The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-09-26
BEVERIDCE SPEAKS.
Indiana Senator Opens Republic
can Campaign in Chicago.

Chicago, Sept. Ex-senator Beveridge,
of Indiana, was the chief speaker at a
Republican mass meeting held last night
in the Auditorium under the auspices OF
the Marquette club. There was a great
audience to hear the senator. Mr..
Beveridge said in part:
Ladies and Gentlemen: westward
the star of empire takes its way" Not
the star of kingly power, for kingdoms
are everywhere diSsOlving in the increaS-
ing rights of men; not the star of auto
cratic oppression, for civilization is
Frightening and the liberties of the peo-
pie are broadening under every flag that
floats But the star of empire, as WASH
ingtOn used the word, when he called
the republic an empire; as Jefferson
understood it, when he declared our
form of government ideal for extending
our empire;' as Marshall understood it,
when he closed noble period of an i'm
mortal constitutional opinion by naming
the domain of the American people our
empire This is the empire of which
the prophetic voice declared Westward
the star of empire takes it's way'-the
star of the empire of liberty and law,
of commerce and communication, OF
the star of the empire of the civilization
of the world. Westward that star of
empire takes its course, And today 1t
illumines our path of duty across the
Pacific into the islands and lands where
Providence has called u.s. In that path
the American government is marching
FORWARD, OppOSeQ DIT every 5tSP ny l41OSS
who deny the right of the republic to
plant the institutions of the flag where
events have planted the flag itself. For
this is our purpose, to perform which the
opposition to the government declares
that the republic has no warrant in the
constitution, in morals orin the rights of
man.
It is not true, as the opposition assert,
that every race is naturally Self-gOvern-
ing without instruction and guidance.
If So the Indians were capable of self
government. Our America-Or is Amer
lea OurS?-beIonged to them whether
they were or were not capable of self
government. If they were capable of
self-government it was not only wrong,
but it was a crime to set up our indie
pendent government on their land with
out their consent. If this is true, the
Puritans, instead of being noble, are
despicable characters; and the patriots
of 1776, to which the opposition compares
the Filipinos, were only a swarm of land
pirates rebelling against their captain
If the opposition is right, the ZuluS who
self-government, and the Beers who ex-
PEELED them, according to the opposition,
deserve the adherence of righteous men.
But while the Beers took the lands
they occupy from the natives who peO-
pied them, while we peopled this coun-
try in spite of the Indian who owned
it, and while this may be justified by
the welfare Of the world which those
events advanced, that is not what is to
be done in the Philippines The Ameri-
can government, as a government, will
not appropriate the FilipinOS' land or
permit Americans as individuals to seize
it 1t will protect the FilipinOS in their
possessions. If any American secures
real estate in the Philippines, it will be