Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1900-07-26

tarism, knowing that there Is not one shred
Of truth In what they say. knowing, IL they
know anything. that their words are putting
premium upon trouble in every island from
which the Spaniards have been driven, and
caring nothing, because they wish to pur-
chase party success even at the cost Of dis
to the men who fight under the Tag. Bitter,
indeed. Is the cup they hold out to the ma
ton to drink, and thrice bitter it will be for
the nation If 1t does not spurn 1t.
What they say about Cuba and Porto
Rico need not detain US for a moment In
Porto Rico we now have Gov. Allen in
under which the island is advancing by
leaps and bounds to prosperity. In Cuba
we have put Gen. Leonard Wood in charge,
ana ana an the preliminary steps have been
taken TO give to the people Of the island
tneir own government. Our pledge to Cuba
shall Of course, be kept. Gen. Woods ad-
ministration is synonym for honesty and
cleanliness, and the minute that fraud was
discovered in the postal department, the
wrongdoers were hunted down in .unsparing
pursuit, and the best possible proof was
and that governmental cleanliness would be
obtained In the only possible way by the I'M
sparing cutting out Of corruption wherever
1t was found.
Mckinley Followed Precedent.
We now come to the Philippines and to
the general question of expansion. Many Of
the positions taken by the Populistic Democ-
racy at the moment are so palpably dishon-
est and maintained in such palpable bad
faith that to state them is sufficient. When
under Jefferson the great West beyond the
Mississippi was acquired when, largely
through the instrumentality of Jackson,
provinces, with their Indian populations,
were governed precisely and exactly on the
theory under which the Philippines are now
governed. President Jefferson secured the
Louisiana purchase just as President NC
kinley secured the Philippines, and Andrew
Jackson warred against the Seminoles when
we had acquired Florida from Spain precise
ly as Gen. Macarthur is now warning
against the bandits among the TagalS in
LuzOn.
At Kansas City the men engaged in
preaching the gospel Of dishonor and repudi-
alton solemnly asserted that imperialism
abroad will lead quickly and inevitably to
despotism at home. You men of Minnesota
and the Dakotas who are here this evening
can appreciate the fatuousness of that state
ment by the simple process Of thinking
whether your liberties have been abridged
by the return Of the Minnesota and Dakota
troops, who won such honor for themselves
In the Philippines. We cannot argue with
them on this proposition, because no serious
man thinks for one moment that they be-
lieve what they assert.
During the great civil war there were
many preachers of the gospel Of disloyalty
among the socalled copperheads Of the
North, and these men, like their representa-
tives among our opponents to-day, prophe-
sled the subversion Of the country when the
great armies Of Grant and Sherman should
come back from the war; but the great
armies Of Grant and Sherman returned to
civil life and were swallowed up among
their fellow citizens without a ripple. A
considerable army was kept for year or
two on the Indian frontier and in some Of
the Southern States; but 1t never entered
the head of a human being to attempt what
the copperhead prophets of disaster had
frantically foretod.
In 80 or 80 you yourselves saw regiments
and brigades and divisions return from
IbhiinniOpS
disbanded and swallowed up in the mass OF
the people IL volunteers, and If regulars to
resume their ordinary work in fort and cam
Torment: and after greeting them on the day
they returned the bulk Of the people would
never have been able to tell, except by the
newspapers, whether they had come back
or not.
Plans for Philippines.
AS regards the Philippines, even the Kan
sas City convention felt that they had to
propose some policy, and what they propose
as that we should first give them a stable
form of government; second, independence;
and third, protection from outside interfer-
ence. By the order in which they put these
propositions they showed their estimate Of
their Importance. Well, what we are doing
now is precisely and eXactlysto try and Sc
cure a stable form Of government In the
Philippines and the chief obstacle In our
way is the support given to the bloody
Aguinaldian olgarchy by their sympathizers
among the people who were represented at
the Kansas City convention. Moreover, now
we actually are seeing that no outside nation
interferes in the island. After we have Sc
cured stable government, we intend to
give them self government as rapidly as they
fitted for 1T.
In China we see at this moment the awful
tragedy that is following Just exactly such
movement as that which the so-calied anti
imperialists have championed in the Philip
pines. The Boxers in China are the precise
analogues and Representatives Of the Aguin-
aldian rebels in the Philippines. Had we
adopted the ''policy Of scuttle'' in the Phil
pines, the policy which our political oppo-
nents now champion. the streets of Manila
would have witnessed such scenes as those
of the streets Of Pekin.
l would ask those who by their word have
encouraged the warfare Of the FilipinoS
against us to- recall the letter of Gen. Law
ton, written just before his death, in which
he pointed out that the blood of his soldiers
Redeemed the hands of the men at home who
encouraged our foes abroad.
Says Expansion Brings Peace.
There are doubtless many worthy and
amiable gentlemen Of humanitarian tenden-
cies especially in the Northeast, who oppose
expansion now, as men like them have al
ways opposed expansion. In 1911, when
Louisiana was on the point of being adj
yond the Mississippi-the country now
carved into the great States from which so
many Of my hearers come-was being gov
erned territcrially, prototype of the mod
ern anti-imperialists, Josiah Quincy adj
dressed the House of Representatives In Ian
guage that with very slight variation might
be used by his successors to-day. In a
speech that would be quite In place at the
Kansas City convention, or in any anti-ex-
pansionist meeting Of to-day, he stated that
his anxiety and distress of mind were wholly
unprecedented, for with the admission OF
the trans Mississippi territory into the
Union the liberties and the rights Of the
whole people of the United States were so
completely upset as to justify revolution.
Remember that expansion does not bring
war; it ultimately brings peace. 1t is of adj
vantage to all. and especially to the people
thereby lifted out of savagery. We should
hail the advance of every civilized nation
over barbarous peoples. SO long as that adj
vance is not made in some form prejudical
to the rest of mankind. wonder how many
of this audience are aware that up to 1880
the United States paid tribute to Algiers
to secure immunity for our sailors and COM
merce from the Algerian corsairs. The reo-
son we did not pay tribute. after that date
was because In that year France began to
expand over Algiers. So Russia has advanced
over Turkestan and brought peace in her
train. So it is a good thing for Germany to
begin to play her part abroad. and the pat