain the faculty of reasoning your
statements are little surprising, and we
wonder it has not occurred to you that
there is some assumption in the claim that
you and your coterie of ingenook states
men" possess all the valuable gray nerve
matter in this hemisphere. If this were the
case 1t would seem not unfair to expect
that you, as one of the choice spirits who
hay -
should give some evidence of it-some speci-
men thought-ln an effusion which denies
the possession of that power to others But
let us not stand on the matter of prece
dence. If you have heretofore failed in your
attempts to get discussion" be not with
out nope; you can find one who will do
what little his unreasoning instinct permits
10 accommodate YOU
You say of your associates they have
cited history" What history have they
chase? Thomas jefferson thought at first
that we had no right to acquire this terri
tory, but he was educated by events. He aid
knowledge of absolute truth which is the
precious inheritance of yourself and your
associates. He did not even ask whether the
cltlzens OF New Orleans approved of the
cession of Napoleon. IT was a good thing,
ne thought, for America to acquire that
territory, and so he bought it. When we
purchased Florida from SPAIN did we in
qulre whether the Seminoles approved of
the transfer? Texas and the California tract
We're acquired in the interest Of slavery.
yet California was the means by which tho
balance of power between slave States and
free States was finally broken and freedom
became predominant Would we willingly
we consign Florida to Spain, or Louisiana
to France? And when, in opposition to the
same kind of sentiment which you repre-
sent, Alaska was purchased ('WaIruSsia"
they called 1t in those days. history and
principles and all sorts of things were
brought forward against the folly OF nail
north bllf IxyhO
now think that Mr. Seward made a mis-
take? Our own history vindicates our eff
forts toward expansion.
rr What history, then, do you allude to?
England has expanded" greatly during
the last two centuries. Has England suf-
fered thereby? Has her domestic govern
ment become less beneficent by reason of
her colonial policy? In earlier times there
were dreadful abuses-the stamp act, the
lngs; but the AnglO-Saxon can profit by
experience. Then came the period of re-
FORM. Let US remember that it was through
Calcutta that the merit system passed into
London And shall we-the possessors of
English blood. institutions and modes of
thouSht-snail we become contaminated by
great. and just, and pure? If YOU We're
yourself not so infallibe in judgment I
you'd ask you to believe with me that
Yankee ingenuity will find some way of
so well. ~
You say that your anti-expansionists
political structure rests" / suppose bv this
you mean the doctrine that all men are
equal, tnat government derives its just
powers from the consent of the governed
yet when the Declaration of Independence
was written and when the Constitution was
adopted there was not a single State where
that principle was carried out. Women were
governed then (and they have ever since
been governed without any power to con-
sent There were property qualifications as
well as race qualifications for suffrage. The
Territories have always been governed by
Congress. New Mexico has been for fifty
years in territorial condition. The District
or Columbia will always be in that condi-
ton so far as we can prophesy it's future.
Alaska has not even a local representa- tive
government The fact is that we have al
ways been inconsistent with this ideal of the
Declaration of Independence. We will be no
more inconsistent If We govern the Philip
pines as d Territory than we have been in
governing Alaska or New Mexico or Wash
ington city.
The men who talk of the ''unconstitution-
atty of annexation can hardly tell us why
it was more lawful to annex the Aleutian
islands than the Philippines. If we have
violated the Constitution, this is all past
history we have done it in following the
footsteps of the fathers" from Jefferson to
Seward.
The next thing you speak of is this: You
say that the anti-expansionists have eX-
posed the bubble nature of the expan-
sionists', plans. Why are Porto Rico and
the Philippines to be regarded as a bubble
any more than Jamaica or Hong-Kong or
Hindoostan? If unable ito cite history
uWeH on principles or perceive the
bubble nature of the eXpansionists' plans.'
have at least accommodated you with
something which appears to my 'unpoliti-
car understanding like reason for expan-
sion. / cannot hope that it will bulge you
in your belief. However great the heresy of
pagan fatalism'' of which your letter
speaks, that doctrine has strong support i'm
the cases of those two well-known classes
of invincible beings who never change their
views. / must myself confess that the events
of the past eight months have educated me,
and although such weakness is not to be
feared upon your part it is just possible that
the above considerations may not be lost
upon some who, while still opposed to ex-
pansOn, are not so cOmplacent regarding
their own mental superiority as to deny all
intelligence to those who disagree with
them.
Permit me further to say that while you
and the class of thought monoposts you
represent may be peerless expounders of
history you are not the type of men who
make history. To you may belong the school,
the library the editorial room, the cloister,
the hearth but not the field of conflict. the
march of civilization. The stormy sea of life.
Your adherents will not fell the forest,
brave the desert nor sail the unknown seas.
And while you stay at home cOnjuring
doubts and taking counsel of your fears, the
living. breathing world will hurry past you
with no time for your remonstrance nor
patience for your protests. Yours.
WIN. DUDLEY FOULKE.