Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-12-06

| lack Of feature-in the present message
| is especially to be regretted at this
| time, when we have reached one of
| the most important crises in American
history, when we may be said to have
come to the parting of the ways in our
national life, when we must choose be-
tween the Constitutional government
! of the fathers, under which the repub-
| lie has grown great, rich and respected
| throughout the whole world and has
kept free from entanglements to pur-
| sue our policy of peaceful commerce
our resources untaxed to support
vast militay establishment on the one
| hand, and on the other the exact re-
verse of all this, the abandonment OF
constitutional government by the peo-
pie and a return to the principles and
| policies of the imperial military mon
arches OF Europe-in other words
| retrograde movement of over one hum
| dred years.
| There were numerous matters and
| questions on which the President could
have expressed himself at length of
| infinitely vaster Importance than dry
and uninteresting rehash of what has
already been deliberately presented by
| the various heads of departments in
Mr. McKinley's cabinet. But Mr.. Nc
Kinley preferred not to face these mo-
| mentous questions and to escape doing
SO he buried his head ostrich-like in
desert of dreary words dealing with
| dry departmental routine.
! True, he makes a feebl effort to de-
| fend his administration from the
| charge of alliance with England, but
his denial is not to the point, since it
| is not charged that there has been a
regular treaty of alliance drawn up
and duly signed, and falls fat in the
| face of the statements of Ambassador
| Choate and Secretary Chamberlain
when they spoke of the 'ironclad"
| friendship, "the alliance, or the under
| standing, if you please, between these
! two great nations" Surely, both AM
| bassador Choate and Secretary Cham
| berlain were not dreaming and dream
! ing the same dream. The Presidents
! Quasi-denial does not deny, nor does
his claim of neutrality in South Africa
/ stand in the face of the facts of the
case, which have caused the South
/ African Republics to express their dis
| trust of the government at Washing,
| ton. The shrewd rulers Of those Re-
! publics have not so many powerful
| friends that they would thus risk
alternating so great power as this
Republic, which they would naturally
hold to be their ally, without the very
best reasons. In the officious haste to
! be of service to England the admins
tration plainly overstepped the bounds
of neutrality and the Dutch Republics
have been keen to appreciate the fact.
The President has some pretty bold
words to say about the trusts. Let us
hope they are sincere and not merely a
sop thrown to the powerful antitrust
sentiment among the people in accord
ance with the game of Presidential poll
ties which this Congress has begun.
How much of sincerity there is in
Mr.. McKinley's utterance will be shown
by the attitude toward the trusts of the
administration leaders in Congress. 1t
is dollars to doughnuts that the trusts
will come out unscathed.
Mr.. Mckinley devotes considerable
space to defense Of his policy in the
Philippines. He labors hard to show
that the Filipinos and not the Ameri-
cans brought on the conflict and that
the American officers in Manila had in
structions to do everything within rea-
son to prevent it. In support of his
contention Mr. Mckinley ignores dis
agreeable facts and quotes copiously
from the made-to-order report of the
Philippines commission succeeding at
least to his own eminent satisfaction in
placing the blame for the outbreak on
the Filipinos, who, he declares were
given all possible assurances of the
good intentions of the United States.
Mr.. Mckinley is an adept at smooth
phrases and at presenting a bad situa-
ton in the best possible light Sifted
TO the bottom, however, his conclu-
sions do not square with the unques-
toned facts of record known to the
American people.
Whatever assurances were given the
Filipinos were evidently far from salts
factory or what the Filipinos thought
they had a right to demand when they
allied themselves with the United States
! against Spain, then penned up in Ma
Mia. For since that time the Fill
ipinos have repeatedly requested, al
most begged, for the simple assurance
that it did not mean for them a mere
! change OF imperial masters-assurance
that were repeatedly refused both at
Manila and later to Aguinaldo's repre-
sentative at Washington.