Willmar tribune., 1900-10-20


sing ins their daily and Weekl 8 news
papers as we'll Sas IN their familie and
social clubs, ways and means for the
improvement Of their condi ition, striv-
ing il every way to make themselves
worthy Of the name Of . people and to
achieve for themselves an honorable
even though = modest place il the
family Of nations. SH. So
We have seen them, freed from for
eign oppression and the unspeakable
.cruelties Of q military government,
living in peace and conte eminent, happy
ia the belief that they had at last
achieved tneir country y independence,
for. the attainment Of which so manyof
their noblest men had given up their
lives. s58s sts3 .ss
S We have seen their school children.
marching in happy professions on the
streets cheering for Filipinas Libres,''
carrying in one hand the flag of the
Philippine republic and in the other
the stars and stripes one as the eyi-
dence of their own country's birth to
national life and the other as the en-
blem of the great republic whose history
had taught them and whose sons had
helped them to be free.
u It was a happy time for all, and
IsWould not then have exchanged the
proud privilege OF being q plain Ameri-
can citizen and soldier for all the false
glories of the old world IS monarchies
and empires. .... .:... .ss 4. s
Manifest destiny had decreed that
the closing triumph Of the nineteenth
century, the era of light and liberty.
should be the establishment Of re-
public in the Orient, and in the laad Of
the only people in that portion Of the
world who had for generations been
Christians, who had never known cast
or class distinction, and who, OF all
the people of the antipodes, were best
suited by taste and by temperament
for practicing the principles Of free
dom. E,:s 81 gt5si:ss II = 4 s
| shall refrain from dwelling at any
length upon the perfdy of the present
administration in it's dealings with the
people of those islands, for it is story
as shocking in its details as it is shame
ful in the scope of It's cri,ninality. ID In
After we had permitted aye, encour-
aged the people of those islands to
set up a government Of their own, the
president, through his instructed com
missioners, entered into. bargain
with the common enemy whereby he
agreed to pay. 500, ,00O, J, 900 of the peoples
money for Spain 8 blood-stained sword
and this, too, after. that CORY instru-
ment had been wrenched from hand
that had grown weak and palsied as
the result OF the debaucheries Of four
centuries Of conquest and benevolent
assimilation. II . s*;
Before this shameful bargain had
been ratified by the senate, and in di-
rect violation of the constitution which
he mad sworn to defend, the president
issued q proclamation, of war against
the Filipinos, calling upon them to
give up their cherished IDEAS Of inde-
pendence, to abandon the government
which they had established at the cost
of#so many sacrifices, and to submit
without any rights guaranteed TO a
military government by a foreign
power. Il. rs 5s
In addition to this he sent hostile
land and naval force to sIloilo to. de.
mand its surrender, although that sea
port had been captured by the Filipi.
nos alone, and was peacefully and
|etficiently governed by them to the en-.
tire satisfaction ef its residents, botf
white and native. 4. 81. .3 ir5
The outbreak Of hostilities which
u y ~
these acts were so we'll calculated tt
Iprecipitate did not occur until q month
after the issuance Of this procl cla,natior
Of war, and then, too, the first sho
ibid not come from the other side.
f Since then the Filipinos have fre
Iquently pleaded for cessation o
hostilities, saying that they would B.
Iglad to lay down their arms if ",
would give them = simple assnranc.
that our intentions were to treat then
as We have already promised to trea
ECuba. =s.
Our duty to these unhapp island'
is plain Promise them independe dence
assist them to re-estab blish the govern
lment that we have destroyed protec
them till they are strong enough t
stand alone; reserve such coaling AMI
naval bases as we may need for oul
eastern commerce; tell other nation,
Ito keep hands of, and then v It'll tth,
extended hand Of fellowship and fra
Iternity bid olspeed and success t
i thn AI.st lics nf thn Th.;n,,t