The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-01-10
Brilliant Audience Greets Him and His COLLEAGUES
Give Him Closest Attention Throughout.
He Reco0ns the Tremendous Advantages to Flow From Retention
Of the Islands, the Future Possibilities sof the Pacific
and the Causes Which Led to the War.

lIa. from the isthmian canal to Asia. from
all Oriental ports to Australia, converge
at and separate from the Philippines
They are self-supporting, dividend-pay-
ing fleet, permanently anchored at spot
selected by the Pacific. And the Pacific
Is the ocean OF the commerce OF the fu-
ture. Most future wars will be conflicts
for commerce The power that rules tho
Pacific. therefore. 10 the power that rules
the world. And, with the Philippines,
that power Is and win forever be the
American republic.
Trade i'm China.
'china's trade Is the nightiest CONNER
cial fact In our future. Her foreign COM
merce was $2s5, ,73s 800 In 1897, Of which we,
her neighbor, had less than Is per cent,
Of which only little more than half was
merchandise sold to China by us. We
ought to have 80 per cent, and we WILL
And China's foreign commerce Is only
beginning. Her resources, her possibili-
ties. her wants-all are undeveloped. She
has only $40 miles Of railway. / have seen
trains loaded with natives and all the ac-
tivities Of modern life already appearing
along the line. But she needs and In
fifty years will have. 10000 mites of rail-
way. Who can estimate her commerce
then?
"Japan's Chinese trade is multiplying in
volume and value, and she Is bending her
energy to her merchant marine and Is
located along China's very coast. But Ma
nila is nearer China than Yokohama is.
The Philippines command the commercial
situation OF the entire East Can America
best trade with China from San Francisco
or New York? From San Francisco, Of
course. But II San Francisco were closer
to China than New York is to Pittsburg,
what then? And Manila IL nearer Hong
Kong than Havana is to Washington. And
yet American statesmen plan to surrender
,ic al nf he n,-tav
where Providence and our soldiers lives
have placed us. When history comes to
write the story Of that suggested treason
to American supremacy. and therefore to
the spread of American civilization, let
her in mercy write that those who SO
proposed were merely blind, and nothing
more.
."But If they did not command China.
India, the Orient, the whole Pacific for
purposes of offense, defense and trade, the
Philippines are SO valuable In themselves
that we should hold them. I have cruised
moro than two thousand miles through
the arcttpssggo. every moment surprise
at it's loveliness and wealth. have ridden
hundreds of miles on the island, every foot
of the way revelation OF vegetable and
mineral riches.
Fertility of the Soil.
"No land in America surpassea in fertil-
ity the plains and valleys of Luzon. Rice
and coffee, sugar and cocoanuts. hemp and
tobacco and many products Of the tenn
perate. as we'll as tropic zone, grow in
various sections of the archipelago. have
seen hundreds of bushels OF Indian corn
lying in a road fringed with banana trees.
Magnificent Forests.
''The forests of Negros. Mindanao. Min
dora. Paluan and parts Of Luzon are in
valuable and intact. The woods of the
Philippines can supply the furniture of
the world for a century to come. At Cebu