The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1900-09-18
ROOSEVELT TALKS
OF EXPANSION.
Vice Presidential Candidates
Letter of Acceptance.
SILVER ISSUE COMES FIRST
And Then the Philippines, aud They Are
About the Only Things. He Thinks,
That Are Worth Talking
About This Year.

New York, Sept. 17.-Governor Roose- |
welt last night gave out his letter ae-
cepting the Republican nomination to
the vice presidency. He opens by de-
claring that the present contest Is pri-
marily on the question of the abandon
ment Of the nations good faith in the
upholding or the overturning Of the
governments financial system. Under
the Mckinley administration. he con-
tinues, the country has been blessed
with unparalleled prosperity. While 1t
is, of course, true that no legislation
and no administration can bring sue
cess to those who are not stout Of heart,
cool of head and ready Of hand, yet 1t
is no less true that the individual ca
pacity of each man to get good results
for himself can be absolutely destroyed
by bad legislation or bad administra-
ton, while under the reverse conditions
the power Of the individual to do good
work is assured and stimulated. So,
fundamentally and primarily, the pres
ent contest is contest for the contin-
uance of the conditions which have told
in favor of our material welfare and
of our civil and political integrity.
Leading up to the question of expan-
sion, Roosevelt occupies perhaps a
third of his letter by reference to the
early acquisition of territory by the
Continental soldiers; the Louisiana pur-
chase, the acquisition of Florida, Texas
and California, the Gadsden purchase
and the absorption of Alaska-and
lastly the annexation of Hawaii. Then,
speaking of the Philippines. he says:
when we expanded over New Mex
leo and California we secured free gov
ernment to these territories and pre-
vented their falling under the 'militar-
ism of a dictatorship like that Of Santa
Ana, or the imperialism of a real en-
pire in the days of Maximillian. We
put a stop to Imperialism in Mexico
as soon as the civil war closed. We made
great anti-imperialistic stride when
we drove the Spaniards from Porto
Rico and the Philippines and thereby
.nade ready the ground in these islands
for that gradually increasing measure
of self-government for which their pop
ulations
ARE SEvERALLY FITTED.
Cuba is being helped along the path to
independence as rapidly as her own cit
izens are content that she should go.
OF course the presence Of troops in the
Philippines during the Tagal insurrec-
tion has no more to do with militarism
or Imperialism than had their presence
in the Dakotas Minnesota and Wyoming
during the many years which elapsed
before the final outbreaks of the Sioux
were definitely put down. There Is no
more militarism or Imperialism in gar
risoning Luzon until order is restored
that there was Imperialism in sending
soldiers to South Dakota in 1890, dur
ing the Ogallalla outbreak. The rea-
soning which justifies our having made
war against Sitting Bull also justifies
our having checked the outbreaks of
Aguinaldo and his followers, directed,
as they were, against Filipino and
American alike.
"The only certain way Of rendering
Il necessary for our republic to enter on
a career of 'militarism' would be to
abandon the Philippines to their own
tribes, and at the same time either to
guarantee stable government among
these tribes or to guarantee them
against outside interference. A far
larger army would be required to secure
order under the American flag, while
the presence of this flag on the islands ia
really the only possible security against
outside aggression. The whole argu-
ment against President McKinleys
policy in the Philippines becomes alb
surd when 1t is conceded that we should,
to quote the language of the Kansas
City platform. give to the Philippines
first stable government If they are
now entitled to independence, they are
also
ENTITLED TO DECIDE
for themselves whether their govern
ment shall be stable or unstable, civil
lied or savage, or whether they shall
have any government at all. II we have
a right to establish a stable government
In the islands 1t necessarily follows
that 1t is not only our right but our
duty to support that government until
the natives gradually grow fit to sustain
1t themselves How else will 1t be sta
BILE? The minute we leave 1t ceases to
be stable.
Properly speaking, the question Is
now not whether we shall expand-for
we have already expanded-but whether
we shall contract The PHILIPPINES are
now part Of American territory. They
must, Of course. be governed primarily
In the interests Of their own citizens
Our first care must be for the people Of
the islands which have come under our
guardianship as q result Of the most
righteous foreign war that has been
waged within the memory of the pres
ent generation. They must be admin
istered In the interests of their inhabit-
nv.ta Nhak In.