Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1900-08-16

| "uV"OiAVy NuS kOuc Ill tue ISldIlS. lie
Philippine government and the Philip
pine army were supreme, save alone in
Manila. What did we get by our treaty?
Suppose Spain had been in actual pos
session Of all of the islands, she could not
sell the inhabitants against their will.
A government cannot sell its people; it
cannot sell human souls. 1t can only sell
property and agree not to interfere in
certain territory. So that Spain could
not have sold us those people if she had
been i'll possession. At the time of maxi
ing the treaty she had nothing to sell.
The inhabitants of the islands, to whom
the country belonged, were in possession
land were in control, and her deed to us
was not worth recording. But the treaty
did not go in force until it was ratified
by both the senate of the United States
and the Spanish cortez. 1t was not rati-
fed by the senate until February 6, 1899.
1t was not in effect until that day.
But the president did not and does not
rely on this treaty, for on December 81,
1893, nearly six weeks before the treaty
was ratified and before we could get any
rights under the treaty, and while the
Philippine government and the Philip
pine army were in possession of the
Philippine Islands, excepting Manila, the
president issued his order to General
Otis, who then commanded our forces, to
extend the military government of Manila
over the whole of the Philippine Islands,
to compel the Philippine people to rec
ognize American sovereignty. This is
the heart of the matter. This caused
the war. Why did the president demand
recognition of American sovereignty be-
fore the treaty was ratified? He told the
people that they must accept our au-
thority or be destroyed; that they had
simply changed masters that formerly
they had Spanish masters, now they had
American masters. This demand for
American sovereignty was the cause of
this war. 1t was an order of conquest.
We had no rights in the islands at that
time, because the treaty was not ratified.
1t was not simply a command to keep
the peace and keep order.
In order to carry out this command it
was necessary to destroy the Philippine
government and the Philippine army,
1rilaish- .,.as- a -xiuornns one. and had de-
issuing an order of his own in which he
attempted to mellow down the presi-
dents orders, but he did not succeed.
He was forced to attempt to carry out
the command of the president. This
marked the beginning of the new war.
1t il not even pretended that this was
necessary to preserve order. You can
preserve order without asserting sover-
eighty. This war was not ordered by
congress- as the constitution requires, but
it ras a war that was begun solely by
thy order of the president, acting under
ii, influence of the British ambassador
all American syndicates.
p Every few weeks we are told that the
iands are pacified; that American SOW
q e,ignty has finally been established, at
!. II point of the bayonet, and yet we have
:. army of seventy thousand men there,
4 al lately when the commanding gen.
% 81 was asked to send some of his men
q tChina, he replied that one regiment
IS IS all that he could spare.
j. Now, remember, my friends, that the
" incipal Philippine people with whom
" lmiral Dewey had come in contact
n ere Aguinaldo and his followers. Let
" 3 give you the testimony of another
y. my officer. He did not view these
ve ople from the distance Of ten thousand
nc lies, but he was ON the ground. Gen
ut hl Charles King of the United States
Id my ON June %, 1890, wrote to the edi-
he + of the Milwaukee Journal as follows:
on che capability Of the Philippines for
af-government cannot be doubted. Such
" en- as Arellano, Aguinaldo and many
~. hers whom might name are highly
e.iucated. Nine-tenths of the people
nosad and write. All are skilled artisans
M one way or another. They are indus
,otious, frugal, temperate, and given fair
IN dart could look out for themselves inf
,edtely better than our people imagine"
rs Now look at the spectacle of trust
ishndidate for vice president OF the United
,eNates, who has never seen the Philip
hines, standing up at distance of 10000
opiles from these islands and, in order to
Wet votes in support of criminal cause,
Vi willing to libel those innocent people,
Yitho have done neither him nor us any
.aarm, but whose towns we have been
ySurning for nearly two years, whose
gathers and brothers we have been shoot
| hg down, whose fields we have been
laying waste, on the order OF President
mckinley issued December p. 1898, be-
thinning war OF conquest.
4 again read from the governors speech
is follows: "Of all idle chatter, the talk
Af danger OF militarism is the idlest."
fet us see. Heretofore our regular or
Istandinp army has generally consisted of |