The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1900-09-29

MIN and that the man whom he as
sisted to the highest office In the land
has been pusillanimous in the super
lative degree.
IS PROVIDENCE RESPONSIBLE
The syndicatcd president who has
been benevolently assimilating the ma.
tives of the Philippines with shot and
shell during the past year and q half
has said again and again in pious
tones with his eyes turned heaven.
wards that providence cast the vol
canic islands into "our lap" He has
said we did not want the islands at
all, but that destiny and duty impelled
him to hold them permanently in &C.
cordance with the will of God. Some
unsophisticated Americans believe
that Mckinley is second George
Washington, who is incapable of pre-
varication, and they accept what he
says as gospel truth. Congressman
Lentz. of Ohio, who knows Mckinley
intimately for many years, places no
confidence in his veracity as a politi-
clan. When in Minneapolis, Mr.. Lent
read a telegram from Mckinley to
Dewey, dated August, 1898, four
months before the signing of the
treaty of peace at Paris, asking the adj
miral to give particulars about all the
mineral products of the islands, espe-
cially coal. Whether it was providence
or the syndicates that inspired McKin-
ley to ask for that information the
reader can judge for himself.
In his letter Of acceptance Mckinley
quotes extracts from his instructions
to the Paris peace commissioners in
1898, but these instructions have never
been published by the government
When they were demanded to be pro-
duced in the United States senate,
Cushman X. Davis, one of the commits
sioners, arose in his seat and declared
it was impolitic to make them public
at that time, and they We're withheld.
President Mckinley is supposed to
be the servant Of the American peo-
pie, but he is acting as their master in
denying to them a knowledge of, his
instructions. to the peace commission
ers and in supprcssing the foreign cor
respondence of the United States in
1897 and 1898. And in the face of all
this he emhQdies portions of his in
structions in his letter of acceptance.
Nobody can contradict his statements
for the documents are kept away from
the public. They are the property of
the nation, and the people have no ac-
cess to them. -
It is the first. time in the history of
the country that a president Of the
Unied States has been guilty of lock-
ing up public documents of such his.
toric importance. He has good rea-
sons for concealing them, else he
would not withhold them. The New
York Evening Post says he has gar
bled one of the. suppressed documents
in his letter Of acceptance, and that
is charge that no honorable man
should rest under. Mckinley should
Immediately refute the charge by pub
fishing the documents he quotes from.
Judge NJ. +. Tuley, of Chicago, in
a published letter, quotes from Murat
Halstead's history Of the Philippine
Islands some instructions from Nc
Kinley to the Paris peace commission.
ers which are believed to be authentic,
rs the author is recognized as the
military historian Of the administra-
ton. They were sent thirty days after
the peace congress assembled at Paris
and are. as follows:
81. Spain must cede to the United
States absolute sovereignty over the
whole of the island Of Luzon.
."2. The other islands will be re-
placed under the dominion of Spain on.
that q liberal government is
accorded to the, Inhabitants.
%. Complete separation of church
and state in the Philippines. 9.
: a. Spain cannot cede any other ISL
ands in the group to any foreign
power without the consent of the
United States. 'H =.
'5. The United States shall enjoy
for all time the same commercial priv
ileges as the most favored nation, not
excepting Spain ITSELF"
Mckinley, in his letter Of accept
ance, did not quote. any Of the fore
going Instructions. Why? Because
they would show the falsity Of the
statements so frequently repeated that
'providence. threw the, islands into our
lap" and that "our duty to civilization
and to the inhabitants forbid their re-
turn to the conrol of SPAIN"
Mckinley Is before the country for
reelection and is deceiving the people
on the Filipino question. He does not
state facts, and a man who is guilty
of quibbling is not worthy Of the higi.
place he holds. He Is syndicated
president and does not deserve the
oonf3dopoo of tho neOnle Mt large