The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1900-03-13
THE BAD TASTE OF JUDGE HARMON.


cabinet at Cincinnati. on the occasion
of the banquet given by the bar in hon
or of Commissioner Taft, was in very
bad taste. 1t was not the place for
Democrat to condemn the administra-
tion.--Alliance Review.
According to Republican doctrine
especially of the Hanna variety, it is
always in bad taste" and out of place"
for Democrats or for Republicans even
to condemn or criticise the Mckinley
administration. The farewell dinner
given in honor of Judge Taft on his re-
tirement from the bench to accept an
appointment from Mckinley as one Of
his special representatives, had not
ostensibly, at least, for it's object the
laudation of President McKinley's ad-
ministration, nor the endorsement of his
imperial policy. 1t was presumably a
complimentary dinner rendered to Judge
Taft as an evidence of the high esteem
in which he was held by all classes of
business men with whom he had been
identified. Mr.. M. E. ingalls, was
chairman and POSTMASTER of the occa-
sion. He arose and said the occasion
was the result of the desire of the
friends of Judge Taft to pay tribute to
his worth and to express the esteem in
which they held him. This was good
and appropriate. But, Mr.. ingalls, did
not stop there. He spoke Of the duty of
the nation in the Philippines and then
introduced Judge William r. Day, who
spoke at length on the Spanish-Ameri-
can treaty. Mr.. Day was there as the
mouthpiece of the administration. He
had a duty to perform on this occasion.
He did not hesitate to perform it. He
defended the policy of the president. He
plead for imperialism as Judge Day
only can plead. He spoke of the duty
of Americans, and closed by saying,
that mo steps backward would be
taken" The toastmaster then in
troduced Governor Nash, of Ohio. What
Judge Day had said concerning the ad-
ministration, the governor of Ohio ap-
proved. He said something about Judge
Taft, in whose honor they had met,
but he said much more about our great
responsibilities in the Philippines and
the wisdom of the president in con-
Quoting his war of Benevolent Assimi-
lation."
1t was apparent by this time that the
gathering was not a social affair, to do
honor to Judge Taft, but that the oc-
casion was political, if not partisan, in
its character. and that it was so in
tended. Judge Harmon, of Cincinnati,
ex-United States attorney-general, was
introduced and he too had opinions on
Imperialism and expansion. But they
were not in line with the sentiments of
Day and Nash and that is why Judge
Harmon was, in the estimation of the
Review and kindred organs, in bad
taste" In turning his batteries against
the imperialistic constitution wreckers,
Judge Harmon said:
general course of the government with
respect to the Philippines 1 should not
be here. For 100 years we had to con-
tent ourselves with words of sympathy
for peoples struggling, as we once strug-
gled, for freedom and independence
Here for the first time an opportunity
came to help in such struggle without
breaking our settled policy. We Joined
rat lie I,a
a common enemy. Whether any one
made or was authorized to make promi-
ses to them is of no consequence Our
history and principles are perpetual
promise, and no one will deny that
when the Filipinos Joined forces with us
they believed, and we knew they be-
lieved, that success would mean the
fulfllment of their hopes. We should
have resented a request for a promise
that we would not do beyond the seas
what we had pledged ourselves not to
do at our own shores. No American
can truly say that during the struggle
he had any other idea. If anybody
then assumed to sit in judgment on the
fitness of others to have rights which
we hold to be untenable, nobody dream
ed of questioning the fitness for free
dom and independence Of men who, to
gain them, had risked their lives, their
fortunes and their sacred honor.
when we came to terms of peace it
was our duty to put an end to the claims
of the king Of Spain. AS to all territory
except a few square miles these were
the barest of pretentions. but his need
and others greed might make a specu-
lative asset Of them to the injury of our
allies. This was the only possible justi-
fication for the direction to our COM
missioners to purchase those claims,
and we naturally expected some decla-
ration Of trust. So did our allies. But
it soon turned out that instead of buy
ing off the king of Spain, the govern
ment had bought him out and proposed
to realize on the investment.
Our only real war followed-a war
which word would have avoided, if
our government had been willing to say
it, and whose victories reused no glad
ness in our people like those over Spain,