Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1899-11-22
THE OPEN DOOR QUESTION.


paragraph in which THE ENQUIRER
of last Saturday showed it the most
practical way of maintaining the open
door in China by "reasonable, peace
fnl means"
1t is with pleasure that we beg to
inform The State that we do not feel
hurt in the least on account of the
sarcastic filings it has seen fit to make.
Its article, on the whole, is very good
tempered indeed, and we are sincere
when we say that we appreciate the
condescension of The State in so So
berly discussing this matter with a
paper that is not in it's class. At the
same time, however, we confess that if
The State has controverted any one OF
the propositions we have laid down on
this subject during the past two weeks,
our wit is too dull to comprehend.
In matters of controversy it is al
ways been the custom of The ENQUI-
RER to reproduce in full what the 9TH
er paper might have to say. In the
present instance, however, we are un-
able to spare the space. Besides, The
State only reproduces the short para
graph that was in Saturdays ENQUI-
RER, and directs its assault largely at
the other editorial that was published
under the heading, "What it all
Means" If we should reproduce what
The State has to say in full, we would
not care to controvert its argument
much further than we have already
done in the article referred TO. 1t has
tried to answer that article but what
ever may be the opinion of other peo'
pie, in our opinion it has not yet sue
ceeded. .-
With regard to the open door, our
argument has been and is, that we
have as much rightin China as has any
other country, and upon the maintain
ance of these rights depends, to large
extent, the continued commercial pros
perity and expansion of the United
States. We have reached the point
svhaSA fliATpihriss;r ''asddu'@gate able
to see material recompense in the prac.
tical advantage that we can derive from
them if necessary. The State admits
our right in China but claims that
other nations are in a position to deny
US these rights, and that, therefore,
We should lie low and lick their boots.
On the Philippine question it says:
TO begin with, it is not necessary to
conquer the Filipinos and deprive
them of self government in order to
possess and maintain a naval and mill
tary base in the Philippines. A year
ago Aguinaldo proposed that the Unit
ed States should hold Manila and its
great bay for naval station in com.
pensation for its exercise of protecto-
rate over the islands and not even the
most ardent imperialisJ will say that
he and his people would offer less at
this time. If the administration were
willing to concede the Filipinos the
control of their domestic affairs, trea.
ty would be signed within a month ced-
ing to us all the land and water in that
quarter which we could possibly need.
For a long time, we looked upon this
matter just as The Stale now looks
upon it. We considered Aguinaldo as
George Washington struggling for the
liberty of his country. We believed, too,
that the United States government had
violated promises that Admiral Dewey
had made to induce him to give his as
sistance against the Spaniards, and
looking at the matter in this light, our
sympathies for Aguinaldo were so
strong that we actually felt as if we
would have been glad TO see him drive
our American soldiers out of his coun-
Try. But now we entertain no such
feelings. Our views have been changed
BY the report of the Philippine com.
The report says distinctly
hat no promises were made. Unless
his report is a deliberate lie, and the
dea of such thing is absurd, Agui-
1aldo is nothing but an adventurer.
He sold his people to the Spaniards
or money for his own personal use,
and his main object in returning to
he Philippines, under the protection
IF the Americans, was the hope that
ne might still further promote his own
PERSONAL interests at the expense of
he Spaniards or his country, he did not
,are which. There is nothing of the
ieorge Westinghouse the patriot in
lis nature; and we glory in the fact
hat the United States has been too
generous and humane to leave this
at the mercy Of such a man,
,r to make any terms with him what
ver.
Again, President Schurman, of the
Philippine commission, informs us
hat of the 100000 people in the is
ands, the Tagalogs constitute only
mall per cent, and it is only part of
hem who are following Aguinaldo.
The balance of the people are repre-
ented rs being not only terrorized at