The Washington weekly post. (Washington, D.C.) 1878-1916, 1899-08-15
Not a One.man Affair.

Not One-man Affair.
''McKinley's war on the Filipinos' is a
phrase much affected by many Of our
anti-expansion contemporaries. It origi-
mated with the organs OF the Anti-Imperial
League, and we think Il would have been
wiser on the part of the more conserva-
tive opponents Of the administration had
they kept their hands off that piece
Of property, and permitted the Atkinson
| i1ns TO have the sole use OF their inven-
ton. II never pays in politics more than
in business or social matters 10 be un-
! truthful. The voting masses may be de
ceived for a time by Misrepresentation,
/ but finally 'the truth comes uppermost."
/ There may be citizens so ignorant of the
/ Constitution and laws of the United States
/ and the facts Of the situation that they
I can be made TO believe that one man has
made and is carrying on war on the Fill
/ pinos." But the number Of such abnor-
mally credulous persons is not great, and
even their phenomenal capacity for believ-
ing things may be overtaxed so far as 10
produce reaction. 1t is simple justice
to President Mckinley to recall the fact
that. if he could have had his way, there
would have been no war last year or this
year; no war with Spain in 1898 leading up
to the Philippine trouble of 1899 Had the
pressure for war not been increased be-
yond his or any other mans power OF re-
sistance by the tragedy in Havana harbor
on February Is, 1895, there is every reason
to believe that peace would have been
preserved; that Spain would have let 90
her hold on Cuba, thus relieving the "in-
tolerable situation" that constituted the
casus belli. While President Mckinley
was working toward that contamination
against great opposition, the Maine horror
dashed his hope OF peace TO the winds and
made war inevitable.
II is also due in simple Justice TO the
President to recall the fact that but for
his firm insistenee on the right course, in
opposition to bitter antagoniSm. we should
have begun the war against Spain with a
fatal blunder-should have gone into Cuba
as the ally of an imaginary republic. In
a subordinate position the Cuban Generals |
directing operations This would have put
some value into Cuban bonds, but 1t would
have placed our government in a more
absurd and embarrassing position than |
can well be imagined. Would there have |
been any probability-would there have |
been more than the remotest possibility |
of an honorable exit from such a situa-
ton?
Having put off the war until further de-
lay was impossible, and having in the |
meantime done all that was possible to /
offset our chronic and disgraceful unreadi- |
ness for even self-defense. the President |
obeyed the mandate of Congress, making |
the conflict short, sharp, and decisive. |
That war stands unequaled in history for
the greatness of results in proportion to
cost, And that was as much McKinley's
war on Spain as the supplemental work in
the Orient is ''McKinley's war on the Fill
pinos."
Had all that has happened in the Phil
ippines since the protocol was superseded
by the treaty been foreseen or appre-
hended. the negotiations of Paris might
and we believe would. have been con-
cluded without the transfer to US of the
sovereignty of the Philippines But it |
were folly 10 speculate on what might
have been. Our business as a nation is
With what has and what is. BY treaty, b.
the action, not of the President alone bu.
by the concurrent action of two-thirds
of the Senate, We took the sovereignty OF
the islands. We took il in good faith
and with the kindliest motives and in
tentions toward all the inha bitants But
while We were hoping and praying for
peace, small fraction OF one of the
tribes opened war on our soldiers That
was rebellion against our lawful authori-
~; that was instruction. and the Presi-
dent was bound to suppress IT, The
President would have been impeached and
the nation irretrievsbly disgraced if We
had evacuated Luzen instead of taking
to establish our authority there
and throughout the archipelago.
A generation ago We had a great war in
the United States. and there were many
thousands of citizens on the Union side
OF the line whose sympathies were on
The other side. They called that mighty
upheaval 'Lincoln's war" II was falls.
and mean phrase, Intended 10 serve an
unpatriotic purpose. There is not much
between that conflict among
brethren ano this suppression OF Tagal
insurgents. but they are precisely alike
IN the fact that no President or Cabinet
was responsible FOR either Of them. This
IS no mere McKinley's than that was
war