Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1900-06-26
ILLINOIS DEMOCRATS
Continued from First Page.

Their intercourse with these people
! confirms him in this opinion.
"Ihen came the treaty of Paris and
the purchase of the Philippine islands
from Spain for $50, 600, QUO. Having
| fought for their freedom and indie
pendence from one foreign rule they
refused to submit to another foreign
rule and then commenced the war OF
subjugation against them, a war with
lavowed benevolent purpose, but really
inspired by desire to secure trade
advantages.
Turn to the story of our relations
With Porto Rico and it, too. is a story
of injustice and broken promises.
Coming into our hands as a result of
the war with Spain, we told the PEG
pie. in the proclamation which Gen.
Miles issued to them when he landed
On their soil, that the soldiers of the
United States came bearing the ban
ner of freedom, inspired by noble
purpose. He said: We bring you
the fostering arm of a nation of free
people, whose greatest power is in its
justice and humanity to all living
within its folds. We have come to
promote your prosperity and to be-
stow upon you the immunities and
blessings of the liberal institutions Of
our government
Broken Faith.
The people believed us and kissed
the flag our soldiers carried there.
The pathway of our soldiers was
strewn with wreaths and garlands of
flowers by grateful people, relying
on the integrity of our promise. And
how have we kept faith with thema
You all know that it was our duty
to treat them as we would treat |
any other part of our curn-
try; that President Mckinley, in
his message to congress, said it was |
our plain duty to establish free
trade with the islands; that he
was supported in this position
by the secretary of war and |
by Gov. Gen. Davis; but at the behest |
Of the trusts tariff has been imposed |
not only on goods coming from Porto
Rico into this country, but upon our
products going from this country to
The island. The imposition of these
tariff taxes upon these people is as
unjust as was the tax inflicted on the
American colonies by Great Britain at
The time Of our revolution. If the
course of the repu blican party in
dealing with Porto Rico is just. then
our declaration of independence was a
mistake and our revolution a crime.
But our republican friends excuse
his tax because they say it is light
'ne. We, as democrats and lovers of
he true principles of free government,
Iay that we do not undertake to weigh
n the scales of an apothecarv the in
egrity of the repu bile or the human
lights of people anywhere. A country
With subject provinces governed by
orce is not n repu bile, and where plu-
ocracv reigns democracy becomes
merely name.
'Froude. in his Life of Caesar
avs that If there is one lesson history
caches, it is that free nations cannot
,overn subject provinces; that if they
re unable or unwilling to admit their
to share their own con-
titution, the constitution itself will
all TO pieces. He shows that the
arly Romans possessed the faculty of
elf-government beyond any people of
whom we have historical knowledge
hey became the most powerful alton
n the known world, and their hber-
les persisted only when Rome became
mistress of conquered nations. to
Thom she was unwilling to extend
er privileges.
Colonial system Means Corruption.
In reading the histories of nations
re find there are courses of action
1hich have uniformly. produced the
anne results. The corruption accom-
anying the adoption Of the colonial
ystem by Rome prepares the student
( history for the scandals growing