The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-09-24
JUDGE KINGS VIEWS.
Opposes Governments Policy and
Endorses Bryan.

Judge w. H. King.-The present de-
plorable condition of our foreign. affairs
is directly traceable to the sins of
omission and the lack of statesman
ship upon the part of Presidents CleVe-
land and Mckinley. If belligerent
rights had been accorded the Cuban IN
surgents in 1896 by Cleveland, or in
1897 by. Mckinley, the flag of Spain
would have been driven from Cuban
soil by Cuban arms, without lnterVen-
ton by our government, and without
hostilities between the kingdom OF
Spain and the United States. Procras-
tination brought on a war with Spain,
and criminal folly has precipitated a
conflict with the Filipinos.
The cruelties and tyrannies of Spain
provoked the inhabitants of the Philips
pine islands to instruction. They
were struggling to secure freedom and
to assume a station among the nations
of the earth. They We're our allies and
we were their friends in the contest
with the Spanish forces in the Philip
pine archipelago.
Wanted Government.
They fought not merely to extinguish
Spanish sovereignty, but to found an
independent government. We fought
not for territory, or power, or domln-
ion, or trade, but to prevent the extlr-
patton of a people by the most awful
brutality at our very threshold. We
were in the Orient not TO annex IS
lands or establish colonies. We went
to Manila not to fight the Ffllplnos or
possess their lands.
To cripple Spain was our sole pur-
pose. We have. no greater rights in the
Philippines than we have in Cuba. If
the senate of the United States had
amended the treaty negotiation with
Spain by adding thereto an unequivo-
cal statement as to our purpose, and a
declaration of non-interyentlon in the
islands, except to establish stable
government, there would have been no
war with our foreign allies and friends.
When we refused to declare the OBJ
ject of our presence in the Philippines
and taxed our resources to send with
all possible haste thousands of soldiers
and all the equipments of war, it need
excite no wonder that the Filipinos dis
trusted our mission, and regarded US
as foes who sought forcible annexation
of their territory.
An Inconsistent Attitude.
Our warlike attitude was inconsist-
ent with a mission of peace. As pre-
/ text for hurrying troops across the Pa
cific the administration libeled those
whom we had scarcely ceased lauding,
and represented that those who had
fought so valiantly and aided us SO
potentially would commit flo de Sc,
and to save them from self-destruction
we must intervene. When Aguinaldo
questioned our purpose we treated him
with contempt; when he sought to
know the design of the administration,
his representative was driven from our
shores. If we had no design to invade
the islands and forcibly possess them,
why did we not say so? 1t is clear that
; the policy of benevolent assimilation
advocated by the president, and "a
government under the stars and
stripes mean that the war must go
on, until by the expenditure of mil
lions of dollars and the loss of thou
sands of our soldiers we forcibly plant
our flag upon the ruins of the blasted
homes and devastated fields of the Fill
ipinos.
If we had been just and frank there
would have been no war Let Bryan s
policy be adopted and the war will soon
| cease. If the president declines to pro-
claim a policy he should convene con-
gress and let that body determine the
course to pursue.
This question should be settled soon,
and removed, If possible, from the
arena during the presidential contest
in 1900 If the Filipinos are assured
that we desire their freedom, and 20
in their land only until peace is estab-
lished, and all our International obliga-
tons are performed, they will heartily
cooperate with us to accomplish these
results. With the question of ''imper-
ialism" eliminated from the political
field, we can press to the front, as we
should, the silver question, financial re-
form, and those important questions
for which the Democratic party has al