The Forrest City times., 1900-12-21
FINE WORDS OF M'KINLEY.
Smooth Sayings of the President In- tended to Bamboozle the
 People.

In closing his speech before the Philadelphia Union league President Mckinley made use of some very striking phrases tending to reassure the American people of his benevo- lent intentions towards liberty Here are his concluding words:
 'The republican party has placed upon 1t tremendous responsibilities. No party could ask for a higher expression of conf- dence. It is great thing to have this con fidence; fl will be a greater thing to deserve and hold it. To this party are committed new and grave problems. They are too ex- alted for rartisanship. The task of settle ment is for the whole American people. Who will say they are unequal to it?
 Liberty has not lost. but gained in strength The structure Of the fathers stands secure upon the foundations on which thy raised it. and is to-day. as it has been in the wears plst and as it will be in the years to come. the government of the people. hy the people, and for the people.
 Be not disturbed; there is no danger from empire; there is no fear for the re- public"
 Fine sentiments, truly, from the man who has for the past three years acted on the theory that the days of government by the people had gone by and that the day of government by destiny had arrived. Never before Mckinley's day have the Declaration | Of Independence and the constitution been openly ieered at and denounced, the one as merely string of glitter | Ing generalities, and the other as something which we have outgrown and left so far behind that it is not worth while to discuss it. The policy of mperialism--the advocacy or de fense of which necessitates the weak ening of the respect of the American l people for these two inspiring docu. ments that have been the admiration of the civilized world since they were first proclaimed to the public-is go ing perilously near shaking the foun- dations of the republic. And when we weaken the foundation the struc- ture is endangered, in spite of MT 1 McKinley's assurances that there is no danger.
 The task of settlement is for the whole American people," says Presi- dent Mckinley. "Who will say that they are unequal to it?" We'll. Presi. dent Mckinley, for one. If he believed in the capacity of the American people to decide American problems, why did he deny the public information about the Philippines and insist that this 1 problem was to be solved by destiny He is the one who refused to tell the American people why the policy of l m n al ecin ~ became the policy of ''piety and patriot ism towards the Philippines. He is the one who remained dumb as to the reasons why our "plain duty" towards
 Porto Rico was suddenly changed. He is the one who clapped censorship or news from the Philippines, who sup pressed reports from officials and who garbled extracts from other reports ir his letter of acceptance, refusing tc make public the omitted portions. Be
 lief in the capacity of the American people to settle American problems is the basis of a self-governing republic
 But how can people kept in the dark about facts be expected to settle s thing right? Let Mir. Mckinley give the people the facts and the problems will be settled, and settled right With full information the American people may always be depended upon 10 decide in the right way whatever question: affect the welfare, prosperity or per petuity of this country. Let Mir. Me | Kinley throw off the blanket which he has thrown over his government and cease the attempt to mystify the public as to destiny, and the people will pre-. serve their liberties, and will jealously guard this republic from the dangers ot mperialism.-Utic Observer.