The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-04-27
The Republican State Conventions
and Porto Rico.


and Porto Rico.
The attitude OF the Administration, and
of the Republican party, toward our insu-
lar possessions and the national and con-
stitutional questions growing out of our
sovereignty over them. is too full CT hui
NOR to be treated seriously in any discus
SIGN of an abstract character. Viewed IN
the concrete. We are compelled to note
the Hanna and Mckinley menace to our
institutions, which is quite another mat
ter. But the Presidential election is still
far enough away TO justify us in looking
at the Republican spectacle as from the
position of one who is up a tree and hugh
ing at the camp-meeting operations be-
low
To use a colloquial expression, one
might scratch the Republican State
platforms with a fine-toothed comb ard
fail TO find any utteranee on the consti-
tutionai question connected with Porto
Rico. The assumption has been a reason
able one that the Administration, espec-
tally in Ohio, would endeavor in come way
to square itself on the matter of Mr.. Nc
kinley's departure from plain duty" and
his sudden conversion by several trust
magnates on a certain day last winter from
a settled conviction that the Constitution
extended. ex proprio vigore, 20 our island
territories, TO a firm belief that the in
habitants Of those American territories
are without civil rights, and were only
brought under the imperial yoke of the
United States for the benefit of and to be
exploited and looted by the protected mo-
nopolies.
Far from attempting anything of the
kind in the cases of all OF the State con-
ventions acting under Executive order, it
is manifest that they have lodged the
Constitutional issue as if it were a thun-
derbolt. which, to the party, it certainly is
In thus trying to evade the dominant issue
of the impending campaign the Repub-
lican platforms thus far have offered a
confession of organization weakness which
ought to fill the hearts of decent Ameri-
cans with joy. But it is to be said that
Hanna. Rockefeller, Havemeyer, oxnard,
Huntington, Duke, Armour. and Mckinley
have had little choice in the selection of
their ground for battle. In electing to
stand upon an open and infamous defiance
of the Constitution, in their treatment of
integral American territory, confessing
their object to be just such defiance, for
the benefit OF their trusts and for the en-
richment of the Republican campaign bar
rel, they have necessarily thrown away the
scabbard of concealment and have placed
themselves squarely before the American
people on the issue of the trusts against
free institdtionsi They cannot escape the
position. They know that subterfuge or
platform mendacity will not cover their
policy or purposes. They realize that the
best they can do is to dodge the questions
they have raised, and which, assuming
the free and independent suffrage which
was once the glory Of the country, would
swamp them in November. Their sole
hope is in the millions they are raising to
buy the election of 1900, as they bought
that of 1896.
There is some ground for thinking that
the trusts ms be defeated. When we
speak OF the trusts we mean also the Re
publican party. The greater includes the
less. They are birds OF feather, SO 10 |
speak. The trusts lay the eggs and the I,
Hanna Administration matches them for a !
consideration.
Just as the precursor OF the Philadelphia /
platform-that OF CoIumbus-cuts and
runs away from the Porto Rican infamy, |
so We may confidently expect that the Re-
publican national declaration on this sub |
feet Will be puerile and contemplate 1t /
is a fact that the politi al history of the !
nation can be searched from the Declara- !
ton Of Independence to the most recent !
Mckinley visit to Canton. without re- (
vealing an instance where political party |
has so thoroughly disgraced and made a .
world laughing stock of itself as the /
Hanna machine has in the matter of /
Porto Rico It adopted the Constitutional .
view Of our insular dominion II caused TO
be prepared and accepted not one opinion. |
but consensus of opinions, at the hands !
Of its legal advisers, all agreeing that it
must be bound by the clear letter OF our
law in its relations to Porto
Rico and other American territory On
the basis OF these opinions, Mr.. Mckinley
sent his plain duty" message to Congress,
'7NA4thdAS iNbDl LdahNa dDOuL every con-
sideration of justice and humanity" and
Mr.. Payne. Administration leader on the
floor Of the House, wrote to a constitu-
ent that free trade must be given to Porto
Rico under the Constitution. because it
had been accorded TO every other State
and Territory. and to Alaska, not organized
into Territory"
Then half dozen gentlemen. who
could lie named, came over TO Washington
and declared that If the manufactured
products OF Porto Rico were allowed free
entry into American mainland ports. the
trusts would refuse contributions to the
Republican corruption fund Of 1900.
the President swallowed his
plain duty" Mr.. Root discovered a
flaw in his convictions, and Mr.. Payne be-
gsn tbs campaign of disqualification
which has rendered him forever motor
lous.
In view of these circumstances and
can anyone wonder at
the reticence of Republican State plat
forms on the issue of the Constitu-
ton in United States territory? We
may be well assured that 1t is one which