New Iberia enterprise. (New Iberia, La.) 1885-1902, 1899-11-04

1t abOunds all over the WcSterl
country, from the Rocky Mountain
to the Pacific, and its development
has scarcely commenced. Durins
the war, when we were adding
couple Of millions of dollars ever,
day to our national debt, | did no
care about encouraging the increas,
in the volume Of our precious
metals. We had the country tC
save first. But now that the re
bellion is over thrown and we know
pretty nearly the amount of oul
national debt, the more gold and
silver we mine, we make the pay.
ment of that debt so much the
easier Now said he, speaking
with more emphasis, Il am going
to encourage that in every possible
way. We shall have hundreds of
thousands of disbandcd soldiers,
and many have feared that their
return home in such great numbers
might paralyze industry by furn-
ishing suddenly greater supply of
labor than there would be demand
for. am going to try to attract
them to the hidden wealth of our
mountain ranges, where there is
room enough for all. Immigration,
which even the war has not stopped,
will land upon our shores hundreds
of thousands more per year from
OvercrOwded Europe. ! intend to
point them to the gold and silver
that wait for them in the West.
Tell the miners for me that | shall
promote their interest to the utmost
of my ability; because their pros
perity is the prosperity of the
nation; and said he, his eye
kindling with enthusiasm, we
shall prove in very few years
that we are indeed the treasury of
the world.
The Republicans are now en-
deavoring to lessen the volume of
money available for the payment
Of debt by limiting the payment to
gold alone.
LINCOLN ON EXPANSION.
On the Philippine question the
Republican party is Numerically
opposed to the position taken by it
in its earlier days. The Republi-
can platform of 1860 copied from
the Declaration of Independence
its four great principles, namely:
that all men are created equal
that they are endowed with inalien-
able rights; that governments are
instituted among men to secure
these rights, and that governments
derive their just powers from the
consent of the governed. Republi-
can leaders are now amending the
Declaration Of Independence to
make it read that governments
derive their just powers from the
consent of some of the governed.
Lincoln's eulogy of the Declara-
tion Of Independence, delivered in
1858, when he declared that it was
erected by the forefathers "as a
beacon to guide their children and
their children's children and the
myriads who should in
habit the earth in other ages"
contrasts strangely with the langu-
age of present day Republicans
who declare that our nation is too
big to be bound by the limitations
imposed by the doctrine of self
One of the main arguments ad-
vanced in behalf of the forcible
Of the Philippine ISL
ands is that we owe it to the
Filipinos to take them under our
protecting wings, tax them without
representation and govern them
without their consent, on the theory
that they are not capable of self
government.
In one of his speeches just prior
10 the war Lincoln said: "These
that are made, that the
inferior races are to be treated with
Is much allowance as they are
capable cf enjoying; that as much
IS to be done for them as their con-
lition will allow-what are these
They are the argu-
nents that kings have made for
the people in all ages of
;he world. You will find that all
;he arguments in favor of king
,raft were Of this class; they al
ways bestrode the necks of the peo-
,le-not that they wanted to do it,
out because the people were better
IF for being ridden" !"
The Republicans who contend
low that any criticism of the Adj
ninistration policy is unpatriotic
md calculated to help the Filipinos,
lave either forgotten, or never
cad, the speech made by Lincoln
n the denunciation of President
Polk in the midst of the Mexican
var.
Those Republicans who would
rush the aspirations of the Flip
nos for self-government should
cad Lincoln's speech of 1858, in
which he said:
"What constitutes the bulwark
# our liberty and independence
t is not our frowning battlements,
ur bristling seacoasts, our army
nd our navy. These are not our
eliance against tyranny. All Of {
hese may be turned against US
7ithout making us weaker for the {
truggle. Our reliance is in the |
pirit of liberty which God has {
lanted in us. Our defence is in !
he spirit which prizes liberty as {
he heritage Of all men in all lands, {
verywhere. Destroy this spirit,
nd you have planted the seeds Of
at your own doors.'
SLAVERY IN THE PHILIPPINES.
~ F!