The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-08-04
HENRY RATTERSON

Louisville Courier journal: sayB the
wheeling Register: M. wstterson's
plea for Imperialism unworthy Of
him. The FiIIpInOs, q we have said,
are NO more .savages' dan the cubans.
TO whom we have guaianteed indepen-
dence on precisely the line on which
Mr.. Bryan asks that u be guaranteed
to the Fillplnos in the name of peace
and 10 stop bloody and costly and
un.American war OF conquest that 9TH
erwise must go on indefinitely. We
have not yet heard oEAfr wattergon
using his trenchant pen in opposition to
the administrations policy in Cuba, yet
that policy cannot be right in Cuba
without being also rishtlin the Philip
pines. We fear that the Kentucky
EDITORS hostility to Mr.. Bryan has led
him to cast aside the lb5ely star-eyed
Goddess OF. Eternal Truth for WORTH
less and deeeiving jade"
We fear that our teemed contem-
porary has thrown cd mon sense to
the winds and gone I for opposition
merely for the sake of oppositlon-a
very injudicious thing both in politics
and in Journalism.
All questions relating % the territory
wrested from Spain consequences
Of the ish-Amerieag war are ten
ta,lve. They are likely 10 remain so
for a good while to come. But they are
not all alike. There Is one set Of con-
dItlons TO be met and dealt with in
Cuba and there Is quite another set to
be disposed of in Port Rico. In the
Philippines there is yet.a third set; and
these latter are complicated by state
of war,
The Register calls thlF bloOdy,cOst-
ly and un-American warrior conquest"
That is exactly what Edward Atkinson
calls IT. But. to. 50 deSFake 1t. is to fly
in the face of all the fhc6 OF the case,
Before the, treaty of PEACE with Spain
was concluded, and whil3 the Ameri-
cans in Manila slept upof their arms
awaiting the final result, a treacherOus
midnight assassination 7gg8 planned by
the Filipino leaders who had been res
cued from Spanish dominion, and, this
falling. an actual descent and attack
was made all along the American line.
What were the Americans TO do? Were
they to lie down and allow their threats
to be cut, or stand UP and shoot back?
Were they to run out white flag and
ask terms Of Aguinaldo? They did no
more than brave men should have
done: they held their ground and met
bullets with bullets. they rallied about
the flag of their country and hoisted it
high above them so that all the world
might see the stun Americans are made
OF.
How can our esteemed contemporary
call this "a war of conquest?" In doing
So does he not ally himself with the
enemies Of his country. giving aid and
comfort to rebels with arms in their
hands, who are firing upon the nag of
the United States and shooting down
our soldiers in the field? What provo
cation had Aguinaldo to precipItate
state of war? What possible excuse can
be made for his conspiracy to massacre
our people? Could better evidence of
Ignorance and barbarism be found. or
clearer proof OF the total iucnpacIty OF
the Fillpinos for self-government or
any kind OF orderly government? Yet
the Register declares that they are not
''sayaGes." 1t would have. us deal
with them as we are dealing with the
cubans. How can we whilst they are
fighting u.s.? In Cuba all Is peace. In
Manila all is war. Does not the Regis
ter detect some difference between the
two?
But our friend Of Wheeling speaks OF
our plea for Imperialism" and says
that this is unworthy" of US. At
least we are glad to know that we are
sufficiently considered to have a quail
iacatIon set upon any act Of ours
which chance critic dlsapprovesi for
commonly We are dismissed without
redeeminE trait-dropped as IT were In
to the iowey depths without Stopping at
the halfway house-whilst u would
seem In this instance that zee are al
lowed to have once had some virtue.
Thanks. But what plea have we
made for imperialism"
We insist that the authority Of the
United states shall be acknowledged
not only by the inhabitants Or the is
lands, which we have rescued from
Spain. but by all the powers Of the
Universe, Europe, Asia ann Africa.
This an absolute condition precedent to
the determination Of future policies
with respect to those islands. When
peace and order have been everywhere
restored, we would take our time to in
vestlgate the separate capabilIty and
wants and needs Of the several commu-
mites which have come under our SOW
ere!gnty.
They are not and could NOT be all
alike-cuba lies right across our south
ern water front 1t is as close to us
as Texas when Texas was annexed.
1t may be taken for granted that 1t is
only a question of time when Cuba will
become state Of the Union. 1t will be
us completely Yankeehed as Texas.
Not so with Porto Rico. There the con-
ditlons are different and more or less
affected by the element of distance;
though Alaska and Hawaii are yet
farther away. As for the Philippines,
they are on the other side Of the world,