The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1900-02-17
PARTING OF THE WAYS
A Republic, Or A World pov.,
With A Colonial Policy.

The debate on the bill for the pror.
Rican tariff, which began in the Housa ~
Thursday and which will continue o0a
week, promises to be the most brilliant -
the session. The action Of the Housa ON
this bill will determine its attitude tow,,l
all other matters of this character and On
the passage of this bill by Congress and
the approval of the President, the admin
istration and the Republican party will
stand committed to the doctrine of eolo.
NAL expansion. Under this doctrine pot
only can the United States hold subec,
the people of Puerto Rico and the pblin
pines, but the United States will be at H.
erty to acquire territory in all parts Of the
world, not to be colonized by American,
and built up, after. the manner of the or.
iginal ID colonies, Canada or AustraE,
but to be held in vassalage like Indi,
Egypt or Burmah
Republican leaders in Congress do not
conceal their expectation that the natural
trend of events points toward the partic
patton of the United States in the division
of China and its requirement of a slice Of
territory in Asia to be held in the same
manner as the Philippine islands. The
party is gradually gaining courage, and
even now the holder leaders say they see
no reason why the United States should
not have sits sphere Of influence as well
as other nations. Moral and political SUD.
port from the workingmen is expected BY
the Democrats in their contest with the
Republicans over this policy.
Military competition from the Eas
is not feared, but industrial and CON-
mercial competition is dreaded by those
Democratic leaders in Congress who have
studied the growth and development of in
dustrial enterprise. They realize that
once the highly organized and extensively
living Westerner comes into competition
with the cheap labor of the East, the for
mer must be distanced. 1t would require
comparatively little cloth to furnish the
Filipinos with all the clothes they would
wear in a year, but if 1000, 900 of them
can be placed at work in cotton and sugar
fields and in factories, the products Of their
labor must come into direct competition
with those of the American workingman
either in the American market or in the
Oriental trade.
A lesson should be learned from the
South. While the negro was employed
solely as a laborer on the plantation, or as
a servant, the mills of New England flour
ished. But with the Inauguration Of
new industrial policy for the South, the
introduction of mills and machinery, blast
furnaces and foundries new era dawned
for the South and for negro labor. But
for every mill erected in the South mill
in New England must close, or else the
white laborer in the New England mill
must be prepared to compete with the
black labor in the Southern mill But as
the black labor is cheaper than the white,
the brown and yellow is much cheaper
than the black. Such students as Repre-
sentative Williams, of Mississippi regard
ed as one of the best posted men in the
House, do not hesitate to declare their be-
lief that the United States has not found
5000, 600 consumers in the PHILIPPINES
but 5000, 900 producers.