The Forrest City times., 1899-05-05

poth rich and poor: and for justice to tha | weak, whether white or brown.
 | I nave shown that we would have no | more trade by owning the islands than y,a | would have without them since o,,r s,',e
 cess m foreign markets depends upon horne SSo'ui.iohs' that the only commercial gains ps conquest go to the few at the expense | oL the Workingman and the taxpayer: and | that II we could buy more trade at tbe
 eNpchse or human life 1t would be immoral | . ihey tell us that we must go on with
 the war until the Filipinos are thoroughly
 suoJusated. It is as if great bully should | pe allowed to go on beating A child untu e .ne victim IS helpless. No. I say. stay the DIo"s or war until we know that right aims | .ne pioW You know. everyone knows. that II We were to say to the Ffipinos that | oul nag IS there as a symbol of protec- tioh' that We are there solely to insure to 1 them Tree and independent government | war would cease instantly. not anotber
 IlIe would be sacrificed But what is really
 meant when 1t is said that the war must
 go on until the natives are crushed is this. we insist upon assuming that we have a | right, if we please, to govern the Philin- | piHes m our way, against thei. will. that we VIII make them acknowledge that by | ioFce; hence go on with the war to show
 that we are big and strong enough to force | them to be governed against their lonpings | TOT freedom and independence. Further | war Is unnecessary except on the assumn- I | ton that we have no intention to give them
 an Independent government
 Approach the problem any way you | may 1t ever harks back to a question whether II Is our policy to subjugate or to
 lree the islanders. We are opposed to all | further war because we are opposed to the
 subJugation of the people under for | elgn yoke; we propose a cessation of | slaughter, because we believe that the | Ftlipinos are and of right ought to be
 free and independent under protection by
 the United States which will save them | rom foreign aggression.
 "They tell us there is nothing now to be done. Is II nothing to change war to | peace? Is it nothing to stay the horrible | slaughter of natives? Is it nothing to stop
 the operations by which our brave fellow | citizens are killed by bullets and by equal
 ly deadly disease? The assumption that | the war is inevitable is gratuitous If we | have not promised the natives free and | Independent government try that at once. | That is the cruX of the whole matter. So,
 when they tell us there is nothing now
 to be done. l say the principal thing re-
 mains to be done-to assure the Fiipinos as to the policy of the United States in regard to their liberty. When Burke was | laundering in the commons for the con- | cillation of the colonies King George held | that nothing could be done until the Amer | ican colonists were subdued Had King | George granted us local selfgovernment | there would have been no war of the rev. | olution. There was great 6eal that King | George might have done that he did not | do. Indeed, there is a great deal for the | United States to do, now and al once, in | the Philippines, unless we wish to repeat
 the obstinacy of the house of Hanover. They tell us we are dsloyal if we do not agree with any and every policy of conquest which may be arranged for us | by the government; that we should not | increase the difficulties of a bad situation; | that we should not shake the arm of the | man when he is taking aim If a loyal | soldier saw a column of our army defiling down by mistake into the road which led l to disaster would he be more or less loyal | If he held his peace and uttered no word of warning? If l saw my brother in an | access of passion striking a child should | l hold his arm to prevent the heavy blow which meant horrible and irremediable | murder2 Would 1 show more or less love and loyalty to him by withholding my dis suading voice. my preventing arm? Is it | disloyal to keep our nation in the path | of honor? We who love our country most
 wish most that its flag shall be unstained The president of the United States de- clared at Atlanta December 15 1898, that | the flag has been planted in two hemi- l spheres. where it remains the symbol of | liberty and law, of peace and progress | Who will withdraw from the people over | whom it floats its protecting folds? Who | will pull it down.? In South Carolina off, | ficers of the United States are to-day seek | ing to convict those who shot down the
 wife and young babe of the colored post | master. The flag there protects those over | whom it floats. In the Philippines we are not merely bounding colored natives with l the bloodhounds of slavery days, but mur- | dering them with rapid-tiring guns-'nig- | ger hunting it is grewsomely expressed. | The there dn1S nr0tpet those over | whom it floats. It Is there the emblem of | tyranny and butchery. Who will rescue l the flag from such desecration? Why, who | else but he who put it there? In the name | of the humanity for whom we went to war we call upon him to save our flag from dis | honor. The common sense of the people | knows that the flag cannot be immediately | withdrawn but the moral sense or the | people demands that so long as it remains | there it's protecting folds will provide for
 white and brown alike a free and inde- pendent government and assurance from | outside aggression"
 | Policy AssniIed in Resolutions. | Resolutions attacking the adminis- | tration's policy were adopted by the
 meeting as follows:
 | "The frank expression of honest convic- | tions upon great questions Of public poll | cy is vital to the health and even to the |
 ment. Such expression is, therefore. the sacred duty of American citizens
 | We hold that the policy known as im- | perialism Is hostile to liberty and tends to- | ward militarism, an evil from which 1t has been our glory to be free. We regret that | 1t is now necessary in the land of Wash | ington and Lincoln to reaffirm that all | men. of whatever race or color, are en- | titled to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We still maintain that govern ments derive their just powers from the | consent of the governed. We insist that | the forcible subjugation of purchased people is criminal aggression and open | disloyaty to the distinctive principles Of our government
 l We honor our soldiers and sailors in the Philippine islands for their unprecedented bravery and we mourn with the whole na- ton for the American lives that have been | sacrificed. Their duty was obedience to l orders our duty is dilgent inquiry and | fearless protest We hold that our gov | ernment created the conditions which have | brought about the sacrifice.
 | We earnestly condemn the policy of the | present national administration in the l Philippines. It is the spirit of 'l6 that our government is striving to extinguish in | thoSa isla we denOunce the attempt