The Portland daily press., 1900-09-17


dependence, and of the consent of the
governed doctrine, saw no incongruity
between this and the establishment of
a government on common sense grounds
in the new territory; and he rallied at the
sticklers for an impossible application
OF his principle, saying in language which
at the present day applies to the situation
In the Philippines without the change OF
word, Though it is acknowledged
that our new fellow citizens are as yet as
incapable of seif-government as children,
yet some can not bring themselves to
suspend It's principles for single mo-
ment." lie intended that ultimately
self-government should be introduced
throughout the territory, but only as the
different parts became fit for 1t, and no
sooner. This is just the policy that has
been pursued. In no part of the Louisiana
purchase was complete self government
| introduced for a number of years. in one
part of it, the Indian territory, it has
not yet been introduced although near
| ly century has elapsed. Over enormous
tracts OF of it, including the various In
dian reservations, with a territory in the
| aggregate as large as that of the Philip
pines, the constitution has never yet
followed the fiag;" the army officer and
the civilian agent still exercise authority,
without asking the consent of the gov
erned. We must proceed in Philippines
with the same wise caution, taking each
| successive step as it becomes desirable,
and accommodating the details OF our
policy to the peculiar needs of the situa-
! ton. But as soon as the present revolt
Is put down and order established, 1t
VIII undoubtedly be possible to give TO
the Islands larger measure of self-gOv-
ernment than Jefferson originally gave
Louisiana.
The next great step IN expansion was
the acquisition OF Florida. This was
partly acquired by conquest and partly
! by purchase, Andrew jackson being the
most prominent figure In the acQuisi-
tion. 1t was taken under President
Monroe, the aftertime President John
! Quincy Adams being active in securing
the purchase. AS in the case of the Phil
| ippines Florida was acquired by purchase
from Spain, and in Florida the Semi
noles, who had not been consulted in the
sale, rebelled and waged war exactly as
some OF the Iagals have rebelled and
Waged war in the Philippines The
Seminole War lasted for many years, but
Presidents Monroe, Adams and jackson
declined for q moment to consider the
question of abandoning Florida 80 the
Seminoles, or to treat their non consent
TO the government OF the United States
as valid reason for turning over the
territory to them.
Our next acquisition Of territory was
! that of Texas, secured by treaty after it
had been wrested from the Mexicans by
/ the Texans themselves. Then came the
acquisition OF California. New Mexico,
Arizona, Nevada and parts OF Colorado
and Utah as the result of the Mexican
War, supplemented five years later by
the Gadsden purchase.
HAWAIIAN ANNEXATION.
The next acquisition was that of Alas
ka, secured from Russia. by treaty and
purchase. Alaska was full of natives,
some of whom had advanced well be-
Yond the stage of savagery and were
Christians. They were not consulted
about the purchase nor was their acqui-
essence required. The purchase was made
by the men VINO had just put through q
triumphant war to restore the Union and
free the slave; but none of them deemed
! 1t necessary to push the doctrine
of the consent of the governed TO a
conclusion so fantastic as to neceEsitate
/ the turning over of Alaska to its original
owners, the Indian and the Aleut. For
thirty years the United States authori-
ties, military and civil, exercised the
supreme authority In a tract OF land
many times larger than the Philippines,
in which it did not seem likely that there
would ever be any considerable body OF
white inhabitants
Nearly thirty years passed before the
next instance or expansion occurred,
which was over the island of Hawaii. An
effort was made at the end of President
I Harrison's administration to secure the
annexation Of Hawaii The effort was
unsuccessful. In a debate in Congress
on February 2, 1894, one of the leaders in
opposing the annexation Of the islands,
stated: ''These Islands are more than
two thousand miles distant from our
extreme western boundary. We have a
| serious race problem now In our country
sreH In o4 Of a
domestic fabric a mOngrel population OF
1 this character. Our constitution makes
no provision for a colonial establt shment
Any territorial government we might
establish would necessarily, because Of
/ the population, be an oligarehy, which
would have to be supported by armsd
soldiers" Yet Hawaii has now been an
nexed and her delegates have sat in the
/ National conventions of the two great
parties. The fears then expressed in re-
latlon 70 an "oligarchy' and armed
/ soldier are not now seriously enter
tained by any human being; yet they
are precisely the objections urged against
the acquisition of the Philippines at this
very moment We are making no new
departure. We are not taktng a single
step which In any wav affects our insti
tutions or our traditional policies, From
the beginning we have given widely
varying degrees OF self government to the
different territories, according to their
needs.
IMPERIA LISM.
The simple truth is that there Is moth
ing even remotely resembling Imperial
ism" or "Militarism" involved in the
present development of that policy of
expansion which has been part of the
history of America from the Gay when
she became n nation. The words mean
absolutely nothing as applied to our pres
eDt policy in the Philippines; for this
policy is only imperiaIistic in the sense
that Jefferson S policy in Louisiana was
imperialistic; only military in the sense
that jackson S policy toward the Semi
noles or Clusters toward the Sioux en-
bodied militarism; and there is no more
danger Of its producing evil results at