The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-08-07


also our special trust We have been. In.
oeed. often unfaithful to them, but W,
never denied their virtue and their au
.nority. Today, through the action OF tn
Nauonai administration. each OF thes,
principles Is violated, each OF these sacreC
.ueais Is rejected. The course OF the Ma
.lon, against Its better will, against It
vonScience, has been turned from civiliza
oon toward barbarisnl.
Every good citizen is called upon a
TINS time to use Whatever influence. what
eser power he may possess, to restore tn,
Nation TO its old, true course.
one end is to be aimed at as prelimi.
uary TO all others--to bring the deplorabl,
close
ANDREW CARNEGIE writes from Scot
.and; Upon no Fourth OF July celebra.
uou I'LL this year has there been reason tC
lament a departure from the grea, prin.
c,pies which the Fourth OF July heraldeC
| in l77e
we are no longer upon the old founda.
ton, but have been carried to the love,
Platform OF the powerful military state;
OF Europe. to whom the republic has beer
an Instructor The ship OF state has beer
IN troubled waters, but there is one of he,
citizens who believes that The time is no
\ far distant when those who have endaa.
|
the principles of the declaration OF inde.
pendence taken again as the chart and
compass, which will bring back the re.
pubic to the high position from which II
haa temporarily fallen"
HON. STERLING MORTON writes
Good government, like charity, should
| oegln at home. After the American mind
shail have sufficiently expanded TO perfectly
assimilate DR.. Franklin's epigrammatic
injunction, mind your own business 1t
VIII be in condition to discuss the duties
which annex to citizenship. Up to this
| time the average citizen considers only the
| privileges of his citizenship. Few voters
in the United States recognize any duty
TO country as superior to party allegiance.
Partyism has warped and shrivelled
patriotism throughout the Republic. 1t
has become so fierce that in its blindness
1t mistakes the dominant or admin!stra-
ton party for the government. All those
VINO differ from or criticise the policies
OF the administration are denounced as
disloyal. The common use of the words
loyal and 'disoyal' is an evolution from
the general trend of Imperialism"
HON HERBERT WELSH of Philadel-
pha, the wellknown secretary of the In
dian Rights association and editor of City
and State. writes: July Fourth, 1776. was
the birthday of the United States of
America This great historic fact was
ton of Independence. 1t was the popular
exposition of the purpose not alone on
which our Revolution was based, but
human liberty throughout the world. This
declaration declared our belief in human
equality. and that the basis of Just gov
eminent was the popular consent. That
immortal document which the Liberty
Bell rang out TO all the world has been
shaking for more than a century. Some
of them it has brought tumbling to the
ground. 1t has inspired the best thought
and the noblest action in the patriots
statesmen and soldiers which our Union
has brought to light and made immortal.
July 4, 1899, has witnessed most eA-
traordinary paradox of our history. Same
free States which struggled against the
tyranny of George Ill, and century later
cemented themselves into what We trust
will be a lasting Union for the extinction
OF slavery, are now waging an unnatural
and cruel war in distant Philippine islands
against a people struggling for independ-
ence as righteously and as passionately.
with as much reckless bravery and stub
born determination as We ourselves showed
in resisting the house of Hanover. In
union with the Filipinos we fought but a
year ago to break the tyranny of Spain.
We gave them every moral, If not formal.
assurance Of our sympathy in the great
object for which they struggied-the indie
pendenoe OF their people
From many different sources comes
credible testimony as to the fitness of the
people for seligovernment. Commander
John d. Ford, fleet engineer of the Asiatic
station, who has just returned from eX
tended services in the East. pays high
tribute to the Filipinos He says: While
they fight for entire freedom, all they ask
is chance for life, liberty and the pur
suit of happiness, and they care not
whether it be a republic of their own or
some form devised for them by the great
United States of America He further
declared his belief that they would sur
render and end the war upon a reasonable
proposition from the United States, prom
Using them freedom and independence, and
concludes his statement most significantly
by saying; No proposals of this kind
however. have been made to the Fiipinos.
I'VE are told there is nothing now to be
done, whether in the beginning we have
been mistaken or not, but to fight it out.
An utterance more foolish or more immoral
than that | can not conceive. If we are
wrong, let us say SO and set ourselves
right. Let us beware of the stupid persist
eacy of George III and at least remember
that We are Americans"
BISHOP BOYD VINCENT of Cincinnati
ii writes: Aside from all questions of
constitutonality or mere expediency, 1t
is the moral situation in which we find
ourselves placed in the Philippines which
1t seems to me ought to distress every
true American heart. 1t is so utterly
nm American in spirit so almost inhuman.
How any genuine American with the prin-
ciples of the Declaration OF Independence
in his SOUL can look complacently at what
is going on today in the Philippines /
can not understand With every fresh
battle fought l want to hide my face in
sh anne and horror at what my country Is
doing there. What crime have those Fill
pnos committed that under the very stars
and stripes we should be shooting them
down by thousands, as the Spanards did
before us? Absolutely nothing, but what
they want. independence and self-gov-
eminent like our own"
JUDGE RUFUS B. SMITH of Cincinnati
ii says: mo. our course in the Philippines
is the logical result OF an age when ma
terial successes excuse everything. Let
us stop our cant about being in
those islands from philanthrcpic mo-
tives and confess we are only
there through love of power and
greed. l still hope and believe that the
sober second thought of the country will
save us; that in the near future we will
retrace our steps and again take for our
guide the principles and ideals of the
great statesmen whose life and worth,
whose sacrifices and teachings have been
our most precious heritage and inspira-
ton
The next public meeting of the League