The age-herald., 1899-01-10
The Presidents Words

The Presidents Words | "A year ago last December the president | of the United States sent a message to | congress. In that message he said: T
 speak not of forcibe annexation because
 that is not to be thought of, and under our 1 code of morality that would be criminal | aggression
 ' The time of conquest is past said | Louis Napoleon. An, Mr. President, Pres | ident Mckinley but repeated Louis Napo- | leon, though in louder and clearer voice. President Mckinley when he spoke was | not thinking even of honor or of power l inspiring and alluring as are honor and | power. He placed himself and placed the | American people on the stern, enduring | and perpetual rock of righteousness, that
 forcible annexation is not to be thought of | under our code of morality; that would be criminal aggression. Who shall haul him | down? Who shall haul down the code? Who shall haul down the president?' | MT. Hoar dwelt with emphasis upon the | large increase in national expenditure which | the policy of expansion advocated by MT. | Platt would entail, placing the amount at | $50 100000 annually.
 l He argued that the adoption of MT. ] Platts doctrine would reduce wages, n- | crease taxation, place an armed soldier on | the back of the workin gman, and by the | act of the government every Americans l dignity would be dishonored and his man. | hood discrowned.
 In conclusion, MT. Hoar said he could not agreed that the lesson of our first hundred | years is that the declaration of independ- | ence and the constitution are a failure and | that America is to begin the twentieth cen- | tury Spain began the sixteenth. '"The Monroe doctrine is gone and every European nation, every European alliance, has the right to acquire dominion in this hemisphere when We acquire it in the other. | It may be thought that in a tempest of 1ol,, | ment cover the great truths of our decara- tion. We had encountered such storms in his experience, but the clouds had passed and the sunshine had come again. The spasm Will Pass "Mr President, this spasm of folly and deuson also in my judgment, will surely
 pass by.A Whether it pass by or not,
 thank God l have done my duty and that l have adhered to the great doctrines of righteousness and freedom which I learned from my fathers, and in whose service my life has been spent"
 Mr Hoar spoke two hours and ten minutes.
 When MT. Hoar had concluded, MT Platt (rep) of Connecticut addressed the senate.
 He said
 ''I cannot ask the indulgence of the sen ate at this time to reply extemporaneously to the carefully prepared argument of the senator from Massachusetts 1 can only l attention and interest. The senator is a master of language and an adept at the use of sarcasm. He has succeeded in con- turing up a speech which is really only a spectre. He has spent a large portion of his argument in erecting a man of straw and the remainder of his argument in de- molishing that man of straw He has not answered the argument which l had the
 honor to make. but misrepresented what I said"
 
 MT Platt maintained that MT. Hoar had admitted his contention that this country had the right to acquire and to govern dis | tant territory, but that he had unfairly pre- | sented what he (PlatD had said about the acquisition and government of such terri | tory. He then read from his own speech a | paragraph showing that he had held it to | De the duty of this country to provide for | acquired territory a most liberal and en- l frightened system of government in accord ance with independence.
 Expansion Toward the Pacific Yet" said MT. Patt. ''he holds me up | here as opposed to applying to the people Of this acquired territory the principles of legislation in accordance with the spirit of the declaration of independence and of the constitution. The United States never has legislated in opposition to the declaration of independence and to the constitution and it
 never will. l want to say that an applica- ton of the doctrines of the senator from
 Massachusetts would have prevented our
 expansion westward across this continent to the Pacific coast We found here this continent in the hands of the Indians who did not want us here, nor did they want to be placed under our government. Notwith- standing that condition, we established our government here, and now, at last, we have
 brought many Indians to state of civil