Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1899-03-17
THE END.
LEWIS vALEDICTORY IN CONGRESS.

On SATURDAY III the House OF Repre-.
sentatives the Hon. James Hamilton
Lewis delivered as a sort of valedic-
tory, the most patriotic speech made
in Congress during the present ses-
sion. Mr.. Cochrane made the prev.
ions speech. Mr.. Lewis followed Mr..
'Cochranc and in an outburst of fervid
eloquence, appealed to his fellow
Democrats to not allow the issue to
become the question, as the Filipino
soldier right or is the American SOL
der right"
Said Mr.. Lewis: ave can never
trust a subsequent explanation to
eradicate the false impression in the
mind of the plain citizen of the
country, once we have unconsciously
imprinted it there. If by mistake or
intention we allow our honorable op-
ponents opportunity to go to the
country with the assertion that we
have laid down q test asking of the
American soldier in defending his life,
be we right or wrong, who OF MS to-
day can doubt what must be the out
come? Who of us would ask if the
outcome and result be any other than
that which to-day we must expect?
"The question is not and can never
be-Is the American soldier right or
wrong when he fires either under or.
ders OF his country or in defense of
his life. In either of these, he, that
soldier, is ever right, to be ever hon.
ored.
1t is not the real issue whether the
incorporating OF this incongruous pur.
chase of savage land be not wrong,
but whether the expenditure of vast
millions from the labor and earnings
of our people be not unjust. Is not
the sacrifice of our toilers given over
to the defenseless competition of bar
barians and savages cruel to those
who have made the nation prosperous
and given it all the glory which it has?
Is not the real question whether the
country can justify laying low a mil
lion lives by plague and sickness, by
disease and death, in foreign chimes,
upon distant plains and dangerous
shores, all for naught save the privil-
eye of pelf and the increase of dollars
to the favored few who are directing
the destinies of the republic to their
personal gain and their selfish ends?
There is the issue. We must not, by
word or act, by misunderstanding or
confusion, lead any man or the
country to believe that we can ever
draw issues as to whether our soldiers
are right or wrong when they have
been legally pitted against either enc
mics of their country or assailants of
themselves. Shall the American
soldier, dying on distant plains, falling
beneath tropical suns, writhing in
pits and trenches, his snatched slum-
Der broken by torches of the incendi.
airy, his tent aflame from the fagot of
the murderous arsonist, shall he feel
through it all that is to be written, by
consent of American citizens, with
the approval OF his own father, broth.
ers and family? Oh, sirs, this is too
horrible to contemplate. 1t will not
tolerate differences. There are none.
"They are there, they are fighting.
They are living or dying, they must
lose or they must win. Our country
must be defended, and that has moth.
ing to do with the first merits that
drew on the encounter.
"Oh, Democrats, where do we standY
Oh, fellow countrymen, where do we
take your place? Gentlemen, as for
you or any of you, can not assume to