The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1900-02-08
A MELANGE OF
LIVE TOPICS
Penned for Journal Readers
by a Local Scribe.
SENATOR BACON,S SPEECH.

portant subject delivered in the United
States senate than that OF Senator
Bacon before that body few days ago,
and any one who has carefully read it,
no matter what his former opinions
upon this mOmentous question may
have been, cannot fail to recognize that
the facts presented by the Senator and
the conclusions drawn therefrom have
tremendous weight.
Without attempting to analyze this
mastery argument in its entirety,
wish to draw attention to the state
ment of Senator Bacon, and to enlarge
somewhat thereon, that the Philippine
islands can never be admitted into this
Union as states enjoying all the rights,
privileges and immunities of the other
existent states Of the federation, a po-
sition which the Atlanta Constitution
after great many mysterious hints
has at last adopted-holding that they
should be so admitted. To begin, the
Filipinos are totally unlike the Ameri-
cans in race, intellect, religion, man.
ners, customs, feelings, sympathies,
environment, tradition, pursuits
everything practically that enters into
the composition of a political commu-
nifty, and consequently no system of
laws that could be framed, having a
uniform application, would be salts
factory both to them and u.s. History
does not record any examples of fed
Grated republics, such as are the Unit
ed States of America, where the COM
not contiguous to each other. Indeed
the idea of federation is that adia
cent states may, by a combination Of
forces made possible by proximity and
homogeneity of peoples, adequately
provide for offensive and defensive OBJ
jects. The merest tyro in American
history knows that this was the con-
sideration governing the fathers in the
establishment of this Union. (See
Federalist, Elliott's Debates, Madison
on Federal Convention, etc.
The Philippine islands have at least
10,0O0,0OO inhabitants, probably more.
If admitted into the Union as states
this would give them possibly ten
states of 100000 inhabitants each,
scattered over 1000 islands. This
would mean that they would be en-
titled to about seventy or eighty mem
bers of the federal house of representa-
tives and twenty senators, or from
ninety to one hundred votes in the
electoral college, about one-fourth of
that of the entire United States as at
present constituted. What tremen-
dous influence then would the ignorant
and malevolent Filipinos exert upon
the politics OF this christian and en-
lightened country, and what enormous
opportunities for fraud would occur at
every presidential election These
islands are so situated that few whites
among them cannot leayen the whole
as many of them are uninhabitable for
the superior race.
The Filipinos belong principally to the
Malay race, who, with the North Amer
lean Indians, are the most implacable
in their hatreds of any people upon the
face of the globe. Senator Bacon says
that Lieutenant Gilmore, who was long
held captive by them, states that the
Fiipinos now hate us far more intensely
than they ever did the Spaniards. No
matter how liberal we may be with
them, if we hold them against their
will, this hatred will always exist, and
they will always he ready to do US
harm when the opportunity presents
itself An example of government
pinned together by bayonets," as
Horace Greeley expressed it, is found in
the British empire, especially those
portions of it represented by Ireland
and India. There are now fighting with
the Beers in South Africa several thous-
and sons of the Emerald Isle, driven
their by the hatred which they enter
tain for their British masters. 1t has
been many centuries since Ireland was
forcibly annexed to England and the
latter country has gone to extreme
length to conciliate her ancient enemy
the results of those efforts we now see.
Britain is afraid to remove any of her
troops from India, Notwithstanding her
sore need for them in South Africa. lest
there be a general uprising of the ma
tives in India. Multiply 10y ten the
hatred and its endurance of the Irish
man and of the calm and spiritual
Hindu and we have the hatred of the
blood-thirsty and bigoted Moslem
Malay.
If we annex the Philippines they
must be either vassal colonies or they
must be states ultimately. If they are
kept for all time as dependencies this,
as Senator Bacon shows would be a