Evening star., 1900-03-06
Senator Davis Proposition Causes a
Commotion.
APIONEER AMONG TEE EZPANSIONISTS
Differences Among'the Administra-
tons Supporters.
DUE TO MERCENARY POLITICS

The Introduction of q free trade" amend
ment to the Porto Rican bill in the Senate
by Mr.. Davis yesterday has caused a COM
motion in Congress.
No one is able now to judge what will
come Of it, but Mr.. Davis is ar able man
and strong in the Senate. He is one of the
ablest men the republicans have in that
body, and was an expansionist when the
men who were responsible for the Porto
Rican tariff bill did not know what expan
sion meant.
The serious difference over the Porto
Rican bill is not between expansionists and
anu-expansionists 1t is between two sorts
of expansionists-those who know and those
who do not know what expansion means.
The anti-expansdonists are liable to be the
beneficiaries of the ignorance and blunders
OF those who see In the policy of expansion
nothing more than a campaign proposition
liable to be popular with the people Not
understanding the proposition, or disregard
ing 1t, they go blundering along trying to
accommodate the policy to every conceiv-
able interest which they feel conpeIied to
represent, regardless of Inconsistencies and
injustice. If they have their way they will
succeed in making expansion unpopular,
and If they cannot have their own way
they do not want expansion at ALL
There Is nothing partisan in the expan-
sion policy as first conceived and pressed
almost forced-upon the administration
The partisanship and confusion have arisen
from the lack Of understanding on the ma rt
or those who adopted it because it sounded
well and might serve in a campaign.
me. ineie are TWO sets Of expansionists-the
the-fag?' expansionists, and those who
with practical common sense and a patri-
otto devotion to the institutions represented
.S pS tne nag as an emblem of liberty. want
TO see our commerce and our principles of
government circle the earth if possible.
All the Atklnsons on earth could not do as
much to retsrd the development of the ma
uon as Is being done by<those men in Com
gress of machine-made policy. VINO. whiJa
shouting expansion, contract their vision to
the contemplation of nothing larger than
ria ahe corporation , to which they owe allie
siance. Ihe people put petticoats on the
AtKlnsons; but they have not strait Jackets 8
enough to go around among the others.
w ME the men who know what expansion
means and favor 1t and those who accent
the name and discard the fact are lighting
lhose VINO want to draw our boundary lme
at hlgn-Water mark stand by to accept
Whatever advantage comes their way.
me advocates of the Porto Rican tariff
Dill insist that there will be no difficulty in
the way of its adoption by the Senate II
is stu too early to judge with accuracy
Mne.aer s,,nasa or not they are right in this as
Ihey are mistaken and that the men like
Davis, aided by the manifest public senti-
nent' may be strong enough to repair the
OA liz AiousS ana OI tHe senate
mittee. 1t is SO very apparent that the in
nuences behind the bill are hostile to ex-
pansion in its proper sense, and that the
success OF their plans would defeat the
policy which the public understand to be
indicated by expansion, that there is good
ground for hope that the several weeks
or debate which win occur before a vote is
had will give time for wiser counsel to
make itself felt "
The principal difficulty in the way of oe.
ccmplishing anything lies in the fact that
those who. In the interest of expansion.
want want the. bill defeated are likely to tind
themselves classified with the "antf-im-
pcrialists," while the policy of expansion
is left in the hands of its worst snemies~
its ignorant and inconsistent advocates.
There Is sersDus apprehension that the
whole policy .7nay break down under the
weight of rnercenary politics that is being
piled upon It '-e
History of the Bill.
The statement Is made today to a star
reporter authoritatively, but without the
privilege Of personal quotation, that the
history of the Porto Rican bill is this:
The committee was confronted with the
proposition to relieve the Porto Ricans by
admitting their goods to our markets and