The evening times., 1899-02-15
PEACE coMM1ssIoN PRAISED.
WhiteIaw Reid Says Hold All We
Can Get,

uct.
Chicago, Feb. 15.-Whitelaw Reid re-
sponded to the toast achievements of
American Diplomacy at the Lincoln din
ner at the Marquette Club. He defended
the work of the Commission, waxed en-
| thusiastic over the betterment of our ma
terial interests. and declared against State
hood for our new possessions.
Mr.. Reid began by saying that no re-
proaches had come to the Peace Commis
sioners from Chicago because they had
made a settlement with Spain on terms
too favorable to their own country. He
continued:
DO you know of any other civilized ma
ton of the first or even the second class
| that wouldn't jump at that option on the
Philippines? Ask Russia! Ask Germany!
Ask Japan. Ask England or France! Ask
little Belgium! And yet what one of them,
unless 1t be Japan, has any conceivable
interest in the Philippines to be compared
with that OF the mighty republic which
now commands the one side of the Pacific,
and unless this American generation is
binder to opportunity than any of its pre-
decessors. will soon command the others?"
Mr. Reid claimed that motives of humani-
ty were sufficient to dictate the retention
OF the Philippines. He said;
Would you really have had your repre-
sentatives in Paris, the guardians of your
honor in negotiating peace with your enc
my, declare that while Spanish rule in the
West Indies was so wicked and barbarous
that it was our duty to destroy it, we were
now so eager for peace that for the sake
we were willing in the East to re-establish
that same wicked and barbarous rule?"
Defending the work of the Peace Com
mission Mr.. Reid declared:
They maintained in the face of the
ancf rraI,n ~
Spain but OF well-nigh all Europe, a prin-
ciple vital to oppressed people struggling
Tor freedom-a principle without which our
own freedom could not have been estab-
iished, and without which any successful
revolt against any unjust rule could be
made practically impossible. That princi-
pie is that contrary TO the prevailing rule
and practice in large transfers OF sover-
eighty. debts do not necessarily follow the
territory, II incurred by the mother cOun-
try distinctly in efforts 10 enslave it,.
Mr.. Reid said that our Peace Commits
sioners were enabled to pledge the most
protectionist country in the world to the
liberal and wise policy of the open door in
the East" Coming now to the material
side of the business, the speaker con-
tinued:
The Pacific Ocean, unlike the Atlantic,
is in our hands now. Practically We own
more than half the coast on this side,
dominate the rest, and have midway sta
tions in the Sandwich and Aleutian Is
| lands. To extend now the authority of the
United States over the great Philippine
archipelago is to fence in the China Sea
and secure an almost equally commanding
position on the other side of the Pacific,
doubling our control OF it and of the fab
ulous trade the twentieth century viii
see il bear.
Are we to lose all this through mushy
aho Of
practical nor of responsible people-alike
un- American and n-Christian, since il
would humiliate us by entailing endless
bloodshed and anarchy on a people whom
We have already stripped of the only gov
ernment they have known for 300 years.
and whom We should thus abandon 10 civil
war and foreign spoilation?"
Mr Reid next took up certain bug
bears saying:
''One of them is this notion that with
the retention CT the Philippines our man
ufacturers will be crushed by the prod
ucts of cheap Eastern labor. But it does
not abolish our custom houses, and We
can still enforce whatever protection we
desire
Another is that our American workmen
will be swamped under the immigration
Of cheap Eastern labor. But tropical labor
does not emigrate TO colder climates. II
We need law 20 keep them out we can
make il.
1t is a bugbear that the Filipinos would
be citizens of the United States and would
therefore have the same rights of free
travel and free entry OF their own manu-
features with other citizens. The Treaty
did not make them citizens of the United
States at all. and they never will be. un-
less you neglect your Congress.
In conclusion Mr.. Reid pointed out the
obvious duties of the hour" He said;
First hold what you are entitled to.
II you are ever TO part with it, wait at
least till you have examined II and found
out that you have no use for it.
Next resist admission of any OF our
new possessions as States. or their or
gsnization on plan designed to prepare
them for admission. Stand firm for the
present American Union of sister States
unGiiutcd by anybody's archipslagoes.
We want no Porto Ricans or Cubans
to be sending Senators and Representa-
tives to Washington 10 help govern the
American Union, any more than We want
kanakGs or Tagals, or Visayas or Ma
hCmetan Malays. We will do them good
and not harm, if we may, all the days of
our life; but. please God, we will not di
vide this Republic the heritage of our
fathers among them.
'Resis. the crazy extension OF the doc
thine that government derives its just
powers from the consent of the governed
10 an extreme never imagined Dy JEe men
who framed it. and never for one moment
acted upon in their own practice. Why
should we force Jefferson's language to
meaning Jefferson himself never gave il
in dealing with the people of Louisiana,
or Andrew Jackson in dealing with those
of South Carolina?
And next resist alike either schemes
for purely military governments or
schemes for territorial civil govern
haggers from the United States. on an al
| lotment of increased patronage, fairly
divided among the bosses of the different
! States. Egypt under Lord Cromer is an
! object lesson of what lSay be done in a
more excellent way by men of our race in
dealing with such a problem.
John Charlton, NJ. p, spoke to the SEN
| timent of Abraham Lincoln" and
| Charles G. Dawes Comptroller of the Cur
| rency. responded TO the toast Currency
| Reform