The Hawaiian gazette., 1900-08-03
.rMpER1ALIsM +,


aatisfi,d nj every step, because oi
what Il called want of vigor In the
campaigns" Two great Democratic
Journals. ire New York wUiid and the
organ of VIM. IL. Hearst. claim the du'
bious honor of having made the war
inevitable and both shouted from tue
outset for quicker results and more
smashing blows. ION to Havana"
they cried. what do we hear at WASH
ington? snorer' was the burden of
their earlier lay. When S5O.OOO.OVO were
asked OF Congress for war purposes.
every Demucrat voted for the appro-
priation, AID the leaders of the party
were eager tor a chance to do military
duty, the present nominee Tor Chiei
Executive seeking ana accepting
Coloners biiiet, in an army of INVASION
Yet II was perfectly clear that we were
entering uJon a war OF aggression ana
that, II We were to be indemniiied for
the cost, the bankruptcy of Spain
would compel her to pay the bill In
land. knowing all this the Democracy
was yet enthusiastic for the war.
So far the party was consistent with
Its own past. From the beginning OF
its life the Democracy had been Tor
conquest and expansion. The FOUNDER
of the party. Thomas jefferson, did not
hesitate to say to Napoleon that the
young republic would marry the Brit
ish fleet and army" unless the French
agreed to leave the Louisiana district
and sell that virgin empire TO It's nat
ural possessors. Here was an lmpe-
rialism worthy of Rome. Nor did the
Democracy pause at that 1t deliber-
ately provoked war with Mexico lor
the sake OF e.zing California and the
adjacent regions and threatened, IN
the terms of the Ostend Manifesto, to
acquire Cuba in the same way. Inc
Manifesto declared, in brief, that the
sale of Cuba would be as advantageous
and honorable to Spain as it's purchase
would be to the United States; but that
il Spain should obstinately refuse TO
sell 1t, self-preservation would make III
incumbent on the United States to
"wrest it from her." Had Mckinley
uttered such threat before going to
war over Cuba, the charge of "impe-
rialism" would stick.
Consistency ought to have led Demo-
Gratis to deal with the acquisition OF
Spanish soil in these days just as they
were prepared to deal with II fifty
years ago-a method they boasted or
as late as 1884 in the first Grover Cleve-
land platform. But consistency went
out of the window when partisanship
came in at the door. And so did COM
mon sense.
Upon the latter point much is to be
said. The Democracy, with its new
born zeal for contraction, demands
ahan
richest fruits of the Spanish war and
the bulk of its indemnity. for the sake
of giving the Filipinos freedom. Yet
the only freedom possible for these
people lies within the protecting arms
Of some great liberty-loving power. Is
there a man SO dead to the influences
at work all over the world, and par
ticularly In the Orient. to annex smaii
independencies to great States that he
believes in the possibility or a per-
manent Philippine republic? There Is
not small Tree island power to-day
outside the sphere of the Monroe doc
trine. Tonga was the last one In these
seas: Mauabascar the last one In Al
rican waters over all such countries
a great nation stretches the arm OF
authority. AS surely as the sun rises
and sets were the Philippines cut loose
to shift for themselves some battleship
power would sooner or later tasten Il
line TO them. Russia, or Germany, or
France, or Great Britain or Japan
would assuredly possess themselves OF
such a rich prize. What then OF FIJI
pino freedom? Barring annexation TO
Great Britain, there is nothing beyond |
to the United States which |
would give the Filipnos chance 10
be anything better than subject race.
The Democracy like the Republican
party justified the war of 1898 on the
score uf humanity. Would II be hu-
name to turn the Philippines, for
whose good order the world holds us
over to insurrection and
conquest? There could be no domestic
peace In an archipelago where so many
tribes dispute for mastery. The mo-
ment the Tagals asserted themselves.
the Igorrotes and Macabeebes, the
Sulus and the other Mohammedans.
all the lesser tribes indeed, would rebel:
and our war for humanity" could only
end in a dreadful scene of revolution,
which. finally, some European power
or powers would put down with the
The simple truth is, as President Nc
Kinley once phrased it, that duty and
destiny require us TO go forward in, the
path which has been cleared for US by
events We cannot evade it without
accusing ourselves of fruitless warning
and of desire TO supplant the hui
name with the merely expedient. EN-
will come. but we In
vited them and must deal with them
manfully; losses will occur. but they
will have their compensation. Neither
duty nor destiny demand that we shall
ordaln an empire. nor have the Am
eriean people any thought OF such a
radical departure from their ancient
principles. 1t Is for us. rather to
spread the institutions OF the republic;
TO raise feebler peoples into the dignity
and power wherein we have our own
estate. And In such a task patriotism.
not partisanship. will lead the way.