The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1899-10-14

| hioSSHASHl lOl HIS AC-ClCS1Ou' l. ucIc
are good many people, he knows,
whose fidelity to the party is purely a
commercial question. There is the
sugar interest, and the tobacco interest,
and the kite-hying interest, by which l
mean every conceivable adventurer who
stands ready with his particular scheme
in the Phiiippines-only waiting for the
opportunity to exploit them. And he
and such as he, for that is the most
serious aspect OF our whole situation,
promulgates the policies OF the nation.
Every now and then in our political his
tory there occurs a curious incident,
which, at the first blush, is most per-
picking ior weeks and months. There
has been deepening in the public mind
some strong conviction which finds its
expression in SO many ways and by SO
many voices that it seems to be in its
grave significance, unmistakablc. Just
at this point, however, there occurs in
some leading state political conven-
ton, i'll which, not unnaturally, we
should expect this profound and wide
spread sentiment to find expression
But somehow or other. it does not, and
what is still more curious, the officer,
the policy, the utterunce, whatever it is,
has provoked sources from which plat
| forms, candidates and policies cmanate,
are liable to become more and more
controlled by those with whom personal
interests are the supreme motives, and
personal gains the supreme ends 1t
is -oi course conceivable that in the per-
sons OF those to whom these distant
governments shall be committed we
shall ind only the highest ideals and
only the most incorruptible integrity
But what are the probabilities in the
case? What is the likelihood that there,
any more than anywhere else, the stream
will rise higher than the sourcc?'
Comparing the Philippines to India,
the speaker continues
There are the same diversions OF
race, condition, religion, tribal religion
and the like, and in the case of these
insular communities, there is no bind
| ing interest whatever. To undertake to
superlmposc upon them our free insti-
tutions would seem to be an utterly
hopeless task, and, in such situation.
| what is the alternative but form OF
government which, while not nominally,
yet practically, in its essential absolut-
ism, is imperial? Already we have seen
how easy it is to drift into imperial
methods which are simply the methods
OF patcrnalism in this very connection.
a cardinal sprinciple OF government OF
The people, by the people, and for the
people is that the people shall not be
treated like children kept in the dark
a sound public opinion, we say, is the
great bulwark OF republic, the iounda-
ton stone on which its popularity and
prosperity must needs rest In this
connection the searching OF the mails,
lie prescription OF certain publications,
and the sitting OF correspondence is
one OF the most intolerable outrages
which a free people has ever suffered
and it is significant most of all OF the
development OF tendency which fore
shadows that, whether we are likely to
have imperialism in our distant posses
sions in form, we already have it at
home in fact.
1T is time that, confronted such
possibilities in connection with our
new possessions, we ask, is it worth
while? For, at this point, it needs no
gilt OF prophecy but only very mod
crate knowledge OF history to reveal to
us the dangers that threaten u.s. There
lies behind lis i'll its pages the story OF
great republic which by its evcr-cx-
panding conquests was lifted into the
throne OF the sovereignty OF the civil
lied world only to find that the tribu-
taries that had made it great were dcs-
tined, ere long, to be instruments OF
its ruin.
Nov, then, the thing that destroyed
Rome was the loss OF her homogencity.
Our strength to-day consists in the tri-
umpll OF those great civic ideals which
arc the property alone OF Anglo Saxon
civilization. But il we persist in dlut-
ing that civilization too largely, the
result needs no prophet to forecast. We
may have territorial expansion. and ma
tcrial prosperity, and for a time it may
be that possession which is the mere
dream OF it has begun to inhame our
people with strange incbriety-I mean
worldwide supremacy. but in the win
ming OF it we shall have lost every dis
| tnguishng characteristic OF free and
self-govcrning people.
is it worth while? And if you ask
me what, to-day. is an honorable alter
native I answer that gracious Provi-
dencc, as believe, has just now given
it to us in an memorable achieve
ment consummated last July at The
Hague. To submit to an, international
court. representing the best wisdom Of
the best peoples. the question Of the
best disposition and future administra-
ton OF the Philippines, may be to admit
that, as nation, we are not iniallible:
but then, surely. a great nation can
afford to leave that claim to the some