The Portland daily press., 1899-10-16


flest, aud Gen. Merritt captured the
Spanish army that alone main'ained the
spanish told on the Philippines, the
Spanish power then was gone and the civ-
ilizatfop and the common-sanse and the
Christianity of the world looked to the
power That succeeded IL to accept lie re-
spor slbilities. So we took the Philip
pines
No suggestion OF purchase here. The
idea conveyed certainly Is that we
took them by force, Again in the same
speech he said;
There was another side to It. In q
conflict to which fifty years of steadily
Increasing provocation had driven us
we had lost $50 sailors. treachsrously
murdered on the Maine. Whers
was the indemnity which under such
circumstances It is the duty of the vic
torious nation to exact? No
Indemnity was ofsible, save in territory.
We're the representatives Of
the United States, charged with the
duty of protecting not only its own
honor but lis Interests, In Arranging
terms Of peace, to content themselves
with little Porto Rico, away of, third
Of the way to Spain, plus the petty reef
OF Guam, In the middle Of tie Pacific,
as indemnity for an unprov liked war
that mad cost and was to ocst their coun-
try $500. eco, 000g
Here Is q suggestion that the Philip
pines were taken as pars Of the indem-
nifty due us.
He went into no expla nation Of the
payment Of the $40, coo, 600 In this speech
but few days later in an address at the
Lincoln dinner If the Marluetti club at
Chicago he quite fully discussed this
point and this is what he said;
They 1.-THE Dominican com missio nsrsl
most vehement opposition, not merely
maintained, In the face OF the
OF Spain, but of we'll nigh all Europe, a
| principle vital to oppressed people struR-
| CLING for freedon,--a principle without
| which our own freedom could not have
| been established, and without which any
successful revolt againtt any unjust rule
could be made practically Impossible.
That Principle Is that, contrary to the
prevailing ruls and practice In large
| transfers OF sovereignty, debts do not
necessarily follow the territory If incurred
| by the Mother Country, distinctly In
efforts to enslave it. Where so incurred.
| your representatives perslstentiy and sue.
cesefully maintained that no attempt by
the Mother Country.to mortgage to bond
| holders the revenues of custom housea or
| in any way to pledge the future Income
of the territory could be recognized as n
valid or binding security;--thas the
moment the hand of the oppTessor relaxed
| it's grasp. his claim on the future revenue
Of the oppressed territory was gone, 1t is
| a doctrine that raised an outory in ev,ry
Continental Bourse, and struck teIr5r
to every gam bling European investor In
national loans, hoated at usurious profits,
to raise funds for unjust wars. But Ii
is right, and one may be proud that the
United States stood like a rock, ~-batrlnu
anV road to peace which led to loading
either on the liberated territory or on the
people that had freed it the debts incurred
IN the wars against it If this Is not In
| ternational L4w now it will be; and the
| United States will have made 1t.
But your representatives In Paris placed
| your country In no attitude Of ends avor-
ing either TO evade or repudiate just OBJ
| legations They recognized the duty of
reimbursement fer debts Iegitimately in
CURED for pacific improvements or other.
wise, for the real benefit of the trans.
ferred territory. Not till 1t was shown
that of the philippine debt of forty mill
lions Mexican. or little under twenty
millions of our money, over a fourth had
been transferred direct to aid the war in
Cuba, and the rest had been mainly
| spent in the war in Luzon, did your
| representatives. hesitate at its PAYNE MT:
anu even bnen tney decided to give
lump sum equal to II, which could servo
| as recognition of whatever debts Spain
may have incurred I'm the past for expen-
ditures there for the benefit of the people.
There can be no mistake about the
meaning of this. The $50, 600, OoO was
according to Mr.. Reid simply a recogni-
ton Of "whatever debts Spain may have
incurred In tho past for expsnditu res
there for the benefit of the people,"
AS we said before we do not think the
question of how we got the Philippines
whether by conquest, as an indemnify OF
by PURCHASERS of great consequence; but
while two of the commissioners differ &C
radically in regard to it, it can hardly be
pronounced settled.