Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1899-07-14
WHOLE NUMBER 2,O5l.
STILL FINDS FAULT.

STILL FINDS FAULT.
The Portland Oregonian keeps up
its blows at the Mckinley administra.
ton. This is its lat ,st effus:on:
Determination to send an adequate
force to the Philippines, like most of
the acts of the Mckinley administra-
tion, comes when the full possibilities
of benefit have passed away. Things
that require to be done promptly lose
much Of their value If they are post
poned until the dullest apprehension
has waited to he assured of their ne.
cessity. The fact is that public opin-
ion in the United States is entering
upon new phase OF the Philippine
problem, and it is one that bodies no
good either to the nation itself or the
administration. In sacrifice of mill
tary wisdom to politics, the admins
tration has inauspiciously opened a
door for "anti-imperialists" to get
back into the room OF sane criticism.
1t is an opportunity they haye long
been praying for. So long as they OPP
posed the war or its purposes they
could gain no following. But when
the administration lays itself open to
the charge of inefficient management
of the war itself, the "anti-imperial.
lists" are quick to see their chance;
and this is what they are beginning to
say:
"We were originally opposed to for
chile annexation of the Philippine
islands. But if they are to be an
nexed, there is only one way to handle
the problem, and that is the right
way. Crush the rebellion promptly.
Send an adequate force. Return the
volunteers and enlist the provisional
army. If the prompt and decisive
course had been followed in the first
place, the rebellion as we know it now
would never have been heard of. We
were opposed to the war, but that is
matter of opinion. Once there is a
war, however, there is only one way
to carry it on, and that is the vigorous
effective way; and that is not mat
ter of opinion at all, but proposition
upon which all men of sense can
agree. Waive the merits of the origi-
nal controversy, which have largely
passed from sight. The question now
is whether the administrator play.
ing politics when it should have car.
ried on war is to be commended or
condemned"
1t will not be the easiest thing in
the world to dislodge the "anti-im-
perialists" from this new position. 1t
is one that will be shared by very
many Independent observers who have
readily seen the impossibility of our
retreat from the Philippines. The
worst of it is that reluctance to enlist
the provisional army indicates desire
to please the very element in our poll.
tics against which our "anti-imperial-
lists" are most easily aroused. The
hue and cry that went up over the
proposal to enlist a sufficient force for
the Philippines and retain adequate
forces in the home garrisons emanated
from the camps of populism. The
men who promised to make trouble if
larger army were recruited and
maintained are the men who approved
the free.tiot plank in the Chicago
platform. In yielding to them, the
administration has put into the
hands of its independent critics a
weapon which they will use without
reserve.
To placate "anti.imperialism" the
administration held army and navy
back from crushing the rebellion in
its incipiency, and palavered with the
Schurmanr commission with disas-
trous effect. To placate populism, it
kept the volunteers longer than it
needed to keep them, compelled 3O,-
600 men to do with heavy losses what
10000 men could have done with lit.
tie loss, and has reduced home garri-
sons to the point of weakness. Mis-
chief has been done in the islands, and
the patriotic instincts of the West
have been played upon in order to
save votes for Mckinley at the next
Republican national convention. 1t
is an awful sacrifice.