The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-08-21
VEST ZOE ExPAnS1nn

VEST FOR EXPANSION.
Ihe democracy has now ranged itself
SO squarely against what it terms inn
perialism, but which is no more i'm
perialism than Grimes cellar door. that
1t cannot very well do otherwise than
make a campaign on that issue. The
old party has had more royal i'll luck in
getting on the wrong side of things
than did Lorenzo XIII in "The Mascot
Now that the democl attic party has
about decided that the possession of the
philippines is all wrong, it is a pretty
good indication that the majority of
voters have made up their minds that
it is all right. What the party expects
to accomplish with anti-expansion as
one of its chief issues, it is hard to see
1t is in the great west that the demo-
Gratis must play for votes, but what is
there in the anti-expansion issue that
will appeal to the voters of the west?
There have been times during the past
20 years when that section thought that
it was not getting all that it should out
Of republican legislation. It thought so
of the tariff in 1892 and at the same
time it felt that republican currency
legislation was injuring it. Securing
democratic votes in the west that year
was a comparatively easy thing, but
four years of Cleveland convinced west
ern voters that there We're worse things
than republican legislation. In 1896 the
west declared that it did not want
democratic legislation or a democratic
president though he were from the west
If it would not take western candi-
date then. committed to policies that
were supposed to find strongest favor
in that section, what hope have the
democrats of electing a candidate for
the presidency next year on platform
which is hostile to what the west
wants. Expansion suits the western
country, and the republicans will go
into the campaign next year committed
to just what the west wants instead of
under handicap as in former years.
Secretary of Agriculture Wilson has
just returned from a trip through that
section, and what he found there is of
interest as having a bearing upon the
republican campaign next year on the
expansion platform. This is what lie
says:
There are no anti-expansionists in
the west. The people understand the
subject better than those of the east
and realize the necessity of protecting
our large and growing trade with the
Orient. Dewey went to Hong Kong for
the protection of our shipping and de-
stroyed the Spanish fleet to prevent it
from attacking our commerce. An eX-
traordinary impetus has been given to
the commerce Of this country in the
Orient by Dewey's victory and the ac-
QUESTION of the Philippines. Our mer-
chant marine on the Pacific coast is
inadequate for the trade, and the docks
at all Pacific ports are piled up with
goods awaiting shipment.
'"The department of agriculture is
now sending butter and cheese to six
different ports in the Orient in Japan
csc ships and the government is send
ing whole cargoes of goods in ships
which do not fly the American flag. The
general interest which the United States
has in this Oriental trade was demon
strated to me when l boarded a ship
loading at Tacoma. found in the
cargo lumber wheat and flour from
Washington, butter and eggs from
Iowa and Michigan, fruit from Califor-
ria, steel from Alabama, cotton goods
from the Carolinas, bicycles from Chi
cago, notions from New England and
something from every state in the
| Union
"These goods were being sent to
China and japan, and nearly every in
dustry in the United States was repre-
scented. Goods Of every description are
being rushed across the country to Pa
eific ports for the Oriental trade One
of the great needs of this commerce is
system of American counting houses
and banks to handle our business with
these people. The shipbuilding of the
Pacific coast will be greatly advanced
as the result of the acquiring of the
Philippines. What the Pacific states
lack can be furnished by the Philip
pines. The Pacific coast lacks coal and
hardwood, which are found in large
quantities in the Philippines and can
be brought in return cargoes cheaper
than they can be hauled by rail from
the east.
There is plenty Of money for the
building of an American merchant ma
rine and the people Of the west want
these ships built. They want the Mic
dFdBua canal, without Inucn more de-
lay and they see a great future open
ing not only to them, but to the coun-
try across the Pacific, and they believe
in grasping this golden opportunity.
1.-THE west is very prosperous and the
crops abundant There never was so
much corn in the Mississippi valley as
there is this year. In Kansas and Ne
braska they are talking of sending q
cord Of cancelled farm mortgages to the
Paris exposition as sample Of western
prosperity"
The democratic party will have a
nice time convincing western voters
that they don't want the Philippines
and the trade that goes with them