The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1900-10-26
THE HOPEFUL KID.
He Writes q Letter to His
Daddy on Politics.
CANNOT sd PPoRT BRYAN
And Incidentally Rips w. II. Burt
Up the Back on the Ex-
pansion Issue.

l
sandtb time in my lite come TO you
for help. Brought up by you in the
Democratic faith, l expected to fol
low where you and grandfather led
the way, and say" too, am Demo-
| GRAFT" but 1t is Impossible for me to
support Bryan. i know from some
| Things mother writes that You are IN
hard lines, too, over Bryan, but net
quite willing TO admit IL. Possibly you
know some way to save yourself and
me, too If so, you ought to be
| quick about it. There is no time To
lose In my case.
do not know of anybody who feels
prouder than l do of my father anG
grandfatheryand one reason Is that
| you did so we'll under so many disad-
vantages. have heard you illustrate
| progress in your time by saying that
| when you were young no places but
the largest cities had any parks, and
they could only be reached by long
| journeys in gloomy cars, lighted at
night by smoky and smelling oil
lamps, and drawn by wretChed horses,
Now, thanks to Invention, we GO spin.
ming on the trolley line in cars that
would have amazed grandfather. There
|
they can get there in good style and
without loss OF time, even if they
have to borrow a bicycle. Shall we net
progress in politics too?
| George Washington never saw a rail-
road, steamboat or telegraph line, but
he was progrcssionist, and i'm one
OF ms letters he says government i'm
this country must be ultimately on
"a continental scale" He started out
as a young man with Braddock TO save
| Pittsburg to the future nation; when
ne died we only had half the Contin-
ent. jefferson added the vast dominiCn
OF the Louisiana purchase to the coun-
Try few years later, and under Demo-
cratic rule, we got the big slice from
Mexico, expanding to the Pacific.
| Now, my dear father, Wellington X.
Burt, the Bryan nominee for congress,
spoke in Owosso early in October, and
he had good deal to say about 'our
ancestors baziDga trail" and ii strikes
a good many people down here that if
Bryan and Burt had continued in the
trail that was blazed by jefferson and
Jackson, they would be entitled TO
decent respect Az the hands OF the
voters. And also understand that
Mr.. Burt is a very recent convert to
the plan of Bryan to go backwards.
| He said in his speech in Owosso that
during all 18th is time that we had been
blazing out road for this republic,
| one thing has always been in theeyes
| and before every statesman, it was q
| policy that was enStamped upon the
| memory OF every man in this country,
| we wanted on foreign lands" Now it
| strikes me that either MIR. Burt or the
| history Of the country is dead wrong.
| ] have read many times that about
| every Democratic president prior to
| 1860 advocated the acquis ition Of
| Cuba, and one Democratic president
recommended that the United States
/ pay Spain 500, 900, 900 for the island.
| There isn't any doubt that Cuba would
have been acquired long before the
cruel war by Dem ocratic administra
ton but for the slavery question. Am
mot right? And have been told that
no longer ago than in 1893 Mr.. Burt was
In favor of the annexation OF the Hawai-.
an islands, and actually introduced q
| resolution in the state senate request.
ing the senators and representative in
congress to use their good offices in So
curing the acqu isition Of those islands
think he did just right, and 1 can't
| for the life Of me understand how he
has SO suddenly Hoped, unless it is
] because he is running for con
gress in this district, and
wants to stand on the same plat
| foru, Of turning the wheels of pro-
| gress backwards" that Bryan is run
| ming on. Do you suppose he has any
| other good reason for Hopping?
| No, father, l cannot support Mr..
| Burt in his present contention no more
| than / can the Nebraska ndjammer
| in his course in fomenting revolt
| against the authority Of the United
States in the Philippines. You must
know that there was no organized gov
eminent Of the Filipinos when the war
| with Spain broke out. For three hun
| dred years Spain had held sovereignty
over those islands. 1t is true that
| Aguinaldo melted q revolt against
| tho Spanish government in the Philip
pines, but il never amounted to any
| thing beyond what he intended it should
| He sold out his cause for 100000
silver dollars, and signed q contract
/ to leave the islands and not return.
| He was in Singapore when the Span
| ish war broke out, and / think the
| only mistake made by Dewey was
| in letting him go back to the islands.
| Spain holding sovereignty over those
| islands, ceded them by the Paris
| treaty to the United States, and that
| treaty gave this country just as good
| u title to those islands as any war
ranty deed in Michigan. II is a
| title that is recognized as good by
every civilized nation in the world,
| and it is not questioned by any one
except Aguinaldo and his friends,
| Bryan, Burt, ct al. / cannot believe
that all progress belongs to rast
generations, that there is nothing left
for me and my time but to play blind
| owl and blink. 1 want to take part
| i'm some advance in my day, the same
| as you and grandfather did in yours.
| When you were young would you
| have joined party that opposed the
| acquisition OF California, or wanted
| to return IL to Mexico To set il apart
| by itself after we got it? Would grand
| father have gone with a party which
opposed getting Florida OF the Louis.
| lana purchase? You were expansion
lists In your day: why not in mine?
| II / vote for Mckinley, Bliss and Joe
Fordney, the gold standard and ex-
| pansion over the Philippines, am l