Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1900-05-26
WHY SUCH vExATIoN.

AHe "idH VINO Is consciously in the
right seldom loses his temper. Theman
VINO Is knowingly In the wrong is apt
TO resort TO Indignation and bluster to
conceal his discontinue and the weak
ness OF his position. 1t Is somewhat
like the case of the countrymen in the
days when the douhle-shuffle was the
prime favorite OF all the forms Of strip
ping the light fantastic" The efforts
or the performer excited some 1nerri-
ment among the spectators, and, paus-
ing In the midst of a heat, he exclaimed.
what We laughin' at? If can't dance
purity can dance ID strong" All
OF which is applicable to the present
predicament Of the Republican Con-
gress and President in their efforts to
administer the affairs of the COLONIES"
and In thelr' i'll CONGO called vexation at
the attitude the American people have
assumed toward thern.
In the second installment of his serial
Grafton Senator Spooner displayed q de-
gree OF fretfulness that was both pitia-
BILE and ridiculous. Dir. Spooner de-
clared:
Mr.. Bryan is one OF the principals
In the employment of the anti-imperial-
istic doctrine. And since the ratiflca-
ton OF the treaty of peace he has not
omitted it from a single speech. 1 say
there is no issue as between imperial
ism and anti-imperiallsm. except as 1t
has been made for political effect. The
philippines are territory of the United
States. Who can dispose of 1t? The
President? No. 1t is for Congress to
say whether we shall hold those islands
or cede them to somebody else. That
issue Is not here now. except for party
and partisan purposes. 1t is q forced
issue. 1t is my opinion that 1t has al
ready caused the expenditure of mil
lions of money and the loss of many,
many valuable lives. and at a time. too,
when no party can make it a Iegiti-
mate issue.
If Imperialism is \ forced issue"
If 1t is not Legitimate ISSUE" if it is
raised for partisan purposes" why
should Mr.. Spooner rage? Are the
American people such superlative fools
that they can be hoodwinked by an
empty issue. by sound and fury sig
nifying nothing?" Can Mr.. Spooner
have been in politics for years without
learning that Fictitious issues carry lit
tie weight with them. that they are
dangerous only to their advocates? Or
is the real source of the resentment. he
so plentifully displayed at Mr.. Bryan's
reference to imperialism lin every
speech" to be found in his dscernment
OF the effectiveness CT anti-imperial-
ism as an issue?
Mr.. SDooner talks the veriest twad-
die. He declares that the line OF de-
narration between imperialism and an
tiimperialism is invisible. Why should
he worry that the Democrats are at
tempting to make thirteen or fourteen
millions of voters see an invisible line :?
There Is no imperialism, said Mr..
Spooner; and vet he declined to say,
In reply to the simple and direct ques-
ton of Mr.. Allen. whether 1T was the
purpose of the Republicans to ever al
low the Filipinos to govern themselves.
yet none can know better than that now,
If at all, the question must he raised as
to what form OF government must be
given the new territories. AS Hon.
Henry Wattcrson has very trenchantly
put it, the question lis:
Shall we apply to these possessions
the principles of Jeffersonian Democ-
racy exemplficel in the Louisiana
purchase and the G,adsden purchase, or
shall we apply to them the principles
of Imperialism and militarism, as exem-
'plified by the Republican acts of Recon-
structcn and the carpet bag govern
ments in the South? Shall we admins
ter their affairs on American and Dem
ocratic principles, or on Republican,
Reconstructory,C aesaristic principles ?"
That is indeed the question, and one
that can not be pressed too insistently
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