Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-10-25
Secretary of War Delivers Address on
Current Issues.
ANSWERS DEMOCRATIC CHARGES
Reviews at Length the Situation in
the Philippines.
AN IMPROM PTU MEETING


delivered an address at Canton, Ohio, last !.
| night the political issues of the day.
| A dispatch from Canton, descriptive of
| the event, says the meeting was an inn
promptu affair. 1t was conceived. arranged
ard under way in a period of a little more
! than three hours. The Secretary and Mrs.
| Root are here for social visit with Presi-
| dent and Mrs. Mckinley at their Canton
home. ,1 20,
| The recent illness and present condition
/ OF the Secretary have prevented him from
| taking active speaking part in the CAM
| paign, but he came west expecting to de-
! liver one address, and that in the old Nc
Kinley district The meeting was announc-
| ell for Youngstown Thursday evening. AS
a mark of respect to the late ex-Secretary
| Sherman all political meetings arranged
for Ohio Thursday and Thursday night
| were called off, including the one at
Youngstown.
When the local committee heard of these
| circumstances 1t prevailed upon the Secre-
| tsry to speak here. The efforts resulted in
| a crowded hall and a most enthusiastic
| meeting. The Grand Army Band and the
Canton Republican League marched to the
| Mckinley home to escort the Secretary.
| An immense crowd followed, and there was
| an enthusiastic invasion of the Mckinley
| lawn. The President himself escorted the
| Secretary to the carriage. elbowing his way
| down the dark walk, and then across the
| lawn to the side street, where the band
| was stationed. He bowed his thanks for
| the impromptu serenade. and then retired
! to the porch amid deafening cheers.
| Secretary Root delivered exhaustive
| address, covering all questions involved in
| the campaign. He was frequently inter-
| rupted by applause.
| Fruits of Good Government.
| In his opening remarks Secretary Root
referred to the security, opportunity, con-
| md tixyit1 nf In lob !
which Were, he declared, the fruits of good
government alone and which the American
| people secured for themselves when in 1896
| they committed the powers of government
! to President Mckinley and a republican
| Congress. He spoke Of the competency
and effectiveness of President McKinleys
! dealings with other powers in the various
| international questions which had arisen
and declared that the logic of events had
proved that the American people were right
when they rejected Mr.. Bryan and the the
| cries of his false democracy In 1896
The democratic charge of imperialism, he
declared. Is a cry that lis one Of the cheap
est and most threadbare of the demagogues'
| stock, always certain to produce a sensa-
ton among a people alert for the pro-
lection of their liberties What President
| Mckinley had done in the Philippines, the
Secretary said,.' has been to defend and
assert the sovereignty of the United States
| thus acquired with the assent of both par
ties and of both candidates for the presi-
hands by Congress" He declared that it
was impossible for this government to
have yielded the sovereignty of the United
States in the Philippines to the armed
| Tagalogs whose hands were red with the
blood of American soldiers. Self-respect
forbade it, national honor forbade it, the
| whole world would have condemned and
| despised us if We had done it
Incapable of Self-Government.
He added: 1.-The testimony is absolutely
| hell naorla inhahiting
the Philippine archipelago are incapable of
| self-government Most of them have not
the first conception of what self-sovern-
ment means, or the first qualification for
its exercise. Many of them have the ca
pacity to learn, but they nave never
| learned"
The Secretary declared that the true
proposition is the precise reverse of the
charge that the exercise of government
must be the people of the Philippine
Islands subjects, if not as citizens, when
exercise of power over others it was con-
tended would be destructive to our national
| character and institutions. The govern
ment of the Philippine Islands, he contin-
ued would not affect the character of our
institutions, but the character of our in
stitutions would determine and mold the
government of the Philippine Islands. To
govern a despot would be fatal to the
character of a republic but to govern as
| Congress always has and always will gov
ern in territory outside of the limits of the
states, in accordance with the spirit of our
| institutions, subject to all the great rules
of liberty and right and responsible for
| every act to a great hberty-lov1ng people,
| can but extend and strengthen our institu-
| tons.
Il will not say that the men who
| encouraging the Filipino soldiers here are
| traitors to their country. do not think
! they know what it is they do. But l will
say l think with justice, that the men who
| are reviling and belittiipg America here,
| and the men who are shooting from ambush
| in Ia
| both are enemies to the interests and credit
| of our country
AIIudes to the Trusts.
The Secretary paid some attention to the
question of trusts, and in this connection
said that the trouble with Mr. Bryan's
treatment of trusts is that che treats them
not as a matter of business, but as a mat
| ter of politics, and he thinks that a gen.
eral and indiscrimnative denunciation of
these great Industrial enterprises which are
employing the labor and increasing the
wealth of America is good campaign cry
He declared that Mr.. Bryan's two proposed
remedies constituted imperialism indeed
and would concentrate in the government
| at Washington entire and absolute control
over every business interest in the country.
Continuing, he said: Are opponents
sincere? Is Mr.. Bryan, who four years ago
made his campaign upon the money issue
and talked of nothing but money, and SO
eloquently bewailed the empty dinner pail
really sincere IN pronounclng the full din
ner pail to be a sordid issue? Is the party
which is governing and avows its intention
to still govern 100000 Of black citizens
| in the SOUTH without their consent, whether
by law or fraud force, really disturbed
about imperialism and the Declaration of
! Independence? Was that distinguished conn.,
pany which gathered in the Louis XIV
| room of the Hoffman House and ate their
S12-a-plate dinner with Mayor Van Wyck
| of the ice trust presiding officer, and
Richard Croker of the ice trust as presid-
ing genius, and chairman of the democratic
national committee, Jones, of the cotton
bale trust, as the director of the campaign
were they really solicitous about the evils
| of trusts and agonizing for the delivery OF
| their countrymen from their effects?"
| At one point of his speech Secretary Root
| renewed the charge that hope of and de-
sire to aid in Mr.. Bryans election inspired
a continuance of the fighting in the Philip
pines, saying:
"You have been told that the present
activity of guerrillas in the Philippine
Islands, who, from their hiding places In
the mountains ambush and murder our