The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1900-08-23
TliIe that Of Caesar in dauf or victorian

in India.
Dewey's Victory Gave no Title.
The victory of Dewey gave us title
to not one square inch of Spanish
territory. The preliminaries Of peace
gave US the right merely to hold and
occupy the city. bay and harbor Of
Manila pending the conclusion of the
treaty of peace" And when that pros
tocol was signed, the Spaniards ex-
cepting some thousands who were
prisoners in the hands of the Fill
pinos), Were besieged in couple Of
coast cities. Practically all territory Of
the archipelago and more than half
of the natives population supported
the Filipino republic. The shadowy
claim Of Spain resting upon force had
been destroyed by Filipino arms,
Their government had been organized
for two months. an army of thirty
thousand men, armed, uniformed and
drilled. answered the command OF
Aguinaldo, ships carried the flag Of
the native government, cities and
provinces had elected their chiefs, q
constitution had been proclaimed and
accepted, courts were organized.
schools were opened, cabinet and
a president were doing the duties of
their office, peace reigned in the
territory ruled over by the Filipino
republic. Dominion belonged to the
natives, sovereignty was theirs wrest-
ed from Spain and Alphonso XIII.
even as our fathers wrested the right
to self-rule from Great Britain and
George III.
1t may be that our consuls and gen.
erals did not promise independence
to the Filipinos; it makes no differ.
ence whether they did or not. Self
sovereignty exists inherently in every
people; it is not subject to gift
or grant by consuls or commanders
whether they be Slav or Saxon. 1t is
born in nations. 1t comes not with
armies or navies or wealth or edu-.
cation or laws or constitutions: 1t is
implanted by the hand Of God Him
self. And blasphemous are the men or
nations who seek by force or fraud
or purchase to take it away. Even
though we may not have prom
Used Aguinaldo and his people any.
thing in words, we did promise them
independence by the pledge Of more
than hundred years Of history. The
story of our nations life is one great
promise to men who are subjects
and long for freedom. Words are
not required; the nations deeds, he'll
sacred public documents, her BIRTH
her struggle, her declaration to Cuba,
the life of her teeming millions Of
freemen, all were sacred pledge of
independents to all men in all lands
everywhere.
A New Position.
In 1897 we were nation of peace;
in 1898 we undertook a righteous war
for the freedom of our neighbors; in
1899 we purchased a colonial policy
and ambitioned to become a so-called
world power: in 1900 we are numbered
among the perfidious land grabbers Of
the world. In 1897 an army Of 25,0Oo
men was sufficient for all our needs;
in 1900 an army OF 100000 men is in ex-
istence and the administration de-
mands that the number shall be in
creased. In 1898 we appropriated for
our army and navy $150,000,000; in 1893,
1922, 900 900; and in 1900 $190,00O,O0O, and
the makers of war and armor plate
declare that we must have more SOL
diers and more ships. In 1860 it cost,
the people only $3.50 per capita to pay
the entire expenses of the government;
in 1896 the whole expense was $4.94 per
head; in 1899-our first in lust for
power, selfish ambition, and greed for
gain-the expense was $7.97 per head;
and in 1900, on the basis of appropria-
tions actually made, the expense will
be $3.50 for every man, woman and
child of our population. Think on these
things and then flout the issue of inn
perialism with it corrollary of MILF
tarism. Like Judas of old when he sold
the Savior of the world the re-
publican leaders of to-day are barter
ing the principles that would pre-
serve the republic for the lucre Of
trade. Roosevelt, the Cossack of Am !
erican politics. stands ever ready with
a sophomore enthusiasm to throw the
sword of the soldier into the scales of
justice; while more and more men
are coming to believe that Mckinley
ism means monarchy in fact. If not
in form. And all this that the syn
dictate may exploit a country wh>eh
the son of an American mother had
died to subdue. Some leaders, it is
true, have attempted to conceal the
form of Mammon beneath the robe OF
righteousness, but those who proclaim
in the loudest tones their zeal to
Christianize believe more in cannon
than they do in Christ. For two
thousand years the man of Gallilee
has been called the Prince Of Peace"
it remains for some Of His Lrofessed
followers in the closing years OF the
nineteenth century to find in the
singing of bullets "the song of the
better life to be-" to distinguish in
the thump of Maxims the sacred
strains of the Doxology. to hear in
the roar of Krupps, the voices of
angles chanting Peace on earth,
good will toward men,"
The present policy Of Mckinley is a
radical departure from the time
honored policy of the past. A cursory
knowledge is all that is required to con-
vince the average man of the truth
Of this statement. The expansion of
the past has been the expansion of
the republic. In the past we have
acquired territory in the temperate
zone, well adapted to our race, con-
tiguous to that already held, sparsely
populated, necessary to complete the
geographic unity of the nation. In
every treaty we have ever made for
the acquisition of territory-except the
last-we have provided that the terri
tory should be erected into Am
erican states and that the people