The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-01-04
TRYING TO HELP DIR. BRYAN.

The Atlanta Constitution. which has been
sion from the first. has Of late been labor
ing to bring the Democratic party into line
upon the basis of the resolutions which
Senator Bacon presented in the Senate as
the Democratic doctrine. These resolutions
declare that the United States shall treat
the Philippines as ii is proposed TO treat
Cuba-that is leave them to self-goyern-
ment whenever il shall appear that the in
habitants of the islands are able to MAIN
tain stable government based upon the
consent of the people The Constitution as
sumes that this is TO be the Democratic
declaration i'm the platform of 1900. So as
Stunning. the Constitution undertakes to
make it appear that Mr.. Bryan has always
held that view by presenting extracts from
letters written the editor.
The difficulty is that Mr.. Bryan has had
more views than those given by the Con-
stitution. He was reported as using the
phrase, in some of his speeches in Ne
braska, shooting civilization into the Fill
pinos with Calling guns The Nebraska
member of the Democratic national COM
mittee, who attended a conference in Chi
cago, was reported as declaring that Mr..
Bryan and his friends carried the State
on the anti-expansion issue" Then there
Is Auguinaldo's organ in Luzon. before he
became a fugitive, which said that Mr..
Bryan was one of the three men to whom
the Fiipinos owed most for whatever hope
they have of recognition. 1t appears that
this declaration was based upon extracts
from Mr.. Bryan's speeches. which were
sent to Aguinaldo by his friends in this
country through his Junto at Hong Kong
will doubtless be printed which will show
that Mr.. Bryan has no fixed conviction on
the subject. but has been ready TO assume
the position which would give him the
most votes. Just now denouncing the war
IS not popular. hence the agreement upon
the Bacon resolutions.
In the extracts from Mr.. Bryan's letters
in the Constitution he asserts that there
would have been no war If the President
had offered the same terms to the Filpinos
as were accorded the Cubans. In making
this statement Mr.. Bryan, with his accus-
toned unfairness. ignores the facts about
the beginning of the war He ignores the
important fact that Aguinaldo began the
conferred upon the United States the SOW
ereignty Of the Philippines. had been rati-
fed. His agent in Washington advised
Aguinaldo to attack the Americans at once
with a view of defeating the proposed
treaty in the Senate. He did so attack,
and the result was that his attack changed
enough votes to make the two-thirds neces-
sary to ratify the treaty. 1t should be
added that the man who assumes that he
is sufficiently well informed to be President
should not be declaring that that official
can promise TO dispose of the sovereignty
of the United States over the Philippines
Mr.. Bryan would not do so if he were
President, because all action relative to the
form or transfer of government is func-
ton of Congress. 1t was Congress which
made the declaration regarding the indie
pendence of Cuba. and the President can
! not annul 1t If he would. 1t was the Senate
which ratified the treaty which gave the
United States sovereignty over the Philip
pines, and the President, IF he should at
tempt to bargain away that Sovereignty,
would be liable to impeachment. Mr.. Bryan
| must know that, yet he has been saying
the President could have offered the same
terms to the F'ilpinos that Congress en-
| braced in its declaration regarding the flu
| ture of Cuba when war was begun with
| Spain. In this. in other matters, Mr.
Bryan is misleading the people who believe
in him. He is not sincere. and when the
scrap books are opened which contain his
utterances regarding the Philippines it will
be seen that he had no convictions on the
| subject.