The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-01-25

their inhabitants. thus given to our
care. l believe that we shall have the
wisdom not to attempt to incorporate
these islands with our body polite, or
make their inhabitants part of our
citizenship, or set their labor alongside
of ours and within our tariff to COM
pete in any industry with American
workmen.
1 believe that we shall have the cour-
age not to depart from those islands
fearfully, timidly or unworthily, and
leave them to anarchy among them
selves, to the brief and bloody domina-
ton of some self-constituted dictator
and to the quick conquest of other
powers, who will have no such hesita-
ton as we should feel in crushing them
into subsection by harshSand repressive
methods. 1t is for us to decide the
destiny of the Philippines, not for Eu-
rope, and we can do it alone and with
out assistance. I believe that we shall
nave the ability to restore peace and
order in those islands and give to their
people an opportunity for self-govern-
ment and for freedom under the pro-
tectlng shield of the United States, un-
III the time shall come when they are
able TO stand alone, if such thing be
possible, and if they do not themselves
deSlre TO remain under our protection.
during the campaign of last autumn
SAID in many speeches to the people
OF my state that 1 could never assent
TO hand those islands back to Spain.
that l wanted no subject races and
no VaSSal states; but that we had by
the fortunes of war assumed a great
responsibility in the Philippines that
we ought TO meet it, and that we ought
10 give those people an opportunity
Ior freedom, for peace and for self
nrnf fl,N4
them from the rapacity of other ma
lions and seek to uplift those we had
freed.
From those views have never
sWerved, and 1 believe then as l be-
heVe now, that they met with the ap-
PROBATION of an overwhelming majority
OF the people of Massachusetts. The
only step l can see now to take is to
ratify the treaty, FOR in that way alone
we can take the islands from Spain
ana give ourselves opportunity to deal
with them and bring peace and free
dom to their inhabitants
Take now the other alternative Sun
pose we reject the treaty or strike out
Ine clause relating to the Philippines.
Ihat VIII hand the islands back to
Spain; and 1 cannot conceive that anv
american should be willing to do that
suppose We reject the treaty what
IolloWs? Let us look at it practically.
we continue the state Of war. At the
Same Tune, we repudiate the president
ana his action before the whole world.
ana the reputation of the president in
such a matter as this is the humilia.-
tion OF the United States in the ewes of
civilized mankind
Inc president cannot be sent back
across the Atlantic in the person of his
commissioners, hat in hand to say to
spain with bated breath: Il am here in
obedience to the mandate of MINORITY
OF one third of the Senate. to tell Won
tnat we nave been too victorious. and
that you have yielded US too much, and
lndt L am very sorry that l took the
Phlllpplnes from you" l do not thinl.
that any American president would do
mat, or that any American would wish
him to.
by rejecting the treaty we renew the
state of war. The protocol is but the
agreement of the n-chief
Nhen the treaty fails, it could be torn
10 pieces, but whether it is thrown
ASIDE or not, still we are in state of
war, and the subjects of Spain, among
Whom are numbered today the Flint
nos, would be the enemies of the United
states by all the laws of nations. There
then, would be the president with the
country at war with Spain armed with
the war power which he can use nm
checked, as the commander-in-chief of
the army and navy. The treaty com
mits the disposition of the Philippine
lsla 1 TO congress and to the ways
anu anu pfactlces of peace. It's rejection
,S lnem IN the sole power of the
president, subject to the usapes ana
practlces of war alone.
IS no senator upon this floor who wo11Id
not cut off his hand sooner thar ha
Ialse to the principles of the declara-
tIon OF independence, and to the great
~ dultioIs and ideals of American his
tory, bnt | don't believe. Mr.. Presid-
eht, that devotion to the declaration of
iIaependence is confined to the minor
ny OF this chamber any more than T
peIieve that they have a monopoly of
conscience or of morals.
believe IN the rule of the major
Iey' because l believe that in the long
run the majority is far more likely re
be right than the minority, Nobodv
loves better than 1 the ideals set fort +
IN the declaration of independence: bur
ny IDEALS do not stop there. Nor do
tnFy stop even with that greater ne
ROO when the life Of the nation was at
stake: l have ideas and beliefs which
pertain to the living present, and a
idtth IN the future of my country. /
oeIieVe IN the American people as they
are today, and in the civilization they
have created.
nc the American people and their
government | am ready to intrust nv
life, my liberty and my honor and 7
nave beheld with amazement the spec
tres OF wrong doing which have been
colJured up here and charged as possi
BILE to the American people, I
nave been astonished to hear outside
TINS chamber men who for three years
watched unmoYed the torture of Cuba
pleading with fervid eloquence for the
t1lipinos, just rescued by us from
Spain, against the possible cruelty
which Americans might infiict upon
them. Denunciations which might
nave been suitable to Weyler have been
applied to imaginary deeds of cruelty
10 be performed at some future time
by humane and able American pres
ident and by American soldiers and
sailors. 1 can look at this question in
only one way. A great responsibility
has come to us. If we are unfit for it
and unequal to it, then we should
shjrk it and fly from it. But believe
that we are both fit and capable and
that, therefore, we should meet it and
take it up.
There is much else involved here,
vast commercial and trade interests.
But the opponents of the treaty have
placed their opposition on such high
grounds that l have preferred to meet
them there, and not to discuss the
enormous material benefits to olI'
trade, our industries, and our labor de-
pendent upon right settlement of this
question. both directly and indirectly.
For this reason / have not touched
upon the commercial advantages to the
country involved in the question of
these Islands, or the far greater ques-
ton of the markets of China. of which