Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1899-10-13
FREEDOM AMI. GEN. srAND1sH

FREEDOM AND GEN. sTAND1sH
Ex-Attorney General Standish takes a
whack at the Philippine question and
Freedom, the American paper at Manila,
takes a whack at General Standish.
This is freedoms whack:
General w. H. Standish of Grand
Forks, N. D., is an anti -expansionist and
is glad of it, by gosh.
He airs his views in a recent article to
the National Watchman, of Washington,
D. G., and after basing his so-called
argument on an entire misconception of
the conditions in the Philippines, he
goes on to state in the strongest language
at his command what the administration
ought and ought not to do. 1t is not our
purpose to give his whole argument
space for we have not room for such a
senseless conglomeration of mis-state-
ments and unfounded, assertions. But
along in his articles he propounds these
questions:
did the birthright of the Filipinos
give them the right toexist? Have they
sought so take any such rights from us?
Does the Bible or our declaration of in
dependence grant us that right? Is it
any more right for a great nation like
ours to rob, steal and kill without cause
than it is for n band of the James family
or the Youngers? Are we not seeking to
force the annexation of the Philippine
Islands for the purpose of p%lunder?"
Yes, we answer to his first question,
just as much right as any other people
on Gods footstool, SO long as they live
| ,v;kl;, %Lo ~,1o IS .l:,oJ 1c,,, c>.,o
over the islands; so long as they conform
power controlling the Philippines they
under the sun. But when they take up
arms against their rightful sovereign and
resort to every violent and treacherous
means known to semi-civilized people to
overthrow that sovereignty, and to lay
desert and waste a country that does not
belong entirely to them, but in which
the interests of the most of the civilized
governments of the world are represent
ed, they take the consequences into their
own hands and forfeit whatever rights
they may have had, and SO long as they
continue on these lines they need not X
pect ANYTHING else but war.
Question No. 2. No; we cannot say
that they have attempted to take the
right to live away from us, but they are
doing all they can to destroy United
States rule over these islands, and there
upon hinges the whole question. The
islands belong to the United States.
That government has come into posses
sion of them in the only legal way posi-
BILE. Her title to them is undisputed by
every nation on earth, and in rising up
to contest that authority the Filipinos
have proven themselves traitors and as
such they must be dealt with.
Question No. 3. The bible and dec
l@aration of independence have nothing
to do with the case, whatever. The
bible, however, does not deny any
nation the right of going and helping
itself to anything that it wants: in fact,
it is a history of warfare and bloodshed
from the beginning down to the first
year of our Lord. The generals idea in
bringing the bible into the discussion is
certainly very vague, not to say sense
less. There is nothing in the declara-
ton of independence that bears on the
question whatever, and so we can pass
over that part of it without further
comment.
Question No. 4. Is it any more right
for a great nation like ours to rob and
steal and kill without cause than it is
for a band of the James family or the
Youngers?' Of course not. Who in
the name of common sense would ever
suppose that it was? 1t is as utterly
impossible for such a course to be right
and proper as it is for the government
in question to condescend to do any
thing of that kind. Any person with a
greats worth of sense knows that the
United States is not robblng and steal
ing, nor is it killing without cause. and
a very good cause, too. The diseased
brain that suggested such a question
ought to be taken care of. 1t has no
business in the head of a man who en-
joys his liberty: in. other words a man
with such a brain should be placed in a
padded cell.
Question No. 5. No; emphatically
not. We are not seeking to force the
annexation of the Philippines for the
we are not seeking to force the annexa-
ton of these islands for any purpose
whatever. The islands are ours, as we
have stated before, and all we are seek
ing to do is to bring them under our
control. After the rebels have been
thoroughly beaten and awakened to a
sound realization of their folly it will be
high time to decide on the next subject.
The treaty of Paris conveyed these is
lands with a perfect title to Uncle Sam.
All that he is doing now is looking after
his own interests and the person who
sits on the other side of the ocean and
dictates what should be done here, and
who by his senseless arguments lends
encouragement to the rebels is a rebel
| himself, and we don't care if his name
is General W. H. Standish.
ThA Nav York Trihune SavS. The