The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-05-11

G4-freSlcent harrison. VINO Is now In New
York preparatory to sailing for Europe on
the 18th inst, said to a reporter who asked
II he were an expansionist that "he had
views on the subject which he was not
ready at present to make public" Since his
retirement from office General Harrison has
maintained the dlgnified reticence regarding
public questions that becomes an ex-Presi-
dent. neither obtruding his opinions on the
public nor attempting 10 influence the con-
duct of affairs or the policy of the Repub-
lican party, to which he is as devotedly at
tached as ever. He is known as a man who
has decided views on all public questions,
but who always chooses his own time and
way of making them known. He nay do
this in regard to expansion or he may choose
TO preserve silence. One thing is certain: he
will never be found acting as an obstruc-
zionist or among the carping critics of a Re-
publican President and administration who
are doing their best to deal rightly with a
most difficult problem which had to be met
and solved. General Harrison Is too good a
Republican to ever assume such an atti-
tude as that. The Journal Is not authorized
to speak for him on the question of expan-
sion. but some things can be safely asserted
and some can be safely assumed.
In the first place. being IN American Of
Americans and a patriot through and
through. 1t is safe to assert that General
Harrison will never be found favoring the
hauling down of the American flag where it
has been rightly planted by the valor of
American soldiers. No other President of
the United States has, in his public speeches,
paid az many or as eloquent tributes to the
flag as has General Harrison, and no other
has shown himself more thoroughly imbued
and law. of progress and civilization. and Of
freedom for the oppressed everywhere. When
Ii comes to a question of hauling down the
American flag where il has been rightly
raised and Of hauling down with it the prin-
ciples it represents. there need be no doubt
where General Harrison will be found.
AS a broad-minded American General Har-
rison doubtless sees that the annexation Of
Porto Rico and the Philippines, or at least
the practical control of the latter, will not
only add immensely TO the prestige of the
American NAME, but will be of incalculable
advantage to the United States in a strategic
and commercial point Of view. While Presi-
dent he favored the construction of the
Nicaragua caral, the formation of trade
alliances, the making Of reciprocity treaties
and every other means of extending Ameri-
can The acquisition of an island
in the West Indies that commands the gulf
approaches to the Nicaragua canal and of a
group of islands in the distant Pacific that
furnishes a desirable naval station and point
Of vantage for the control of Eastern trade
must strike him, as it does other American
statesmen, as a very important addition to
our commercial advantages.
Again, as a lawyer General Harrison must
see that the question of expansion is no
longer an open one. II was closed by the
ratification of the treaty that conveyed
Porto Rico and the Philippines to the United
before the treaty was ratified. After that
the question was not, shall we acquire the
islands. but, shall We abandon them? Ex-
pansion is an accomplished fact. AS DIR.
Andrews said in his letter to the patriotic
meeting in Chicago: 9TH simple legal fact
is that the Philippine islands are as truly
United States territory as is Illinois," The
question of annexation of the Philippines or
Of the kind of government that shall be
established there is still an open one, but
the question of expansion, by that name, Is
closed. AS far as the principle is concerned
it is closed without reference 10 the Philip
pines by the annexation of Hawaii and Porto
Rico. To be an anti-expansionist now one
must favor the surrender and abandonment
of both these islands Of the United States.
1t is impossible to conceive of General Harri-
son doing that. He might oppose the annexa-
ton Of the Philippines on specific grounds,
but there is no probability that he will OPP
pose expansion in general.
Two incidents in General Harrison's ad-
ministration indicate his views on this sub
ject. He asked and obtained from Congress
an appropriation of $4,000 0 for the purchase
of a coaling station in San Domingo, and he
recommended the annexation Of Hawaii. The
negotiation for the purchase Of territory in
San Domingo fell through. In his message
transmitting the Hawaiian treaty to Con-
gress President Harrison said:
The treaty, IL will be observed, does not
attempt to deal in detail with 5he questions
that grow out of the annexation of the
Hawaiian islands to the United States. The
commissioners representing the Hawaiian
government have consented to leave to the
future and to the just and benevolent pur-
poses of the United States the adjustment
Of all such questions Only two
courses are now open-one the establishment
of a protectorate by the United States and
the other annexation full and complete. I
think the latter course, which has been
adopted in the treaty. will be highly pre-
motive Of the best interests of the Hawaiian
people, and is the only one that will ade-
quately secure the interests OF the United
States.
The manner of acquiring the Philippines is
different from that of Hawaii. but, as far as
the question of territorial expansion is con,
cerned. the principle is the same. General
Harrison has too logical a mind not to see
that. as far as relates to the question CT
territorial expansion. every argument in
favor of the acquisition of Hawaii applies to
the acquisition of the Philippines. As to
what form CT government shall be estab-
lished in the latter. the Filiplnos can safely.
in the language of General Harrison's
Hawaiian message. leave to the future and
to the just and benevolent purposes of the
United States the adjustment Of all such
questions"
These guesses at General Harrison's views
are offered at what they are worth. He is
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