Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1899-09-14


! is fertile beyond comparison. Sugar,
/ tobacco, corn. rice and hemp are among
! its many products There grow without
| cultivation in prolific abundance the
/ cocoanut, the mango. the banana and
! hundreds OF varieties of natures choic-
/ est fruits. In their upands and among
| their hills can be grown also the fruits
| OF the temperate zone. Gold and other
/ minerals await the discoyerer's pick,
| and coal. that agent of civilization,
| only awaits to be developed. lneX-
haustible forests of the most magnifi-
/ cent hard woods cover and adorn their
/ hills and mountains. Rivers and their
| estuaries give cheap and convenient
access to all parts of the archipelago.
| They are inhabited by tribes of the Ma
/ lay race, ssmi-civilized, but dehauched.
/ degraded by the rule to which they
have been subjected Supersttous and
! credulous, they have engraftad upon
! their national characteristics the los
| sons taught for hundreio Of "aars 10y
an oppressor's trcac!c thrrr
| hundred years thes nc jA4
undisputed propert Of
| Spain. During all -. ~
! ropean nations we:e - .ns
to extend their colonial .. 1:.s ;.ad
| selves, even at the risk OF conilict witA
their neighbors, portions OF Egypt, Af-
rica, India. China and of almost the
whole known world. no one yentuicd
! to infringe upon the rights Of Spain
| in this archipelago so firm and stable
was her title Here she ruled with
out comment, and without observation
until one May morning Dewey rent as
sunder the veil of concealment and
! brought Saxon civilization to their
| shores. Why did not Dewey sail away.
after destroying the Spanish fleet?
| we DelleVe that no mortal man can
answer why-but we believe also that
his long and lonely vigil in Manila bay.
as he looked anXiously towards his ma
| tive land. was but TO carry out the
destiny OF the American nation. Every
! happening since then seems TO confirm
| this belief. and there seems to have
been laid upon this country duty in
regard to the Philippines impossible to
escape. Had we allowed Spain to re-
tain possession of the Philippines we
would have stultified every profession
we had made in the interest of hui
manity. Had we deprived her of pos
! session and then abandoned the islands
the archipelago would have become a
| defelict in the sea OF civilization Ii
able TO have produced Il universal war.
! Had we thus abandoned them Aguin-
aldo and his savage followers would
have destroyed property, would have
| butchered Spaniards and all foreigners
alike, and there would have been uni
yersal anarchy. IL was generally un-
derstood that the loot OF Manila was
TO be the pay of Aguinaldo's army
! we would have incurred the cenSure of
every civilized nation and in addition
would have become involved in the
| graVest international questions of re-
sponsibility for loss of lives and prop
erty The great mass of the people are
untitled, and do not care for national
self government. If for NO other reason
! than the lessons taught them by Spain,
and while with them liberty is now &
name to coniure by. yet by nature and
education they are untitled to admin
| ister its principles. and left to them
selves would have become n prey to
ambitious and designing powers.
SOVEREIGNTY OF THE UNION.
"Spain's title was undisputed; by
treaty that title passed to us, unim-
| peachable and unimpeached. When
! our army was assailed in the Island OF
| l.uzon the sovereignty Of our Union
! itself was attacked and our flag was in
suited before the world. The attack
was not made by the united inhabit-
ants OF the archipelago, or of the ISL
! and OF Luzon-it was made by Il small
! part of the people OF the latter island
residing III the seven provinces imme-
diately surrounding the city Of Manila,
and known as the fagalos tribe. This
! tribe is fierce and warllke, and is on
! friendly terms with scarcely any other
! tribe in the whole country, and if the
peacefully inclined inhabitants OF the
| Island OF LuZon itself could be re-
! lieved of their fear OF this tribe they
would have no sympathy whatever
/ with this war for so-called indepen-
| dence. Although constitution has
been prepared and published to the
world. vet in reality the war is not
war for independence, but rather
| for self ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Aguinaldo
himself. who has been hailed by senti-
mental Americans us the apostle of
| liberty for his people, lived in kingly
state and splendor-his people were
! taxed to keep up this magnificence and
it was kept up until he was compelled
to take fight from Malolos His gem
|
same pomp and parade. and it was this
| barbaric splendor which the United
States was expected to support for the
benefit of the Filipino leaders
"The fact is. the Filipino leader,
did not believe that they could estab
iish and uphold a permanent govern,
ment themselves. for prior to the out
break. when attempts at conciliation
were being made, when asked whether
they wished the American army and
navy to be taken away and they left
to themselves they invariably answered
mo. but that they wished protector
ate. This word "protectorate" seems
TO have charms for many people in
| America who do not understand its
significance in the Philippines. Ac-
cording to the Philippine construction
1t meant that they should have sole
control of the government and the
revenues therefrom; that the army and
/ .,f V,..A