The age-herald., 1900-03-06
Sensation Created by Ex-Judge
 Harmon's Speech.
IS OPPOSED TO EXPANSION
Says it is Not Too Late for America to Retrace Her Steps and Give Freedom to Patriotic
 Fihpinos


 to Judge William H. Taft, the recently appointed president of the Philippine com-
 mission by his friends and neighbors, was
 unique in its elegance and its good WILL
 The hundred substantial citizeus who took
 this method of bidding farewell to their friend the representative men of Cinc!n- nati.
 M. E. Ingalls, president of the Big Four
 Railroad company, presided as toastmaster.
 After reading a letter of regret from Sec
 Getary of War Root, who was unable to | attend and after speaking in a happy | vein of Judge Taft and 1lis great mission,
 he introduced Judge William R. Day. latte
 secretary of state, who spoke of the neSo-
 tiating of the treaty with Spain. | Governor George K Nash followed,
 speaking pleasantly of Judge Taft as a cfti-
 zen, lawyer and juuge.
 1 Ex-Judlge Harmon, Gn address, created
 somewhat of a sensation in his very first I sentence.
 1 Judge Harmon Created Sensation 1 Judge Harmon, speaking, said: If you
 had met to approve the general course of | the government with respect ito the Philip pines, should not be here. For a hundred | years we contented ourselves with words of sympathy for peoples struggling, as we
 once struggled for freedom and independ-
 emce Here, for the first time, an oppor-
 tunity came to help on such a struggle without breaking our settled policy. We
 joined ranks with the native patriots against the common enemy. Whether any
 enc made or was authorized ito make prom
 ises to them Is of no consequence. Our history and principles are a perpetual prom ise; and no one will deny that when the FiMpinos joined forces with us they be lieved and we knew they believed that | success would mean the fulfflment of their hopes.
 'fWhatever our government now holds (save what it got by treaty with the Su- tan of Sulu) it has acquired by conquest, and not otherwise, and it is still engaged
 in perfeeting and extending such conquest.
 We now hear the usual plea of the doers of doubtful things-the deed is done it is | too late to discuss.
 Tt Is never too late to retrace a misstep, 1 ito right or undo wrong. If the people 1 shall decide that nation is good enough 1 ito rule another nation without that others | consent: if they shall remember what it | cost to cut out the heresy that the great principles of liberty did not apply to black men and shall refuse to re-enrbrace it as to brown ones: if they shall conclude that this country cannot long exist part vassal and part free, as they found it, it is not part slave and part free, then there will be no difficulty in doing what we ought to have done in the beginnng-leaye the Fill ipinos to manage their own affairs and | serve notice on the world that they are
 settled soon. It may take long. As it in- wolves right and wrong, it will never be set-
 tied until it is settled right"
 Discussed The Great Work | Judge Harmon discussed most forcibly l and at length the great work before the l new Philippine commission, and in an elo-
 quent eulogy of Judge Taft, declared that | no man in the whole country could have l been selected who was better qualified than l Judge Taft for the great mission. The silence which marked the opening re- marks of Judge Harmon was intense. At length when the silence was broken Judge Harmon was greeted with tumultous ap- plause. He produced undisguised surprise when he hinted that one of the best quali- factions of Judge Taft for this mission h. sionist.
 Judge Taft spoke for about an hour de- voting much time to his associates of the | Cincinnati bar and the Southern railroad | and with feeling words of thanks for the | tributes of his friends. Coming to the topic | of the Philippines he said:
 | "The commission is not organized Its | members have never conferred together. | speak, therefore, for myself alone. Like | Judge Harmon and unlike Chairman In 1 gals, I am not now and never have been l an expansionist. have always hoped that the Jurisdiction of our nation would not ex-
 tend beyond territory between the two | oceans. We have solved all the problems | of popular government so perfectly as to l justify our voluntarily seeking more diffi-
 cult ones abroad. With reference to Judge | Harmon don't think in this instance that
 we have voluntarily sought them Cfrcum-
 stances beyond our control, the sequel of
 the Spanish war, have thrust on respon- | abilities for the future government of the
 Philippines
 The Proposition Denied | "The proposition is vigorously denied by | high minded and conscientious men and by
 some with fury of superla tive epithet that l is hardly consistent with a judicial attitude | or an impartial consideration of the ques- 1 tion. My conviction is that the calm inves- | tdgation of the future historian into all the
 conditions existing at the time of taking | each step toward the present situation in l the Philippines will lead him to conclude | that President Mckinley and his admins traitor selected in each crisis the only all | ternative which a due regard to our na- 1 tional and interna tional obligat ations would
 permit. have to deal with the situation as | it is and whatever the cause of it, the | question now is what are we to do to meet | the present needs?
 ''Ths purpose of the president in the | present juncture is to give the people of the Philippine islands the best civil govern
 ment which he can provide with the larg- | est measure of self-government consistent
 with stability. The incidental benefits to
 the trade of this country arising from the | new relation must be made subservient to | the interests of those who have become | our wards. This is his charge to his new
 commission. With his purpose thus de-
 fined I have the deepest sympathy. When.
 therefore the president did me the honor
 to ask me to assist him as one of the com
 mission in carrying 1t out. could not urge l aS a reason for declining that | did not