The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-02-22
A Crime Against Humanity.

A Crime Against Humanity.
To have recognized Aguinaldo's gov
ernment and helped him to thrust 1t
upon the other natives. or to have
| drawn aside and allowed him to try to
wade through slaughter to a throne
by himself would have been a crime
| against humanity. Those who have
| urged or who now urge such a policy
should study with care and with thor
Oughness the government of Aguinaldo.
| They never do so. They never take
| the trouble to learn the facts about
| the despotism which Aguinaldo and
his friends tried to set up. They laugh
at facts. deride all who are in a posi-
| tion to bear witness, sneer at history
and experience and declaim against the
government for not giving recognition
| and support to something which never
existed. which is the mere creature of
their fancy.
How different their attitude when
they come to considering the actions of
their own countrymen. Men who will
take the lightest word of half-breed
adventurer, of whose existence they
had nevr heard two years ago, impugn
the actions and doubt the word Of the
highest officers Of our government Of
the commanders of our fleets and
armies, of men who have gone in and
out before the American people for
years and whose courage, patriotism
and honor have never been questioned
or assailed. 1t must be a weak and
bad cause indeed which rests its sup
port upon accusations Of falsehood and
prevarication directed against the
president and his advisers, and against
the gallant and honorable men who
wear our uniform and lead our army
and our navy in the day of battle, The
opponents of our policy have searched
the record for every careless word:
they have thrown themselves eagerly
on every idle rumor; they have twisted
facts; they have imputed the worst
motives to men who have proved their
devotion to their country on the field
of battle and in every department Of
civil life. Let us be just at least to
our own. l ask no more. Take the
evidence of all men who have been in
those islands and whose knowledge and
experience entitle them to speak, take
the official record from day to day
since the Spanish war began, examine
the report of your commissioners, your
men of science, your army and navy
officers. read the utterances and the
proclamations of the insurgent leader.
weigh. sift. discuss. Then face the
facts. all the facts. and set down
naught in malice. If this is done there
can be but one result. The govern
ment of Aguinaldo will stand out as I
have described it, for there is no escape
from the evidence.
The Presidents Policy.
Behind all this lies the policy of the
president, which our officers followed
by sea and land. History will say that
it has been firm, consistent and hui
name from the beginning. No false
hopes were held out. From the dispatch
of May 26 onward the attitude of our
government was clear and unmistaka-
bic But every real hope, every pro-
per promise, was freely offered and
never violated. There are many duties
imposed upon a president in which it
Is easy to imagine a personal or selfish
motive, in which such motives might
exist even If they do not. But here
even the most malignant must be at a
loss to find the existence of a bad mo-
tive possible. Suddenly at the end of
the Spanish war we were confronted