The Irish standard., 1899-01-14
EDMUNDs, H0AR AND MASON

Bishop of Duluth.
EDMUND3, HOAR AND MASON
Geo. F. Edmunds, the ablest states
man of the Republican party, the leader
of the United States senate for many
years, and an authority on constitutional
law, contributed his well-matured views
on the Philippine question to the New
York World of last Sunday in three
! column communication. He is strongly
opposed to expansion and imperialism
and gives convincing reasons why he
cannot indorse the policy of the McKin-
| ley administration. He is not one Of
those who believe that the president can
i do no wrong, and in his summing up Of
the case he says that in dealing with
the Paris treaty "the senate is as free
to act according to it's own judgment as
the president was free to act according
| to his in negotiating it. eff the senate be-
lieves the treaty to be wrong" he says,
cit will doubtless have the courage to
reject it and to face the consequences"
Ex-senator Edmunds declares that the
United States ought not to assume SOW
ereignty of the Philippines against the
express will of the people of the islands.
The senate may amend the treaty so as
| to grant the people the same rights as
the Cubans, and provide that "the
people should be left to govern them
| Ae
$2O,O00,000 to be paid to Spain. he con-
siders it a bagatelle not worthy Of no.
tice in view of the gravity of the other
aspects of the subject.
! Senator Hoar, OF Massachusetts,, an
other great Republican leader, vigorous
| ly opposed expansion in a speech de-
livered last Monday in the United States
senate in reply to Senator Platt. 1t
was a constitutional argument of much
force and eloquence and breathing the
| spirit of true Americanism. In support
| of his Interpretation of the constitution
he cited numerous authorities, including
Charles Sumner and Justices Matthews
and Brewer. He left not leg for Plat
to stand on. He vehemently appealed to
the senators and said: when you raise
the flag over the Philippines as an en-
blem of dominion and acquisition you
take it down from independence hail."
In conclusion, he compared Mckinley
to Louis Napoleon, said the Monroe doc
trine would be gone when we invade an
other hemisphere and declared he could
not agree, that the lesson Of our first
hundred years is that the declaration of
independence and the constitution are a
failure and that America is to begin the
twentieth century where Spain began
the sixteenth
in patriotic speech against expansion
on Wednesday, and though not intel
lectually the equal Of Edmunds or Hoar
he made a magnificent address and was
listened to with rapt attention. For a
Republican coming from Chicago he dis
played moral courage of a high order.
The press of that city, both Republican
and Democratic, is in favor of expansion
and will undoubtedly criticise his ut
terances unfavorably. But the people
are behind him and he can defy the cri-
ticism of hostile press that advocates
corruption and spoilation. The power
of the press is not mighty in an unjust
cause, and no one realizes that fact bet
ter than the intrepid champion of lib
erty from Illinois. The Republican pa
pers of the Northwest ridicule him and
give only small space to his address
because he condemns the gun policy for
the Philippines.
In his plea for liberty, Senator Mason
electrified the senate and galleries. In
the course of his address, he impetuously
exclaimed: who wants to govern the
Philippine islands? Who among us
wishes to vote for laws here to govern
them 10000 miles away? 1 never saw
their homes; 1 never spoke with one of
them, and l don't know their language;
know their institutions. Who is there
on this hill in Washington, 1 say, to
write laws to govern these people, whose
very language we do not understand"
The protests Of such men as Edmunds,
Hoar and Mason against the policy of
Mark Hanna. Cushman K. Davis and
Steve Elkins deserve the profoundest at
tention from the American people. The
policy of conquest and spoilation in the
Philippines is only Endorsed by the plu-
tocratic classes. Their cry of humanity
and civilization is sham and a hum
bug. The American producing classes
will never sanction military despotism
either at home or abroad.
The notorious case of Selma Clewett
against the St. Paul House of the Good
Shepherd came up again the other day
before Judge Otis in the district court.
She was denied leave to perfect her APP
peal to the supreme court on the ground