The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1900-01-23
A FRANK ADMISSION.

A FRANK ADMISSION.
The Anaconda Standard the othe
day. in o leading editorial on the wa
in the Philippines, made this frank I'D
mission:
The Filipinos wanted a government
Of their own, but they would neve
have ventured to fight for it If they hat
not been led to believe that there was
divided sentiment in this country.
Yes, there is a divided sentiment
represented, chiefly, by Atkinson, Hoar
Pettigrew and papers Of the stripe O.
the Standard. They are responsible 70,
the outbreak Of hostilities in the frs
place; they are responsible for theil
continuation at the present time. tt
prove the first proposition, John Bar
rett. ex. United States minister to Siam.
il q speech delivered at Lake Forest
university, Chicago, last week, pub
licly named Senator Hoar as the United
States senator whose anti.expansion
speech, delivered about n year ago, was
oabled to Hong Kong and subsequently
put inc the hands Of the Filipino SOL
diers, causing, as Mr.. Barrett believed,
the open i%nsurrection.
In his address, which was Oh the gen.
eral subject Of the Philippines, the
speaker said it had been discovered in
the government investigation that Sen.
ator Hears speech was cubled III cipher
and in fragments to Paris, where 1t was
put together aud forwarded to Hong
Kong. The message included several
thousand words and the cost for trans
mission was said to have been 49, 900.
It interested the government to know
what friends the Filipinos had at this
time who were IN a position to send the
message. II was in Hong Kong at the
time" said Mr.. Barrett, land re-.
member the incident distinctly. I was
coming down stairs il the hotel when I
met the president Of the Hong Kong
junta, and lie had in his hand a long
dispatch he had just received. It gave
a large part Of Senator Hoar's speech
full aud a summary of the rest Of 1t.
I asked the president what he was 20.
ing to do with it and he told ME that he
meant to send it to the officers Of the
army in the Philippines. He was
urged not to do SO, but he protested
that it had been printed IN the United
and was public property. Four
lays after the speech had been deliv.
sred it was in the hands Of these who
an opportunity to make political
out Of it. The speech was pub
ished and distributed among the sol.
Tiers, and I believe 1t was the culmi.
influence that brought about the
,pen insurrection. This speech, you
must remember, was delivered before
here vas an open insurrection."
That comes very near liking the re.
'ponsiblity for the war, which the
Standard, without giving a particle Of
evidence to support its position, lays at
he door Of President Mckinley, with
he remark that "there Ia something
often in Denmark" And there 10
|omething rotten in the United States,
90. It is the newspapers and men
Who are aiding and abetting IL rebellion
the government. This matter
will resolve itself into al issue in the
approaching campaign and, as usual,
he republican party will be with the
aud the democrats against
t. And the people, whose patriotism
IAN always be depended upon, will be
With the party that Ia loyal-they
have been, and they always will.