Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1899-02-22

which right action and deliberate
Judgment nre possible. 1t is not a
good time for "A librrator to submit
important questions concerning lib
erty and government To the liberated
while they are engaged In shooting
down their rescuers.
To those wise men who think they
know everything from the beginning
To the end, yet who have not, up to
date, left any record of their state
manshiD for posterity, the president
directs n solid shot when he says:
No one can tell today what IL best
for them or for us. | know no one
at this hour who is wise enough or
sufficiently informed to- determine
what form of government will best
subServe their interests and our inter-
rsts, their and our well being. II we
knew every thing by intuition-and /
sometimes think there are those who
believe that II we do not they do
we should need no information; hut
unfortunately most of us are not In
that happy state.
The President closed his speech I'm
the following words and the reader
will strive in vain TO find anything
harsh or imperialistic In them. They
are not the words Of a cruel and
heartless conqueroI, nor of one
who would place commercial inter
ests above the welfare Of n people,
even though they are semi-barbarOus.
But they are the utterances of "a man
who fought to make men free and
whose every heart-throb is harmony
with all movements for the welfare
and betterment Of the human race:
The whole subject IL now with
the congress and the congress il to
voice the conscience and judgment of
the American people. Upon their
Judgment and conscience al we not
rely? | believe it them, | trust them.
| know of no better or safer human
tribunal and until congress shall
direct otherwise, il will he the duty
Of the executive to possess and hold
the Philippines, giving the people
thereof peace and n beneficent
government, affOrding them every
opportunity to prosecute their law
full pursuits, encouraging them I'm
their life and industry, making them
feel and know we are their friends,
not their enemies; that their good is
our aim; that their welfare IL our
xynlfura hnf that nathan fhntr NJ
pirations nor ours be realized
until our authority is acknowledged
and unquestioned.
No imperial designs lurk in the
American mind. They are alien to
American sentiment, thought and
purpose. Our priceless principles
undergo no change under the tropi-
zeal SUI They go with the flag.
They are wrought in every one of
it's sacred folds and are ineXtinguish-
able in its shining stars.
why read We not the changeless
truth, the free can conquer, but to
save?'
Ii we can benefit these remote
peoples, who will object? Ii, in the
years of the future. they are estab-
lishcd In government under law and
liberty, who will regret our perils
and sacrifices; who will not rejoice in
our heroism and humanity?
Always perils, and always after
them safety: always darkness and
clouds, but always shining truth,
with the light and sunshine; always
cost and sacrifices, but always after
fhAm thn fpuitiAn nf lihnrtu aInnn
ton and civilization.
have no light or conscience not
common to my country. | do not
p%rophesy. The present is all-absorb-
ing to me, but | cannot bound my
vision by the bloodstained trenches
around Manila, where every red drop,
whether from the veins of an Ameri-
can soldier Or a misguided Filipino,
Is anguish TO my heart; but by the
broad range of future years. when
that group OF islands, under the i'm
pulse Of the year just past, shall have
become the gems and glories of these
tropical seas; a land Of plenty and OF
increasing possibilities; n people re-
deemed from savage Incidence and
habits, devoted to the arts of peace,
In touch with the commerce and
trade of all nations, enjoying the
blessings Of freedom, of civil and re-
ligious liberty, of education and Of
homes; and whose children and chill
dren's chill lre1 shall for ages bless the
American Republic, beeuus il eman-
cipated and redeemed their father
land and set them in the pathway Of
the worlds best civilization.