The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1900-01-10
MIR. BEYERTDGE,
Of Indiana, Delivered Powerful
Speech in the Senate
on THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS

ON THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
And Our Duty to Them and the In
habitants, From Information
Cleaned by Personal visits and
Conversations with Representa-
tive Men-They are Ours, and
wnl Be Held-They Command the
Key to the Commerce Of the Orient.
WASHINGTON. u. &, Jan. 9.-In
the senate to-day. Senator Bever-
ldge. Of Indiana, delivered powerful
speech on the Philippines. He said in
part:
Mr.. President
/ address the senate at this time be-
cause senators and members Of the
house on both sides have asked that
give 10 Congress and the country my
observations in the Philippines and the
far east. and the conclusions which
those observations compel; and because
Of the hurtful resolutions introduced
BY the senator's from South Carolina
and Georgia, every word of which WIN
cost and7Is costing the lives Of AmerI-
can soldiers.
Mr.. President. the times call for
candor. The Philippines are ours for
ever, territory belonging to the United
States" as the constitution calls them.
And just beyond the Philippines are
Chinas illlmltable markets. We Will
not retreat from either. We will not
repudiate our duty in the archipelago.
We viii not abandon our opportunity
In the Orient. We will not renounce
our part IN the mission of our race.
trustee under God, of the civilization
OF the world. And we will move for
ward to our work. not bowling out re-
srets like slaves whipped to their bur-
dans, but with gratitude for a task
worthy Of our strength, and thanEsgiv-
4ng 10 Almighty God that He has
marked US as His chosen people, hence
forth to lead in the regeneration of the
world.
Command the Pacific.
This island empire is the last land left
in all the oceans. II 1t should prove a
mistake to abandon 1t. the blunder once
made would be irretrlevable. II it
nfoyes a mistake to hold II, the error
can be corrected when we will; every
other progressive nation stands ready
to relieve US.
But to hold It will be no mistake. Our
largest trade henceforth must be with
Asia. The Pacific is our ocean. More
ana more Europe will manufacture ali
its needs-secure from Its colonies the
most 1t consumes Where shall we
turn for consumers Of our surplus?
Geography answers the question. China
is Our natural customer. She is nearer
70 US than to England, Germany or
Russia, the commercial powers Of the
present and the future. They have
moved nearer to China by securing
permanent bases on her borders. The
Philippines give us base at the door
Of ali the east Lines Of navigation
from our ports to the Orient and Aus
tralla: from the IsthmIan Canal to
Asia: from all oriental ports to Austria
liza. converge at and separate from the
philippines. They are self-suppOrt-
ing. dividend paying fleet permanently
anchored at a spot selected by the
strategy OF Providence. commanding
the Pacific. And the Pacific is the
ocean Of the commerce OF the future.
Most future wars viii be conflicts for
commerce. The power that rules the
Pacific. therefore, Is the power that
rules the world. Aud. with the Philip
pines. that power is and will forever be
the American republic.
II will be hard for Americans who
have not studied them 10 understand
the people. They are barbarous race,
modified by three centuries OF contact
with dacadent rnce. The Filipino is
the South Sea Malay. put through a
process Of three hundred years Of SUI
perstition in religion. dishonesty
in dealing. disorder in habits
o; industry, and cruelty, caprice
and corruption In government. 1t
Is barely possible that one thousand
men in all the archipelago are capable
OF self-government in the Anglo-saxon
sense, My own belief is that there are