The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-10-06
SENATOR DEPEw REFUTES HIM.
SELF

Senator Chauncey NJ. Depew, upon
his return from Europe. referred to
the opponents of Imperialism as little
Americans" He said:
The American eagle has no she'll
The American people win not stand for
our withdrawal from our rightful posi-
ton in the east. Mckinley viii get
the largest electoral vote given in
generation"
In its issue of May %, 1883, the Chi
cago Times Herald printed an inter
view with Chauncey NJ Depew. George
Granthan Balm was the newspaper
man who interviewed Mr.. Depew, and
the interrogatortes are Mr.. Bain's. Here
is the interview:
IF WE SHOULD KEEP THE
PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. said Mr.
Depew, WE WOULD REVERSE
THE TRADITIONS OF THIS GOV
EMINENT FROM ITS FOUNDA-
TION. We would open up a new line
of policy Let us see what that would
mean In the first place it would mean
the establishment of a military gov
eminent over possibly 100000 of peo-
pie 5000 miles away from US; II would
mean the increase of our navy 10 the
proportion of the navies of Europe
" Not TO the proportion of England s
navy 1 suggested.
:" To the navy of France and Ger
many said Mr.. Denew- 1t would
mean the increase of our army to $780,
00O-InOre likely to 00,000-men. 1t
would mean the increase of cur annual
expenditures to double what they are
now. 1t would mean that the United
States government would be brought
in closer contact with the people than
ever before in the history of this cOun-
! try
We have known that there is a fed
! eraI government only as representing
our flag, or nationality and glorious
traditions, but we have not felt the
burden of its support or been confront
/ ed with the possibility of the payment
of an enormous annual military tax,
| except during the civil war. In Eu-
rope, where great armies and navies
directly for their maintenance Our
revenues have been obtained hereto
| fore by indirect taxation, with the eX-
ception of a slight tax on whiskey-
But with the increase of our ex-
penditureS by 100 per cent THE TAXES
| TO SUPPORT THE GOVERNMENT
WOULD BE FELT IN OUR HOMES
AND IN OUR OFFICES. WE WOULD
! FEEL THEM IN BOTH THE NECES-
| SARIES AND LUXURIES OF LIFE
lin our homes, in our tools, in our
| food, in our clothing, in our carriages
/ and in our wagons, in our checks and
| notes and bonds and transfers OF prop
| erty-in every transaction of our every
| day business life For if we are 10
maintain great armies and naVieS like
! the powers of Europe we must raise
! the revenues for them by the means
/ mentioned and also by A STAMP TAX
; THAT WILL FACE US AT EVERY
! TURN.
What else does a worldwide pol
! icy mean to US? 1t means a centrali-
cation which would change materially
! the relations of the United States to
| the federal government The control
/ of these popular colonies would be CEN
/ tered at Washington and we should
/ have A GENERALIZATION OF pow
Err FAR BEYOND WHAT THE OLD
| FEDERALISTS EVER DREAMED
/ OF. You cannot have empire without
all its attributes and that means A
PRACTICAL REVOLUTION OF OUR
! FORM OF GOVERNMENT AND AN
/ ABANDONMENT OF THE BELIEFS
/ WHICH THE FATHERS HELD when
/ they established this government in
/ 1776'
II asked Mr. Depew if it was not pos
! sible to derive from these proposed col
onies a revenue greater than the addi-
| tional expenditures which their pos
/ session would involve.
'How?' said Mr.. Depew. BY tax
! alton? Every time you attempted to
/ collect a tax from these people they
/ would rise and you would have to call
on your military force TO SUPPRESS
/ THEM And suppress them FOR
/ WHAT? FOR DOING WHAT JOHN
I HANCOCK DID? They might quote
against us our immortal declara tlon
that taxation without representation
( is tyranny"
Spain has not made the Philip
pines productive. Perhaps that is due
to Spain's form of colonial government.
/ So far, 1 believe, they have enriched
/ only the officials and a governor gen
| eral. But the taxes have been raised
! by enforced taxation, upheld by mil
/ itary rule. And still Spain herself, 1
/ learn, has found her dependencies for
several years an actual source of loss;
/ but then there has been great corrup-
ton among Spanish officials,
| . is it possible that the people of the
/ Philippines can be made self-govern-
We could hardly civiiize them in
/ a hundred years, and meantime we
| would have to keep an army of so, 600
men on the islands to hold them in
! check
x senator has suggested that the
| Philippines could be made a district
/ like Alaska
The conditions are wholly differ
ent. Alaska is governed as a district
/ because 1t has no population, or at
/ least the population is inconsiderable-
/ You have there a territory adjunct 10
/ US nearly as great as the whole United
| States, and population of about 5000.
! In the Philippines you have a popula-
| ton of 100000 in a country older in
| settlement than ours, and still the peo-
! pie are not fit to be admitted as Fti-
/ Zens of a territory of the United States
or TO send representatives to the sem
ate as a state
What, then, shall we do with the
! Philippines L asked.
| We can trade them for something
/ that we want Or if Spain should rec
| ogniZe the inevitable before long and
| come to us, saying, We viii release
/ Cuba. European nations have agreed
/ to help US out on the pledge of these
/ islands, with the war indemnity you
| demand; we viii repay you now" then
we could give up the Philippines and
/ withdraw from the east If we don I
/ do this we must adopt the eastern pol
i Icy of the nations of Europe and util-
/ ize our conquest by further expan-
sions'"