The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-02-25

lnere, WITHIN the ShadOW or the monu-
ment of Bunker Hill. where Warren
fell, fighting for liberty, and within a
stones throw OF Fanueil Hall. where
time and again the true sons of the
old Bay State have sent forth to the
country their MESA ges of freedom. he
delivered perhaps the most remarkable,
certainly the most disfngenuous. ad-
dress that ever fell from the lips of
an American President This address.
dfvested of it's verbiage, considered
apart from its platitudes and the osten-
tatieus profession of virtue with which
IL was interlarded, was nothing more
or less than a carefully devised and
studious misstatement of the issue be-
tween the chief executive and those of
his own party who are opposed to his
wretched policy in the Philippines. It
was an effort to befog the subject and
to mislead the public judgment. We
are told, sir, that this address was re-
ceived with enthusiastic applause by
those who heard it, but we who read
it in cold print in the light of the in
defensibIe tragedy now being enacted
near the shores of Asia, involuntarily
think of that creation of Charles Dick
ems, who was accustomed to roll his
eyes piously to heaven and exclaim
with great ostentation to those about
him, My friends, let us be moral and
who was the father of two daughters.
one of whom he named Charity and the
other Mercy.
His Excellency declared upon this
occasion, if not in so many words, at
least in effect, that he had never en-
I. - =
Philippines up to the time the treaty
of peace was ratified; but that he had
simply held them as commander in
chief, the questions as to their disposi-
ton and control to be determined there
after by Congress.
IF the chief executive really feels as
he declared at the banquet that he did,
that the disposition of the Philippines
is a matter to be determined by Con-
gress, why does not he call a special
session Of Congress to settle the mat
ter at once and then keep his hands
off? Heaven knows, there is need Of
action. If he is sincere, why did he
permit his supporters in the Senate to
vote down the other day the Bacon res
olution which distinctly declared that
the United States entertained no inten-
tion Of permanently holding these ISL
ands? Why did he insist that the Nc
Emery resolution should be passed. a
resolution which is a fraud, a delusion
and a snare-a shameful evasion which,
like a Christmas tree, has something
upon it for everybody. That resolution
is intended simply to quiet the con-
science of the American people, to Iull
all opposition to sleep while the Presi-
dent goes ahead, waging relentless and
merciless war against the Filipinos and
laying deep and secure the foundations
for permanent American colony.
Mr. Chairman, 1 am determined that
the President shall neither befog the
issue between himself and those of the
Republican party who oppose his Phil
ippine policy nor mislead the public
judgment, nor shirk the responsibility
for the grossest blunders which he has
committed in connection with this great
problem. I insist that the whole policy
is not simply an error, but that it is
a crime; and that the chief executive
of this nation is the one who has pre-
cipitated upon us the embarrassments
and the difficulties by which we are
now confronted. 1 insist that he did
not simply hold the Philippines as COM
mander in chief. leaving the question
of disposition and control of them to
Congress, but that he formulated and
put into execution an affirmative and
aggressive policy, that of their perma-
nent annexation to this country, and
forced it to the Senate with all the
power and influence which his high Of
fee enabled him to employ. =
1.-The Presidents first impression was
to demand of the people of the Philip
pines simply coaling station. a meas
ure amply sufficient for all of our legiti-
mate purposes and the evacuation of