St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1899-12-30
PROTEST. BY SHERMAN.



Hon. John Sherman, although po1iI-
ically 8as one dead, yet speaketh." He
has broken silence to say that he has
not. changed his views concerning the
Philippines.
He does not want to be considered as
unfriendly to the administration. that
not being his sentiment, bGt he is still
opposed to the idea of this country
holding the Philippines and subjugat-
ing the natives. He is firmly of the be-
lief that we have no business in the is
lands.
When the expansion idea fired the
country Mr.. Sherman was criticised for
his stand against a policy of conquest
in the Philippines, and was called unv
patriotic because he refused to see the
wisdom or justice of taking possession
of territory to which we were not right
~ entitled. Now, he thinks, there has
been a rerulsion of feeling, and in eyi-
dence Of this he mentions the receipt
of number of letters from men of high
standing in public life who were at first
uiSpUsSu ~ ClltlSisS Hill 1oi HIS Hill z
pine views, but who now cheerful1y
acknowledge that through moral con-
viction they are forced to agree with
him.
Tt can hardly be said that Mr.. Sher-
man is in President McKinley's conf
dence. The circumstances under which
the venerable Ohio. statesman entered
and left the presidents cabinet tend
to prevent any confidential, or. even
cordial relations between the two.
When Mr.. Sherman says he thinks the
president has come to the sober Sec
ond thought and il now disposed to
avoid further bloodfshed in the islands
and win readily submit to any honora-
bic arrangement to the end ofsreestab-
fishing peace" !" it should be taken as
what Mr.. Sherman thinks. the president
ought to do rather than what President
Mckinley thinks about it himself.
Mr.. Sherman says we have no moral
right to cede the islands to another
power, because they do not belong to
us. We have not even the right to
claim the islands by conquest, because
we have not conquered them. We have
no more moral right to claim the Philip
pines than we have to claim Cuba. We
cannot govern the Filipinos according
to our standards, because they have
their own customs, habits and laws and
have no sympathies in common with the
Anglo-Saxon. It will be impossible for
us to hold them in subieetion without
large armies there, entaiing an enor-
NOUS expenditure of money.
But what would Mr.. Sherman have
us do under present conditions? His
idea is that we should withdraw our
troops, gradually or at once, and turn
the islands over to the natives. TN
stead of sending soldiers, let us send
statesmen to the Philippines, men who
can assist the islanders to establish a
substantial republican government,
with which we can easily secure trade
treaties that will give us all the priv
i1eges and profits of possession without
the responsibilities thereof. 1t might
be well for this country to. hold naval
station in the island of Luzon, but
Aguinaldo is willing to give us that. He
would very willingly form close,
friendly alliance with this country and
concede every reasonable privilege we
might ask for 4.
When President Mckinley reads this
opinion of his former secretary of
state he will undoubtedly congrs tu.
late himself that the venerable states
man is neither in the cabinet nor in the
senate. We're he still chairman Of the
senate committee on foreign affairs, the
proposed joint resolution declaring the
purpose of the United States to hold
the Philippines would strike a snag in.
the committee room. Cleveland Plain
Dealer.