The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-08-14
AS TO THE PHILIPPINES.

Territorial expansion seems likely to
become one of the principal issues in
the presidential campaign of next year,
and may ind place in our politics for
years to come. Every extension of ter
ritory made by the United States has
had its opponents and the annexation
Of the territory acquired from Mexico
was one of the chief political issues of
that day. The State Journal presents
to its readers herewith the views of an
expansionist who is on the ground, re-
garding the Philippine archipelago. Mr..
Dwight L. LoufbourrOw, our special
correspondent in the orient writes as
follows:
The civilized world has never before
witnessed such a fierce and merciless
rivalry of the industrial and commercial
interests as that at the dawn of the
epoch OF which we now ind ourselves
There is no miSta king the tendency of
the age. The development of new me-
chanical and moral forces, the Organiza-
tion of labor, improved facilities for
transportation, the systemization of
every line of industry, an increasing
demand of the great masses of the peO-
pie for a greater share of life's COM
fOrts-fOr which they will pay by the
products of their toll for which foreign
markets must be found-all are lending
an unconscious hand to the fastening of
the time when the pOtentiaHties of ma
lions will be measured by their indus
trial capacities and commercial prOwess-
In view of this, the silly tWaddle of
nti-expansiOnists-so of whom in
fest the halls of our national congress,
Is WearlSOIne, not to say nauSeat1nS. At
the beginning of the present century,
which is just now closing so trium-
phantly for the champions of progress
and higher civilization, warning voices
came, as now, out of the cavities in the
skulls Of some sO-called conservatives
who aHdaciOuSly termed themselves pa
triots. and yet it is true. substantiated
nv line of American history that
at that time territorial expansion was
absolutely. necessary, not only to ma
tonal progress, but to the perpetuity
OF the Union. And today further ac-
QUESTIONS are none the less important
to the political and commercial we'll
being of the United States The oppo-
nentS OF expansion cover a very large
area of barren ground in their argu-
nents against the retention of the Phil
1ppines and other of our recent acquisi-
lions. The syntheSiS of it all is fear.
which certainly is groundless, of an old
and valued public servant, whose plea
for the retention of OutgrOWn forms and
superseded policies will be respectfully
listened to and just as respectfully dis
regarded. A great statesman said in
congress that admission of Louisiana
to statehood would be virtually a formal
dissolution Of the union; but the bond
OF union was no more affected by the
granting of sovereignty to Louisiana
than it viii be by the annexation of the
Philippine Archipelago.
So much of the argument against ex-
pans1on, while it assumes to be broadly
patriotic, is most decidedly partisan in
character: So many lean heavily. but
ln0lScreetly upon Jefferson for support
We viii readily see that Jefferson is a
most unreliable prop for that faction.
Jefferson was decidedly an expansion
tst, unquahhedly and almost indiscrin-
lAaCely So he arranged the purchase
OF Louisiana without a shadow of aU-
thority from congress. Not only this
but he advised an amendment to the
constitution, empowering future presi-
dents to acquire desira BILE domain in ad-
vance of legislative authorization Nor
old ne see any objections to the annexa-
ton of Islands far remote from the
shores of our home country. He was
particularly anxious for the cOnsumrna-
ton OF the annexation of Canada and
Cuba and wrote on the subject I'VE
should then have such an empire for
liberty as she has never SURVEYED since
the creation. and I am persuaded that
no constitution was ever before so well
calculated as ours, for extensive empire
and self government
Territorial expansion is safe, COM
mendable and distinctly favored by
our constitution. The people of the
their own which can be termed sub
stantiaI or ever could be so, without
education. For more than three cen
turtles the archipelago was the prODertv
of Spain, and the assumption that orr
government cannot, without Violating
ats fundamental declaration of rigbts
ellneE DuE them or accept them a
war indemnity without the consent of
the hybrid and irresponsible rnobs Of
barbarians that inhabit them is found
ed neither in common sense nor a dis
position to be reasonable. The naked
hordes in the Philippines have no rec
ognfzed government of their own and
hence no sovereignty subject to their
transfer.
Every generation should think and
Ieglslate for itself, in response to the
necessities of the time and not be
bound by the laws and policies of the
past. Kent tells US that Jefferson did
not believe that one generation could
leglsiate for another. or that any law
constitution or contract should be bind
ing aIler ~ years 1 never could de-
termine why this period was arbitrarily
nXed as the measure of time beyond
which laws should either be renewed or
repealed-and Kent never told US The
fact alone is distinctly stated but in
such form as to leave no doubt of its
authenticity.
views so extreme as this cannot be
quoted with commentator, and have
referred to 1t only to show that Jeffer-
son was inferentially but unmista ka blv
ADVISED that future generations could
not saIely rely upon his judgment or
ms acts IN the framing Of their laws
and policies However extreme Jeffer-
sons views may have been affirmative
or the 1ncompetency of one generation
to bind another by legislative bonds
they nevertheless embrace the sub
stance OF a general principle sound in