The Portland daily press., 1900-06-20

OF the MERCHANT who employed him. The
party that shields and projects dishonest
officIais tQrfeits public confidence, not the
party that exposes Pnd publishes them.
The Republ lcah party has BEEN rarely the
ciSls' % n shIs lnstSncs the SbpoInsmehts q N e
were made with the greatest Care, many
OF them from the classified service.
Wherever fraud has been discovered the
guilty have been pursued unsparingly
and with the greatest publicity. So has
It been with these thieving post Office
officials; so has it been always.
We are dealing with Cuba in spirit
not only of fairness but OF generosity
and Of absolute unselfshness. and when
ever the inhabitants OF that island evince
and declare their ability to take over its
government and control, that day they
shall receive 1t; and until then we shall
continue to administer its affairs under
rule salutary and satisfactory TO all good
citizens in Cuba, and creditable to the
administration mt Washington, under
whose orders the government is conduct
ed.
We are actually owners OF the Philip
pines by an undisputed and indubitable
title. We are there as the necessary and
logical outcome of our victory over
Spain. There are upwards of thousand
islam is sprinkled upon that Southern sea,
peopled by more than eighty tribes OF
differing race and language, and having
absolutely nothing In common with each
other. Most of these tribes welcome our
coming and are grateful for our proteo-
tim. The Tagal tribe, hostiis not only
to us but to most OF the native tribes. are
in Instruction against our authority.
They have neither government nor the
capacity to conduct one, and are waging
predatory guerilla warfare which
Il
tribes IL we let them alone. What would
the Democracy have us do? Give them up
to rapine and bloodshed, and leave the
islands as ilotsam and jetsaIn ON the face
of the watersp There are parallels in our
own history. We purchased Florida from
Spain in 1921, when 1t had four thousand
white settlers, for five millions of dollars.
and other valuable considerations. The
Seminoles, natives of the soil, brave,
resolute, having far greater intelligence
and character than the Tagals, disputed
our possession. We sent Andrew jackson
down to fight them, and IL took us TWEEN
ty-one years to subdue them and send
sippi. II the "Anti-eyerythings' had
lived then, they would, suppose, have
urged us to tnrn over Florida to Osceola,
the Aguinaldo of the Seminolesi Would
you, after the war with Mexico AMI the
Gadsden purchase, have given the great
area south and west of the Arkansas to
the red Apache? Not SO did our fathers
construe their duty, and as they built, so
shall we, their sons.
The insurrection against our legitimate
authority, which, for the time, impedes
our efforts to establish n government for
ths Filipinos, involves us In a sacrifice OF
lives and Of treasure. The difficulties we
encounter in the island of Luzon are
many, but the chief inspiration and en-
couragement of the Tagal insurrection
come from the Democratic headquarters
In the United States. Partisanship has
proved stronger than patriotism, even
while our soldiers are being murdered
by marauding bandits, and II 1t We're
not for the hope held out to Aguinaldo
by American sympathizers, the insurrec-
tion in the Philippines would long ago
have ended
The obstacles TO the establishment OF
n civil government In the islands are
many, but we shall overcome them. Mis-
takes will undoubtedly be made, but we
shall remedy them. We shall In time ex-
tend over that archipelago the egis of
our protection and of free government,
and we shall gradually, but surely, lift
these alien and savage races into the
light of civilization and Christianity.
Meanwhile, Americans enterprise and
ingenuity and push may be depended
upon to develop the resources of the Is
lands, and make them an added source
of wealth TO our country. The wise
statesmanship Of the President AMI our
able Secretary of State has already
brought from the countries of Europe a
recognition of our right to share in the
vast commercial advantages which will
follow the opening OF the Chinese Empire
to foreign trade; the Nicaraguan Canal
will be soon constructed; Hawaii, with
It's valuable hnrbor, is ours; we possess
the best of the Samoan Islands, with Its
magnificent roadway; the Philippines are
almost at the door OF China, and II coun-
sells of fear do not prevail, this generation
will see the American Nation girdling
half the gloDe with its flag, extending its
foreign commerce to the uttermost parts
of the earth, and taking its place among
the great worid-nations, a powert for
good, for peace, and for righteousness.
Never since '64, when the voters of
the country were called upon to deter
mine whether the efforts of Abraham
Lincoln to preserve the Union should be
continued, or whether they should be
abandoned and other measures attempted,
have questions So vital been presented to
the American people for settlement.
Their decision must determine the main
tenance or the degradation of both our
National credit and our National honor.
A Democratic President could paralyze
the operation of the new currency law as
effectively as il it were wiped from our
statute books. A Democratic victory
would infuse new life into the Tagal in
surrection, cost us the lives of thousands
of our gallant army in the Philippines,
impair or destroy our prestige, If not our
power in the islands, make us byword
among the other great nations of the
world, and obliterate our influence in
the settlement Of the vital questions GER
tain to arise when China shall be opened
To foreign commerce.
There is little room for fear. The farm
er and the artisan in their day of pros
perity still remember the impoverish-
ment and blight of Democracy, and the
Chicago platform has no allurements for
them. E
Our National honor is equally secure.
The American people are neither polt'
rooms nor pessimists, and they Will not
signalize the dawn of the new century by
the surrender of either convictions or
territory. Every soldier back from the
islands, and they are in almost every
hamlet in the land, returns an advocate
Of their retention. Our dead are buried
along the sands of LuZon, and on its soil
no foreign flag shall ever salute the
dawn.
Whatever may be in store for us in the
new and unbeaten track upon which we