The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1899-10-06

Those who would encourage anarchy at
home most naturally strike hands with the
enemies Of our country abroad. The friend
If the hombthrower and his apologists are
doing what Is fit and mete whep they
strike hands across the seas with those
who are fighting our soldiers in foreign
lands. Fundamentally the causes which
they champion are the same. The step
from encouraging the assassination Of the
guardians Of the law at home to the aid
ing and abetting Of the shooting down of
our soldiers abroad Is but a short one; and
It matters little whether the encourage
nent be given by the exercise Of the par
loning power, by raving speeches upon
the platform. or by the circulation of silly
documents composed by men to feeble to
accomplish the mischief they design.
Make no mistake! In the Philippines we
are at war with an enemy who must be
put down. 1t is absolutely impossible to
save our honor except through victory, and
It Is equally impossible to win peace, to re-
store order In the Islands, or to prepare
the way for self-government there save
through victory.
No Honor Save by Victory.
Every argument that our opponents make
now Is exactly such as II they were logical
they would make on behalf Of the Sioux
tnoians in South Dakota or the Apaches in
New Mexico, and such as they actually
lid make at the outbreak of the civil war.
II we have no moral right to Interfere in
the Philippines then we have no moral
right to interfere In an Indian reservation.
II we have no right In Luzon and should
leave 1t to the Tagals, then we have no
right in Alaska and should leave 1t to the
Indians and the Esquimaux
Not one argument can be made for the
l
| that does NOT apply with exactly as much
force to the other People tell you that
the Filipinos are fighting for Independence.
This was exactly what the copperheads of
1861 said Of the Confederates. Here, in
Ohio, Vallandigham ran on the issue that
the war was a failure and that the inde-
pendence Of southern states should be ac-
lknowledged.
The feeble vallandighams Of today take
the same position, and If Ohio is true to
! the grea. memories Of her past, she will
give the same answer now that she gave
then. 40 man can hesitate in this strug-
gle and ever afterward cal himself true
American and true patriot. He must
stand by the nag. He must uphold the
honor and the interest of the nation, and
the only way In which he can stand by the
one and uphold the other Is to overwhelm
the party that assails both.
Democracy's Creed Of Shame.
Undying shame shall be his portion II he
does not stand with us at this crisis. There
Is no man living now who has anything
but feeling of respect for the gallant
IConfederates who showed their sincerity
In the appeal to arms and valiantly risked
their lives for what they mistakenly
thought to be right; but scant, indeed, is
our sympathy for their northern allies who
sat at home and talked treason but never
Iexposed their bodies to the risk of paying
Tor their words.
The same burden of shame rests on the
men who preach the ecreed Of the weakling
and the coward In their own safe homes
now, while our soldiers are fighting val.
lantly in the tropic islands of the eastern
seas and are bearing forward the flag OF
our country In cause that Is not only the
cause Of America, but the cause of civiliza
ton and humanity. Ayei and ultimately
the cause of the very islanders who are
lgnorantly bearing arms against us.
Two facts must be emphasized: First
that out Of the present situation, the only
honorable and humane way Is to put dowr
armed resistance in the Philippines and Il
establish a government of orderly Justice
and, in the second place, that this situation
Inevitably arose out of the war and coult
not have been avoided save by shameful
conduct on our part. You will meet short
sighted people who say that Dewey, aftel
sinking the Spanish fleet, should hav,
sailed away from Manila bay. OF cours,
such conduct was impossible.
We Must Finish What We Begun.
1t Is not too much to say that such con
duct would have been infamous. Eithe
, the islands would have been left to thei
own fate ad such a course been followed
, | In which case a series of bloody massa
h.-- &rI- ,~l-
between the Spaniards and the Filipino
would have dragged along Its wretche'
, length until some outside Interference too
place; or else, what Is far more probable
asa Dewey's fet sailed out, the 1et o
some European power would have saile
; In, and We should have had the keen mol
D tifcation Of seeing the task which W
shrank from begun by some nation whic
! did not distrust its own powers, which ha
the courage to dare to be great.
e Dewey had to stay and we had to inis
4 the job we had begun. The talk about tn
e Filipinos having practically achieved thei
3 independence Is, of course, the veriest nor
3 sense. Aguinaldo, who has turned agains
us, owed his return to the islands to u.
: 1t was our troops and not the Filipino
!, who conquered the Spaniards, and as
t consequence 1t was to us the islands fel
= and we shall show ourselves not merel
= weaklings unfit to take our place anon
8 the great nations of the world, but traitor
t to the cause Of the advancement Of maj
n kind II we finch from doing Alright th
r task which destiny has intrusted to ou
t hand.
s We have no more right to leave the FIJI
pinos to butcher one another and sin
8 slowly back into savagery than we woul
|. have the right, in an excess Of sentimel
n tality, to declare the Sioux and Apache
D free to expel all white settlers from tt
q lands they once held. The Filipinos off,
II excellent material for the future; with o'
IF aid they may be brought up to the level I
self-government, but at present they CO
y not stand alone for any length Of time.
weakIing Screed of the Antis.
# weak nation can be pardoned for gi
D. ing up a work which it does badly, but
II strong nation can not be pardoned (,
e 1inching from a great work because, 70
d sooth, there are attendant difficulties al
t. hardships.
II The century which Is just closing b,
seen what the century which is openir
will surely also see-vast strides in civiliz
ton, the result of the conquest of Il
worlds waste spaces, the result of the e
70 pansion of the great masterful, ruling rae
&c Of the world. There is much prattle al
much shrieking against expansion. Are Il
prattlers so ignorant as not to know tn
n the existence of the United States is due
~ the greatest application Of the expansiC
policy which the world has ever seen?
~ If our forefathers who came over the SCI
~ to settle in the vast wooded wilderne
i along the Atlantic seaboard nearly 2
~ years ago had been as timid as those d
:. generate descendants of theirs who no
20 protest against expansion, this confines
would still be nothing but the huntiI
y ground Of the red men. Russia has e
.e panded In Asia. England in Asia, Afri
'i and Australia, and France and Germany
Africa, all with the strides Of giants duril
u the years that have lust passed. In eve