The Irish standard., 1899-05-20
His Economic Reasons Against
Continuing the War.
TRADE DOES NOT FOLLOW THE FLAG
Emblem of Tyranny and Butch
cry in the Philippines.

The following is the speech delivered
at the ant-imperialis,ic meeting in Chi
cago on Sunday, April 80, by Prof. J.
Laurence Laughlin, for which he has
been denounced as "a traitor and cop
pcrhead' by the upholdcrs OF McKin-
ley's policy OF pacifcation in the Philip
pines:
Il have great respect for those who
differ from us and who believe that war
and expansion are just and wise. But
rs they have right to their opinions,
SO we have to ours and let us calmly
give the grounds for our beliefs, know
ing that the fairness and intelligence Of
the American people will decide correct
ly between us.
"Wc arc not now concerned with the
right or wrong OF the original war with
Spain. That is past and gone. We are
not here to discuss things which can
not be changed. There is here no need
of words about how we came by the
Philippines. We are there to-day as a
fact. 1t is also fact that we are in
Cul'a-but. thank God, we arc not dis
lributing liberty to Cubans with rapid
firing guns. Why are we doing it in the
Philippines? Someone has blundcred
there, hence the useless cxpiation by
thousands OF innocent lives and the con-
scqucnt sorrow and loneliness in thous-
ands OF homes.
"Havc we gone to war only after cx-
hausting all the arts OF diplomacy and
conciliation? No, We have gone to war
first, dcspsing the arts OF statcmanship.
That is why VIC demand that war should
cease until every device OF peaceful ne
gotiation shall be tried and tried in vain.
We went there with upliltcd club, say
ing: we bought you, you belong to u.s.
Surrender outright or we will subjugatc
you And then because they did just
what our forciatlcrs did at Lexington
and Concord we sent more troops and
killed more natives to satisfy our pres
tigc before the world. How like cow
ard and a bully before a helpless child!
Have we forgotten the attempt OF Ma
polcon | to conquer Toussaint
L'Ovcrture with veteran battalions
which melted away before the fevcrs of
llayti? Will not the day come when
Aguinaldo may claim niche in history
IT,
Of his country?
"Thcy tell us we must stay in the
Philippines in order to obtain markets
for Our goods and to give us a base for
Our trade with China and. the cast. Nay,
one expansive nature says: We must
expand our trade even if it costs 900,
10000, 100000 lives" There you have
mcrcilcss commcrcialism run riot. Is it
really true that America has become
soullcss statistical machine to make
profit by trade? Have we no bowels
OF compassion? Have we nothing left
OF right, OF justice, OF honor? Are we
ready to sell good Anglo Saxon lives in
mess OF pottagc? Cursed be the day
when that can be said OF us! Now, even
il we could gain trade and profit by such
dislonor, there are not words enough
in our vocabulary to express the abhor-
renee we should feel at such immortality.
1t is time to hear the voices Of men OF
character ring clear and loud in protest
against such dcspicable policy.
"But il it should prove that in return
for a policy OF conquest instead OF hu-
mani,y, OF murdcrous dcpopulation in
stead OF peaceful negotiation, there
would be no profits OF trade to speak Of,
no expansion OF trade that we might
not have otherwise obtained without
this enormous cost OF money and life,
then the men who have brought us into
this pass ought to be shrivclcd by pub
lie indignation and disappear from pub
lie life.
"From 1883 to 1890 the total annual
value OF merchandise imported and ex-
ported by the Philippine islands aver
aged $4,000, 900. If the profits were as.
great as 20 per cent and then if the
Americans could have controlled every
cent of the trade the gain would have
been scarcely sufficient to pay merely
the interest ON the war loan. To keep
only single division of Our army in the.
field costs about $4,000, 900, many times
as much as the gain from the total trade.
with the Philippines. 1t is said that our