The Norfolk weekly news., 1900-06-21

h'VHlnE sup, hlMhys' w tAlV "uNiN w
the un.On.
Daring portion of the last four
years we were involved in war that
for time paralyzed business and com.
merce and would have taxed heavily
the resources and credit of any other
country than ours; and for the past
year or more we have been employing
an army of some 10000 men in sup
pressing an insurrection against our
authority 5000 miles away. No in.
dustry has felt the strain of these or
traordinary expenses, nor have they m.
fected the general sum Of our prosper
ity. More than that, the conditions re.
sulting from the Legislation of the past
four years have obliterated every issue
that was raised during the last cam.
paign. The Democracy, having there
fore to find some rallying cry, seeks II
in the results of our late war with
Spain, and upon that question, AZ upon
oil others we stand ready to meet thom
i'll the open" ="
Senator Wolcott discussed at some
length the conditions arising out OF the
war, showing the necessity for nssum-
ing authority over the Philippines, Cuba
and Porto Rico and giving in detail the
result of the presence Of American gov
ernment agents in these islands. de
defended the Porto Rican tariff law and
the work being done IN Cuba, and con
tinued
1--WE are actually owners of the Phil.
ippines by an undispnted and indubit
able title. We are there as the neces
sary and logical outcome of our victory
over Spain. There are upwards of l,OOO
islands sprinkled upon that southern
sea, peopled by more than so tribes of
different race and language and having
absolutely nothing IN common with each
other Most of these tribes welcome
our coming and are grateful for our
protection. The Tagal tribe, hostile no,
only to US, but to most of the native
tribes, are in an insurrection against
our authority. They have neither "A
government nor the capacity to conduct
one and are wnRing predatory guer-
rilla warfare which would be turned
against the other native tribes if we let
them alone. What would the DemoC.
racy have us do? Give them up to rapina
and bloodshod and leave the islands as
hotsam and jetsam on the face of tho
waters? There are parallels in our own
history. We purchased Florida from
Spain in 1921 when 1t had 1000 white
settlers, for IS 900, 600 and other vnlu.
able considerations. The Seminoles,
natives of the soil, brave, resolutc, hav.
| ing far greater intelligence and char.
acter than the Tagals, disputed our
| possession. We sent Andrew Jackson
| down to fight them and it took us II
years to subdue them and send what
| was left of them west of the Mississippi.
If the 'antievcrythings' had lived then
they would, ! suppose, have urged US to
turn over Florida to Osceola, the Agui-
naldo Of the Seminoesl Would you
| after the war with Mexico and the
| Gadsden purchase, have given the great
area south and west of the Arkansas
to the red Apache? Not so did our
fathers construe their duty, and as they
built, so shall we, their sons.
"The insurrection against our legti-
mate authority, which, for the time,
iii DcttS Jul w tSluDllbll u EDV-
ernment for the Filipinos, involves us
in a sacrifice of lives and of treasure
| The difficulties we encounter in the ISL
and Of Luzon are many, but the chief
inspiration and encouragement of the
| Tagal insurrectiOn come from the Dem
ocratic headquarters in the United
States. Partisanship has proved
than pntrinfiSyn ila
| our soldiers are being murdered by ma
rauding bandits, and if it were not for
the hope held out TO Aguinaldo by
American sympathizers the insurrec-
tion in the Philippines would long ago
| have ended.
"Never since 1864, when the voters of
the country were called upon to deter
| mine whether the efforts of Abraham
| Lincoln to preserve the union should be
continued, or whether they should be
| abandoned and other measures attempt.
ed, have questions SO vital been pre-
sented to the American people for set.
| tlement. Their decision must deter
| mine the maintenance or the degrada-
| ton of both our national credit and our
| national honor. A Democratic presi-
I
dent could paralyze the operation of the
new currency law as effectively as if it
were wiped from our statute books. A
| Democratic victory would infuse new
life into the Tagal insurrection, cost us
the lives of thousands Of our gallant
army in the Philippines, impair or de-
stroy our prestige, il not our power, in
the islands, make us byword among
| the other great nations of the world
and obliterate our influence in the set
tlement of the vital questions certain to
arise when China shall be opened to for
| eign commerce.
"There is little room for fear. The
farmer and the artisan in their day of
prosperity still remember the impov-
erishment and blight of Democracy.
and the Chicago platform has no allure
ments for them.
"Our national honor is equally se-
cure.
1.-THE American people are neither
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