Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-11-16
Onr Expansion MOvemcnt.

In view of the outcome of the verdict
of the people al the polls in different
States this week il seems to he safe TO
assume that the war in the Philippines
viii he pushed to a successful close, and
that the administration will pursue a
policy looking to the permanent retention
of those islands by the United States. The
faot that no American dreamed of our
possession of tho Philippines when our
war with Spain began or even after
Dewey's victory had first astonishcd the
world. does not enter into the question at
this time. As process of evolution Am
Frcan opinion has gradually accustomed
itself to the idea of abandoning bur ma
tonal traditions and our policy of ma
tonal expansion and launching out among
the powers of the world in the race for
commercial supremacy and the acquisi-
ton of territory far beyond the limits
where military authorities long establish
cd our national safety line.
In this evolution of public sentiment re-
garding national expansion two ideas
have been particularly potent. The first
of these was that our duty to the Fill
IinOs required that we should not abandon
them to a fate like that which even now
threatens as strong a people as the
Chinese hut that we should give them
the benefit Of popular government and of
the clevating influences of our American
civilization. The other idea in question
was that our people would experience
marked benefit themselves through the
Increased prestige thar would come to us
through our new position as a world pow
ir and through the pronounced extension
Of our trade that would result from our
posse sion of the Philippines.
No one doubts that the Philippines
would be speedily absorbed by one or more
powers of the world. were we TO with
draw our forces and sovereignty from
those islands, nor will any one have the
hardihood to deny that the planting of
the seeds of American civilization in the
Philippine Islands will result in a marked
Improvement in the condition of the in
hahitants thereof. 1t cannot be gainsaid
on the other hand that our permanent con-
troll Of the Philippines will tend to ma
tcrially enlarge the field of American COM
merce in the Far East
Whether the absorption of the Philip
pines will be attended with dangers that
will more than offset the advantages &c
Nc gained from American sovereignty
over those possessions it is now too late
to inquire. We have advanced to posi-
ton in the extension of our nationa
boundarics whore to all appearances We
could not turn back if we would, and 1t is
the part Of patriotism to make the bes
of tho situation.
But at this point interesting ana far
reaching questions present Themselves
Having abandoned our position of nation
al isolation and having become n land
holder in the old world AS well as a par
ticipart in the International politics there
Of whore are we to establish our new
safety line? Even now we are being urg
ed to join with various European power
IN The partition of China, not because the.
want this nation to gain additional terri
tory in the Far East but because the.
realize our participation to be necessar.
to the safe contamination of their plan
Of Chinese spoliation.
If advices from Washington are true
we have for the tme-being resisted tn
temptation to take finger in the cuttini
of the Chinese pie, but In the light of tn
rapid progress that expansion has mad
during the past two years, who will dar'
to predict how long. we shall be able &c
Withstand the invitation to acquire zone
of influence in the Flowcry kingdom. even
without the asking? The millions upon
millions of heather Chinese need our