The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-10-01


miliar with the whole western country
by repeated previous visits, was asked
regarding conditions, as he found them
in the west.
One of the things which stood out
prominently everywhere I went" said
heI1ifwas the general feeling of pros
perity noticed on every hand. Take the
state of Kansas for instance But a
short time ago it was full of rank pop
ulism, and 16 to l cranks of the worst
description. Today, if they exist, moth
ing is heard from them. The farmers
have paid up their mortgages and in
many cases have increased their hold
ings. The cattlemen are doing we'll and
the merchants are making money. The
GROWERS are few and far between. All
California and the other Pacific slope
states give evidence in the same direc-
ton. Portland, Ore, is prospering on
safe substantial basis, while at Sc
attic, Wash, business of all kinds is
progressing in q wonderful manner
Here the klondike business, which is
larger each year, is regarded as a mere
incident. The great trade with China
and Japan already begun is being pre-
pared for on a most extensive scale.
As. we all know, the entire Puget sound
is one grand natural harbor, and Mr..
Hill Of the Great Northern railroad has
just completed docks capable of taking
ten of the tremendous Japan steamers
and loading them at once He
has built the best arranged and
equipped grain elevator, with every
modern device for handling grain
with three competing railroad lines
from the east already pushing sharply
for business-the Canadian Pacific, the
Gree Northern and the Northern Pa
cific-and with a shorter route to Ja-
pan, China and the Philippines than
is afforded from any other United
states port, and with a country behind
1t rich in lumber, coal. iron and precious
minerals, as we'll as in all kinds Of ag-
rleuitural products, the special activity
of Seattle and the whole Puget Sound
district is easily explained"
What was the general feeling
Throughout the west as to the Philip
pine WARP" dueried the reporter.
4 don't know what the majority of
the readers of The Spy think" said Mr.
Lamson. There is an Impression in
many parts of the middle and far west,
however, that New England in general
is a hotbed of the 'get-out-and quit
policy But I'll tell you most emphati-
cally that the far west is with the adj
min1stratlon in this matter first last
and all the time, If there is any cri-
ticisfn 1t Is that the war has not been
fought hard enough, and not that we
are lighting at all. They have no use
for Atkinson and those of his stripe
They don't mince matters, but call him
traitor out and out. They say we
did not seek war, but conditions forced
it on US. That in the harbor of Manila
our fleet whipped that of Spain, and has
held the city and territory near it ever
since. That the Philippines belonged
to spain in fee simple, as all the world
knows, and that by treaty of. peace.
ratified by the Senate of the United
States; we tookethose islands, and now
hokI them with all the rights Of posses
sion formerly belonging to Spain 1t
chances that the natives at the time of
our war We're in. revolt against Spain
for independence, having been misruled
by that country in the past They, With
out cause, continue to fight us, ard
hence. are rebels as much as were those
of the south in the days of 81 Our
country, must quell this rebellion nov
as ii, did then. and any man who by
word orfact hinders the president OF his
army in doing this Is affording aid and
comfort to the enemy, and is worthy
of execration. If not of punishment
That's the way the people out west
look at It..
This, however, does not mean that
they would at first have gone TO war to
get these possessions, or that they do
not regret the loss Of life and treasure
the situation occasions. But they be-
lieve In holding fast to what we fair
ly won in a war we did not seek, and
so far they have themselves helped
most generously to that end. Tie
probable results of backing out, the in
capacity of the natives for self govern
fnent, the inevitable seizure of the ISL
ands as the spoil of European powers,
and the position we would hold as q
nation in their eyes ever afterward,
they with not even discuss. 1t is not
to be thought of. No, Mr.. Atkinson and
his followers won't get much comfort
on the Philippine question from the
people. of the far west.
There is one point on which the Pa
cific slope states are better qualified to
speak than those of us who dwell here
in the east, and that Is the commercial
value of the Philippines to us. not of
themselves, but with reference to trade
with China and Japan.
''To us here in New England China