Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1899-12-01
PROTEST BY SHERMAN.
MckinIsy's Former Secretary OF
State Condemns Presidents
Philippine Policy.


Hon. John Sherman. although polit-
cally "as one dead, yet speaketh." He
| has broken silence to say that he has
| not changed his views concerning the
philippines.
He does not want to be considered as
unfriendly to the administration, that
| not being his sentiment, but he is still
opposed to the idea of this country
holding the Philippines and subjugat-
ing the natives. He is firmly of the be-
| lief that we have no business in the is
lands.
! When the expansion idea fired the
country Mr.. Sherman was criticised for
his stand against policy of conquest
| in the Philippines, and was called I'M
patriotic because he refused to see the
wisdom or justice of taking possession
of territory to which we were not right
| iy entitled. Now, he thinks, there has
been a revulsion of feeling, and in evil
1ence of this he mentions the receipt
| of a number of letters from men of high
standing in public life who were at first
disposed to criticise him for his Philip
pine views, but who now cheerfully
acknowledge that through moral con-
| viction they are forced to agree with
| him.
It can hardly be said that Mr.. Sher-
man is in President McKinley's conf
idence. The circumstances under which
| the venerable Ohio statesman entered
and left the presidents cabinet tend
| to prevent any confidential, or even
cordial relations between , the two.
When Mr.. Sherman says he thinks the
president has come to the sober sec
ond thought and sis now disposed to
avoid further bloodshed in the islands
and will readily submit to any honora-
pie arrangement to the end of reestab-
| fishing peace" it should be taken as
what Mr.. Sherman thinks the president
ought to do rather than what President
| Mckinley thinks about'it himself.
| Mr.. Sherman says we have no moral
right to cede the islands to another
power, because they do not belong to
us. We have not even the right to
claim the islands by conquest, because
we have not conquered them. We have
no more moral right to claim the Philip
pines than we have to claim Cuba. We
cannot govern the Filipinos according
to our standards, because they have
their own customs, habits and laws and
1
Ang1o-Saxon. 1t will be impossible for
us to hold them in subsection without
large armies there, entaiEng an enor-
nous expenditure of money.
But what would Mr.. Sherman have
US do under present conditions? His
, idea is that we should withdraw our
troops, gradually or at once, and turn
| the islands over to the natives. elm
stead of sending soldiers, let us send
statesmen to the Philippines, men who
can assist the islanders to establish a
substantial republican government,
with which we can easily secure trade
treaties that will give us all the priv
ileges and profits of possession without
the responsibilities thereof. 1t might
be well for this country to hold naval
station in the island of Luzon, but
Aguinaldo is willing to give us that. He
would very willingly form a close,
friendly alliance with this country and
concede every reasonable privilege we
might ask for.''
| When President Mckinley reads this
opinion of his former secretary of
state he will undoubtedly congratu-
late himself that the venerable states
man is neither in the cabinet nor in the
senate. Were he still chairman of the
senate committee on foreign affairs, the
| proposed joint resolution declaring the
purpose of the United States to hold
the Philippines would strike a snag in
| the committee room.-Cleveland Plain
| Dealer.