The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-07-03

the New York Times declares that an
nexation is the true path to popular
confidence and national greatness. and
the New York Tribune turns Lieuten-
ant Hobson's heroism to account as fol- |
lows:
1t was the spirit of the heroes of the
Merrimac that made the 10 colonies an
Independent nation and stretched its
limits from the Atlantic to the Pacific,
and it is the same spirit that today
seeks to extend our dominion to its
natural and logical fullness in the Pa
cific seas.
Annexation, adds the Tribune, is no
experiment.
1t is the repetition Of things done.
1t is no leap in the dark. 1t is safe
step onward on firm, true ground, in
the light of noon. If it be imperialism,
the first imperialist was jefferson. If
it be jingoism, the first lingo was
Adams. With them, and with the great
unbroken line that followed them,
Americans of today may well keep
step to the forward march of national
destiny.
1.-THE opponents of imperialism"
cries the New York Evening Post, in
alarm, should waste no time in open
ing their fight against it, And the
New York World prints in heavy type
as its motto this sentence from Pres
ident McKinley's inaugural address:
I'VE want no wars of conquest; we
must avoid the temptation of terri
torial aggression" There is no dan
ger" says the Sun, that the United
States will not hold on to what Span
ish possessions they may win by their
arms and deem necessary and useful"
There are thus all elements of a great
controversy
On the one hand again it is alleged
that the United States cannot, under
the constitution, take any territory
which is not capable of becoming a
| state. 'All men are created equal is
in the national charter, and if the
| Sandwich islands or the Philippines
are annexed, "the gentleman from
Honolulu" and ''the gentleman from
| Manila will claim the floor in con-
gress. On the other hand it is urged
that under military occupation re-
!
! tional treatment exactly as Mexico did
under military rule; that nobody ex-
poets Alaska to become a state aad
| that the United States circuit court of
appeals has just decided that in ter
ritory all the functions Of government
are within the legislative jurisdiction
of congress-" This decision forces the
most determined opponent Of expan-
sion to admit that the question whe-
Their congress can legally govern ter
ritory so remote and peopled by a race
so different from our men, is not a
matter of dispute.
Two other facts are full of signifi-
canoe. First, moderate tariff, not at
all the Dingley one, has been framed
for Manila Second, Mr.. Day, the sec
rotary of state, has applied Ito con-
gress for $4,000 to pay the expenses
7 of "a commercial mission to China, and
i has drawn special attention to the fact
that. American manufacturing produc
tivity has reached the point of large
excess above the demand of home con-
sumption" These facts signify that
America, with her astounding growth
of exports, is turning toward the mar
kets of the far east.
Which policy will prevail? In exact
language will America retain the Phil
ippines? 1t is rash, and possibly reck-
less, to answer such a question now,
but so far as 1 can see, I think she
| will Some Of the grounds for this
opinion may be easily given. First,
] what else can America do with them?
Cede them to England, to Japan? Mel
Their would take them at such a crit
ical moment. Put them up to auction
among the European powers, to secure
a cash indemnity from Spain? In
conceivable. Hand them back to
Spain? Public opinion would never toll
crate it. Retain coaling station and
cede the rest piecemeal among the pow
ers? Such a course has been limited at,
but it would be a fatal course, the
worst mistake possible, a policy
fraught with every kind of peril. AL
low the insurgents, under General
Aguinaldo, to set up a republican gov
eminent under American protection?
The idea is laughable to anybody who
l
seen for himself how east is east and
! west is west. There seems for Amer
lea no safe and sensible course except
the old and simple one of keeping what
she has taken.
Besides this negative argument, there
are positive ones to the same effect.
Some are metaphysical, such as the ar
gument that the western course of en-
pire is inherent with the nature of
things. Some are sentimental, such as
the strange magnetism of the orient,
that has now begun to draw Ameri-
cans as it has so long drawn English
men, and viii never let them 60 This
is my fayorite argument, for L know
| how the east can
Draw men onward, as a moon of spring,
| High-wheeling, vast and bosomful,
| Half-hid in clouds and white as wool,
| Draws all the strong seas following.
Some arguments are economical, such
as the necessity of securing for Amer
lea superb bundant manufactures, mar
kets not to be lost by any action of
other nations Some, again, are polit-
+. icaI, such as the desirability, in Amer
lean commercial interests, in having a
strong foothold from which to help
England, when both right and might,
to keep China open to trade, against
the ambitions of Russia, Germany and
France to close her markets in their
own protectionist interests. Some ar
guments are severely practical, such