The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-07-19
WHAT IS THE OBJECT THENq

1--WE want no wars of conquest" said
President Mckinley in his inaugural
address. I'VE must avoid the evil OF
Territorial aggression
1--WE want no Philippines in ours, -
said the LEGAL administration organ long
after Dewey had won his famous vic
tory and had destroyed the power of
Spain in the Philippines.
But Hanna has spoken since, and the
| president has come to advocate a pol
[ icy of territorial aggression and wage
a war of conquest, while his local or
gan declares that 1--WE want Philippines
in ours and explains that the presi-
dents war is not of conquest.
Then what is conquest? The Stand
ard dictionary defines it as 1.-THE act
of conquering, subduing, overcoming,
or acquiring, whether by physical or
moral power; especially the act of &C
-quiring by force, as of arms; subjuga-
tion."
The Century dictionary gives prac-
tically the same definition and adds:
|"Ac9uisitien by military or other
force" As applied to war it means to
conquer people and take possession of
their lands.
II that isn't exactly what is going on
3n the Philippines today what is the
object of this conflict? 1t cannot be
revenge, as a blood-thirsty- medieval
contemporary intimates, merely be-
cause the treacherous natives, so born
and so taught, regarded themselves as
|alies Of our army and navy and re-
|sented with force real or imaginary
|slights at the close of the war with
Spain. They had reason to believe they
would be treated as allies. Il was a
promise made them by Consuls Pratt
and Williams, the duly authorized and
accredited representatives of this gov
eminent. If the Filipinos had that i'm
preston, and the local organ of the ad-
1nin;stration shared it with them, their
Outbreak WIS but natural, judging
them by their own standards of right
and wrong, and it is not fair to- judge
them by any other. Even if they were
actuated by motives of revenge shall
this enlightened nation plead that as a
justification for retaliation in kind?
Then, in the language of thousands
of volunteers who asked this question
in the thousands of letters written
home before the censorship deprived
them of the right to speak their minds,
what principle are we fighting for?
n it is revenge, have not our appe-
rites been glutted? When the emissaries
from the insurgent headquarters went
10 General Otis with peace proposal. /
once, twice. thrice, even a half
dozen times, wasn't it about |
time to begin thinking of something be-
sides revenge? When Spain sued for
1ssee after resisting our forces but lit
tie more than half as long as the Fill |
pi..ss have resisted our army in their /
ancient home, we received that mon 1
eter of tyranny and inhumanity with |
profound respect. Yet we went to war
with Spain because of a long list of in
dienitiez, treackeries and atrocities cuI-
in the cowardly assassination
Ct 266 sailors in the service of the gov
eminent, and we expressly disclaimed |
any desire for either revenge or con-
quest. Why do imperialists magnify
the freachery of the poor wretches of
I.uzon," as an authority on i'm
perialism calls them, when the
chief imperiaIist Of this ma
ton referred TO the dastardly
crime oe Havana harbor as "a lament
ab1e ACCIDENT" and wanted to leave it
III to Epain to settle at so much per