The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-04-27

| ITanclScO, the Columbia river ana Eu- get sound, shortening the time by steam from forty to twenty days, by sail from I one hundred and twenty to siXty-five | days and reducing freight rates at least one-third; for my discussion this even | ing is confined to our export trade and | it's extension.
 MT. President-While all the nations | of Europe are our commercial foeS;
 while just now they fear us more than
 ever before, and, as China witnesses,
 are lining up to stop our advance, we have abundant cause for courage and hope. The unexpected has happened,
 increasing our confidence in the future
 ten fold. Humanity and a decent self
 respect forced us to a declaration Of
 war against Spain. The conflict was
 short, sharp and decisive In a few
 months that proud kingdom became a suppliant for peace. Commissioners
 were appointed for peace. Commission CTS were appointed by the president to | settle it's terms; a treaty was signed, has been ratified and proclaimed. Un-
 der it's terms Cuba is commercially
 ours, for, while we refuse to accept sov
 ereignty there, and intend to yield all
 claim to authority whenever a stable
 government is formed, that government will owe its life to us; it's people can-
 not fail to remember that their freedom from oppression, from eXacting and most burdens )me taxation, from hun
 ger and starvation, is a gift from us.
 Gratitude and contiguity will surely
 give us the trade. When peace abides
 there, and good government assures
 protection to life and property, com
 merce will enormously increase. Porto
 Rico is ours, and it's trade will be.
 But more promising than the acquire
 ment of many such islands, is the ac-
 quistion by us, under the terms of the
 same treaty, of the Philippine archi-
 pelago, undoubtedly the most fertile
 and productive unexplored land under
 the sum- For thrle hundred years un-
 der Spanish dominion, more oppressive
 and cruel than known elsewhere in the
 world; treated as mere sponge to be
 squeezed by the hand of the oppressor;
 burdened by taxation the most ingen- ious and intolerable; without railroads or highways, without any labor saving machinery, third of it's product rotting on the ground for want of transporta- tion to the sea; it's revenue plundered
 by Spanish officials; yet, in 1897, with
 rebellion rife, according to United
 States Commissioner Harden the ex- ports were $41, ,342, 900, the imports ST. S43,OOO; balance in favor, $23, ,999 0O0
 Give the islands a good government, protection to life and property, an ad- vancing civilization, increasing intelli- fa revenues, railroads and highways. in1- proved agricultural implements, cable communication with our country and telegraph1c lines between them, and who doubts that commerce will, in a few years, be quadrupled? The bulk of it will be ours, even with the open door, for we shall have the advantage of England, Germany and France in dis tance and in freight rates. Under pres- ent conditions these rates have been, since 1S77 from Manila to the United States a little less, on the average, than one-half those from Manila to England, and ten per cent less from our country to Manila than from England. The isl- ands are marvelously rich and produc- tive; not more than one-quarter of the tilable land under cultivation. They produce the best hemp known while there is no limit to the demand for it; sugar, copra, indigo, tobacco, rice, fruits and vegetables of all kinds. They are rich in minerals, gold, copper, lead, iron the latter yielding, in some mines, 85 per cent. pure metal. There is an abundance of coal in nearly all of the islands. We have paid for coal for Deweys fleet from twelve to twenty 1 dollars a ton. On the island of Cebu it is found in enormous quantities, of quality superior to the Japanese lump, inaccessible now, for it is fifteen miles from the port of Cebu. A railroad for that distance will land it ' at this port for five shillings a ton. The forests, of best mercantile woods, are boundless.
 Under such a government as this re- public would establish, inviting capital | and affordng security to it, the possi- bilities of the archipelago are amazing Even under Spanish dominion, in 1863, a few foreigners gathered $60000 capi- tai, built a steamer to ply between Ilo- flo and Cebu, and now the line has fifty, reaching all the islands.
 But the value to us of the domestic trdQe or these possessions IS 10SlEnl1- can't compared to that regarded from ommercial-strategic point of view. They front the entire China Sea, are 1nly two days sail from Hong Kong; they introduce us to the Orient with its seven or eight hundred millions of peo- ole with imports now exceeding $1,500,- GOO annually, which advancing civili- ,ation will double in few years. They give us, for the first time, a tremendous moral force, a most potent voice for the preservation of the open door in China Who can estimate the value in the fu- ure of such a commanding position to ,ur foreign commerce.?
 Are we to fold our hands and allow his harvest to be gathered by our iva1s? We have treated with China to us commercial rights md privileges equal to those of the most , avored nations. Are we to sit silently ,y and see our treaty rights invaded he doors closed against us? The na- ions of the earth are to-day near neigh DOTS. They all heard the thunder of )ewey's guns and recognized this re- , 'uhic, for the first time as one of the .reat powers of the world. Are we , lone of these all to ignore the stupen- ous acte /,
 What shall we do with the Philippine ! I.O ifrl+ (