The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1900-09-21

view Admiral Dewey made no promises
| whatever. He adds:
He (Aguinaldo) asked me If my govern
ment was going to recognize his govern
ment. / answered that l was there simply
in military capacity; that l could not ac-
knowledge his government, because had no
authority to do so.''
Easy to Find Fault.
Would not our adyersaries have sent
Dewey's feet to Manila to capture and de-
stroy the Spanish sea power there, or. dis
patching 1T there, would they have with
drawn it after the destruction of the Span
ish fleet; and If the latter, whittier would
they have directed to sail? Where could
1t have gone? What port in the Orient was
opened TO it?
Do our adversaries condemn the expedi-
| ton under the command of General Merritt
to strengthen Dewey in the distant ocean
and assist In our triumph over Spain, with
which nation we were at war? Was it not
our highest duty to strike Spain at every
vulnerable point that the war might be
successfully concluded at the earliest prac-
ticable moment?
Asks for Honest Opinion.
And was it not our duty to protect the
| lives and property of those who came within
our control by the fortunes of war? Could
we have come away at any time between
May l, 1898, and the conclusion Of peace
without stain upon our good name! Coulu
we have come away without diShonor at any
| time after the ratification of the peace treaty
by the Senate of the United States?
There has been no time since the deStruc-
| ton of the enemy's feet when we could or
should have left the Philippine archipelago.
| After the treaty of peace was ratified no
| power but Congress could surrender our
| sovereignty or ALLEVIATE foot Of the terri
| tory thus acquired. The Congress has not
| seen fit to do the one or the other, and the
| President had no authority to do either, if
he had been so inclined, which he was not.
So long as the sovereignty remains in us 1t
is the duty of the executive. whoever he
| may be, to uphold that sovereignty, and If 1t
! be attacked to suppress its assalants. Would
our political adversaries do less?
Begun by Insurgents.
1t has been asserted that there would have
| been no fighting in the Philippines If Con-
| gress had declared Its purpose to give indie
pendence to the Tagal insurgents. The in
! surgents did not wait for the action of Con
gresS. They assumed the offensive, they
opened fire on our army.
Those who assert our responsibility for
| the beginning of the conflict have forgotten
| that before the treaty was ratified In the
Senate, and while it was being debated in
that body, and while the Bacon resolution
| was under discussion, on Feb. 4, 1899, the
! insurgents attacked the American army,
] after being previously advised that the
| American forces were under orders not to
fire upon them except in defense. The pa
| pers found in the recently captured archives
| of the insurgents demonstrate that this at
! tack had been carefully planned for weeks
! before 1t occurred.
Only One Course Open.
Their unproyoked assault upon our sol
| diers at time when the Senate was delib
Grating upon the treaty shows that no ac-
| tion on our part except surrender and aban-
| donment would have prevented the fighting,
and leaves no doubt in any fair mind where
the responsibility rests for the shedding of
| American blood.
With all the exaggerated phrasemakinS
! of this electoral contest, we are in danger of
| being diverted from the real contention. We
/ are in agreement with all of those who sup
nI Sn1iO-
| those who counseled the ratification of the
| treaty of peace. Upon these two great cS-
sential steps there can be no issue, and out
/ of these came all of our responsibilities. If
others would shirk the obligations imposed
| by the war and the treaty, we must decline
| to act further with them, and here the issue
was made.
| 1t is our purpose to establish in the Philip
pines a government suitable to the wants
| and conditions of the inhabitants, and to
| prepare them for selfgOvernment, and to
| give them Self-government when they are
ready for it, and rapidly as they are
| ready for it. That am aiming to do under
I my constitutional authority, and will con
tinue to do until Congress shall determine
| the political status of the Inhabitants of the
| archipelago.
Plea for Consistency.
Are our opponents against the treaty? If
! SO, they must be reminded that it could not
| have been ratified in the Senate but for their
assistance. The Senate which ratified the
treaty and the Congress which added its
sanction by large appropriation comprised
Senators and Representatives of the people
| of all parties.
Would our opponents surrender to the in
surgents, abandon our sovereignty or cede 1t
to them? Ii that be not their purpose, then
J 1t should be promptly diSclaimed, for only
| evil can result from the hopes raised by our
/ opponents in the minds of the F'illpnos, that
| with their success at the polls in November
| there Will be withdrawal of our army and
! of American sovereignty over the archipela-
co. the complete independence of the Taga-
| log people recognized and the powers of
government over all the other peoples of the
! archipelago conferred upon the Tagalog
/ leaders,
Prolongs the Rebellion.
| The effect of belief in the minds of the
! insurgents that this will be done has al
ready prolonged the rebellion and increases
! the necessity for the continuance of a large
1 army. 1t is now delaying full peace in the
/ archipelago and the establishment of civil
/ governments, and has Influenced many of
! terms of amnesty offered by Gen. Macarthur
under my direction. But for these false
hopes considerable reduction could have
! ben had in our military establishment in the
! Philippines and the realization of a stable
! government would be already at hand.
The American people are asked by our OPP
ponents to yield the sovereignty or the
! United States in the Philippines to small
| fraction of the population. single tribe out
! of eighty or more inhabiting the archipelago,
! a faction which wantonly attacked the
/ American troops III MdHlid white III TlSHt-
full possession under the protocol with
! Spain, awaiting the ratification of the treaty
| of peace by the Senate, and which has since
/ been in active, open rebellion against the
! United States. We are asked to transfer
/ our sovereignty to small minority in the
Islands without consulting the majority and
/ to abandon the largest portion of the popu-
lation, which has been loyal to us, to the
cruelties of the guerrilla insurgent bands.
Demands Cannot Be Met.
/ More than this, we are asked to protect
! this minority in establishing government,
| and to this end repress all opposition of the
| BILE government in the interest of those who
have assailed our sovereignty and fired upon
/ our soldiers, and then maintain 1t at any
cost or sacrifice against it's enemies within
and against those having ambitious designs
| from without.
This would require an army and navy far
/ larger than is now maintained in the Philip
! pines and still more In excess of what will
be necessary with the full recognition of our
] sovereignty. A military support of author
| ity not our own, as thus proposed. is the very
! essence of militarism, which our opponents
| In thor platform oppose. but which by their
policy would of necessity be established in
| its most offensive form.
No Premium on Murder.
The American people will not make the
murderers of our soldiers the agents of the
republic to convey the blessings of liberty
! and order to the Philippines. They will not
wealth. Such a course would be betrayal
of our sacred obligations to the peaceful Fill
! pinos, and would place at the mercy of dan
/ gerous adyenturers the lives and property of
| the natives and foreigners. 1t would make
possible and easy the commission of such