The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-03-02
ONLY A MONEY MAKING SCHEME

UNLY a MuNE MAAANN oNhEM =
We have tn ken the islands and we arc
going TO make all the money out of the
transaction we can. Congressman
Grosvenor.
Representative Grosvenor is President
McKinleys acknowledged mouthpiece
upon the floor OF the House. What
Grosvenor says on matters of important
policy Mckinley says. This declaration
therefore comes with all due weight and
authority and may be fairly taken as
expressing the purposes of the Republi
can party. Certainly il has the merit
of frankness
1t has not been long, however, since
the tune was on another string. Then
the talk was all of the honor Of the
nation" the obligation to 'do good ag
gressivcly," the necessity of spreading
the Eight Of civilization and so on
through the whole catalogue of bhsses.
There was no measure TO the lofty and
righteous scorn that was hcaped uron
any who dared assert that the was any
thing more selfish in the grabbing of
foreign lands than q burning desire to
keep their inhabitants in one constant
state of gladsomeness and thrill. And
now atop of all this comes the fat dec
laration of Mr.. Grosvenor that "we are
10 l. oil fIn nIJf IF
the transaction we can
Let us at least DE grateful that the
whining hypocrisy of the past twelve
month is at an end. The mask is off.
1t can not be put back. The country
knows now beyond the possibility of err
ror lust what the policy Of the Repub-
lican party is to be- The government
Of the unfortunate peoples that have
fallen into our hands is to be made
matter of gain. The whole affair IS a
transaction" When American soldiers
died at Ell Caney and charged at San
Juan. under the mistaken belief that
they We're fighting for the honor of the
flag and that the flag stood for human
freedom, they were only engaged in q
"transaction" Mr.. Grosvenor can find
no better word for it. The Republican
PARTY so understands it. The object of
it all was to make as much money az
possible
The record of the Republican party is
T.,
together. 1t declares its purpose to
make money out of Porto Rico. to make
money out of the Philippines, come
what may. 1t follows this up with leg
islation that grinds the faces of the
starving people of the first; it goes mer-
rily ahead putting the people of the sec
ond out Of the way.
Who is TO get the money made cont
of the transaction?' The trusts now
the trusts always. The american peo-
PIE do not want it. They have given or
their means literally to feed the Porto
Kicans when ruined by war and swept
by flood and storm they We're starving.
he American people have not fallen
so low that they would wiring from the
population of Porto Rico, already plung-
ed in poverty that we can not under
stand. a single penny. But because the
vampire trusts demand it, the Republican
spokesman Of a Republican President de-
clares on the floor of the National Con
gress that I'VE will make all the money
out of it we can" 1t is enough to
make every American who has one
spark of patriotism left bow his head
in shame.
How much more of this sort of thing
will it require to force home upon our
people the full infamy that this trust
ridden administration has brought upon
the nation?