The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1900-02-07
7, 1900. ESTABLISHED 1874

for the sake Of argument, that we own the
Philippine Islands; that our title is good
that whether 1t is good or not, we have
made it good by force; that we have de
facto IL not u de jure title that nobody dis
putcs except the guerrillas who are now
out there killing an occasional American
soldier and still struggling for liberty.
Senators, do not forget, when you come
to consider this question and determine It
that we brought Spain, the mistress OF
those people, to her knees in sixty days
after the declaration Of war with the use
of only $4,000 Of our troops and Of our
Navy, but that this Filipino war has cost
us the lives Of 1000 American soldiers,
$500, 1000, 900 in money, and the use OF 10000
men for over year, and those men who
are fighting there for the love Of liberty
who have forced us to display this power
and spend this money, have proved that
they are worthy Of liberty, whether we
give 1t to them or not.
The distinguished Senator from Indiana
Mr.: BEvERIDGEl expressed some very
queer ideas about liberty. He said that
self-goyernment Is a sacred thing. l shall
am going to read just what ne said di-
e y
put into words which I have selected,
where I have said exactly what want to
say, no more and no less, and I will come
to it directly.
wish to allude in passing to the propo-
sitiOn that self-government, as understood
by historians and all the peoples who have
fought for that inestimable blessing, Is q
government OF your own peOple-not re-
public, not q government by ballot, not
any special form Of government, but q
government Of Germans by Germans, OF
That is self-gOvernment A people who
want to have and empire or dictatorship
or q limited monorchy or an autOcracy
have perfect right to live under 1t. 1t
does not gall like foreign yoke.
Mr.. BEVERIDGE. Will the Senator al
low me question?
Mr.. TILLMAN. With pleasure.
Mr.. BEVERIDGE. Does the Senator
think that the government Of the Car OF
Russia is self-government?
Mr.. TILLMAN. 1t is Russian Govern
Mr.. BEvERIDGE. But is it self-gevern-
ment?
the extent that it Is satisfactory to the
Russian people. No one else has any
Mr.. BEVERIDGE. I fear the Senator
has misread my speech. The Senator has
said that his Interpretation Of self-govern-
ment was q government which was by
Mr.. TILLMAN. By ones own people,
ones own kindred. ~
Mr.. BEVERIDGE. Is the government
Of the Car Of Russia self-government?
Mr.. TILLMAN. 1t is not, according to
MIR. BEVERIDGE. Very well.
Mr.. TILLMAN. And there Is no self
government in Europe, according to our
standard, outside Of England. France has
not got it, although she has the form OF
republic, because she is really an oligarchy:
Switzerland has it. beg pardon; | should
have said that Switzerland and England
were the only two seltgoverning nations
in Europe, judged by our standards.
want to direct the Senator's attention
to one thing in his speech. He said that
Aguinaldo was capable and honorable, and
do not know how many other good ad-
jectives the Senator applied to him, but he
concluded by saying he was Malay Sylla,
not Filipino Washington. will quote
him accurately when come to make up
the record, but now direct his attention,
and the attention Of the country and OF the
Senate to the fact that the scheme OF gov
GruIlltlU WlllCll UllC OCllulOl WOuio ibvO oSO
ND and which he stands for, which the
Senator from Wisconsin stands for, and
which the President Of the United States
stands for-unless you all repudiate it's
one which Aguinaldo could have carried out
to perfection, because he has in his own
person the very attributes Of the kind Of
autocrat that you would put there under
our flag.
Here is the description given by the
Senator from Indiana of the Filipino
leader;
Aguinaldo Is the highest type of subtlety
and the most constructive mind that race has
yet produced. Agulnaldo Is clever, popular
bilious, INSCRIPTIONS, and masterful. He is
full of decision, initiative, and authority, and
had the confidence Of the masses. He Is a
natural dictator. His Ideas Of government are
mediate death. He understands the character
of his countrymen. He Is q Malay Sylla not
a Filipino Washington.
T will show later how we'll he would have
fitted in the Senator's scheme when come
to that.
MIR. President, for sake of comparison,
look OF Mexico. For fifty years she was
the laughingstock Of the nations because
of the inability Of her people to realize
what it was to elect anybody to govern
them. One military chieftain after anoth.
er seized upon power, revolution followed
revolution, until, under the benign rule OF
q Observation-Disclosures good order, pros
perity, happiness have come to those peo-
Die, because he possessed in himself the
capacity to restore law and order and to
maintain q government which was equal
In it's application to all and free from
tyranny and just what was needed. He
alone has given his people what Aguinaldo
would, believe, give to the Filipinos if he
had on opportunity.
Therefore deny, repudiate- and I love
our institutions as much as any man-the
pretension that we must have PrOcrus-
team bed and cause all people to lie on 1t,
whether they are long enough to fill 1t out
or too long and have to be cut off. And
politics we have In two Of our largest
American cities-one under Democratic
and the other under Republican RULE
want to ask the Senator II we are in any
condition to stand up and boast Of our
institutions as alone worthy Of imitation
and that they must be adopted by every.
body who comes in contact with US?
But we had a great dream Of profit, OF
wealth, and Of the inestimable blessings
which would flow to the American people
by the possession Of the Philippine Archi.
pelago as the doorway to the East. II you
take the money we have spent and put ii
sum than any possible profit that will ever
come to us as O people. But do not hesi.
tate to assert that the expense of holding
the Philippine Islands will be tenfold any
sum possible to obtain from them as
rcycnuc.
Some franchises may be granted tc
sugar planters, tobacco growers, cotton
growers, or rice growers; some contract
laborers may be imported from China who
will work-for the Senator from Indiana
says the Fiipinos will not-who will be
driven by the whip, as the slaves were ir
the South before the war, and as they are
now driven in Hawaii, to develop the ricf
lands Of which we havesheard; and there
,oo,, ha faamipO iDopn,tc oopoipp to on,