The Forrest City times. [volume] (Forrest City, Ark.) 1871-1919, 1900-10-05
)RREsT CITY, ARK. FRIDAY AFTERNOON, OCTOBER s. 1900

! dents defenders have a curious ansuar.
Because the president thought his officers
never promised IL to them. AS il people
IN their position had just claim to their
independence only IL the president prom
SEQ iseo IL TO them. But was their independ-
| ence really never promised to them? Let
| us see. i1e'
Tho president does say that we never
| promised them independence oh Mr.
President. what constitutes a prontse ir
the conscience of an honest man? We in
vited their cooperation against the com
| mon enemy We accepted the service they
rendered and profted from it, We know
! mat the Filipinos would not have rendered
the service from which we profited had
tney believed that We would deny them
their independence. But then our gov
ernment was at least honorable enough
before accepting and proiting from their
service frankly to tell them. as any hon
es, man would have done, that they were
mistaken in their belief? oh, no, our
government did not honestly tell them so.
II LETT them in their confiding belief and
! accepted from them what advantage IL
could get Do you want proof? As fair
! specimen take what Gen Anderson, who
Ior time commanded our troops there,
tells us in a magazine article signed by
Nun "A lew days thereafter July |, 1899
ne. Agulnaldo. made official call with
caplnet, stan and band of music He
asked If We. the North Americans as he
esiisa ga us, intended TO hold the philippines
| swer that. but that in 100 years we had
eStabhshed no colonies. He then made
this remarkable statement: Il have stud
J
/ Cilted states, and find in ii no authori-
! " Tor colonies, and | have no fear" 1t
may seem tadds Gen. Anderson that my
I answer was somewhat evasive. but / was
az the time contracting with the Fiipinos
Tor horses, carts, fuel and forage. Can
any American having respect for the char
acter OF his country hear such a tale with
out feeling blush of shame tingle in his
cheeks?
What the President Forgot.
But the poor Filipino may say some
/ o T.
carry through your cheat you are now
! slaughtering u.s.. And again we cannot
answer nay. Everybody knows that the
/ first shot was fired by an American sol
I der killing a Filipino who crossed the
line on territory which ought not to have
peen pten occupied by the Americans and that
ment was one strictly defensive on the part
| OF the insurgents and of vigorous attack
4 which The president also forgot.
But the question of the first shot is
| not the main one. The main question Is
who was responsible for the condition of
| things which made that bloody conflict
! inevitable. And | maintain that President
Mckinley was responsible II was he
who by his famous benevolent assmila
ton order of December q. 1898. officially
| informed the Philippine islanders that
| they would not be permitted to be inde-
pendent; that the United States were pre-
| pared to impose upon them American for
| eign rule instead of Spanish foreign rule.
and that our army would, If they refused
I
foreign rule by force of arms. 1t was an
open and rude declaration of war against
the Filipinos standing up for their free
dom and independence.
II have again and again challenged the
imperialists to show me in the whole his
tory of the world single act of perfidy
committed by any republic more infamous
than that committed by Mr. Mckinleys
administration against our Filipino allies.
and / have received no answer but sick
ly sneer. Not one of the imperiahsts has
been able to point out in the history OF
any republic since the world stands sin
gle act surprising in treacherous villainy
this thing done In the name of the great
republic sprung from the declaration OF in
| dependence-the republic of George Wash
| ington and Abraham Lincoln.
| "And what a war 1t is, this war car
ried on to subjugate or kill our. Filipino
allies! war without glory. without en-
who defend 1t have nothing but regret
and shamefaced apology! That war has
| now lasted more than Is months and no
end in sight The cry is still for more
| sodiers-100.0 900 of them good military au-
| thorties say five times as many as We
ever had actively employed in any of our
! foreign wars-a war costing our taxpay-
/ ers many scores of millions a year, grad
ually to mount into the hundreds, besides
/ thousands of American lives and the
wreck of the mental and physical as well
as the moral health of many more thou
sands--a war which, the more successful
| il is. the more IL will be demoralizing, dis
graceful and dangerous to the American
! people.
Triumph Is DemOraIixing.
LET me impress 1t upon your minds:
The more successful we are in making the
Filipinos our subjects by force of arms,
| the more will our triumph corrupt our
morals. tarnish our honor and under
/ mine our free institutions of government.
! Ii Is a war not merely against the Fill
pinos, but a war against our own republic
IA war against the principles. the ideals.
which hold this democracy together, a war
against ourselves as free people.
Imagine what it will lead to If our peo-
ple are constantly taught as they now
| are that there is a rich country in our
grasp which we must have, there being
| lots of money to be made in 1t, that the
be somewhat queer. but we must not be
foolishly sentimental about that: that We
are a masterful race and the inhabitants
| of that country are poor lot, and that
| the strong must not be too squeamish about
the rights of the weak; that the declara-
tion of independence, with its talk about
human equality and consent of the gov
| erned' and all that, is a mere glittering
| generality and antquated rubbish, that
we have o1tgrown % the e tha nf ossi and
| of wealth; that we have power and must
use that power for our profit. 1t matters
little how. Is not this the real gist of the
/ arguments for the imperialistic policy with
which the country Is resounding to-day.
and do we not all know that II the mo-
were taken out of the imperialistic move
ment II would speedily collapse2
4 What, then. have we gained? We are
/ told that we have gained a grand posi-
ton as a world power. But did we not
have a grand position as world power.
especially since our civil war demonstrat-
ed the solidty of this unlon--so grand in
| deed that the strongest and haugntiest
sea power in the world paid more Difference
to this republic than to any of its neigh
bors. even while we had no army or naJy
large enough to count? What more have
| we now? There are in the outside world
two kinds of public opinion concerning
this republic. One is the opinion of those
\ who hate democracy and who have always
wished that this republic should and al
ways predicted that IL would break down
| as a democracy and become. instead of an
encouraging model. a warning example to
| other peoples striving for free institutions
of government These men are quite
satisfied with our recent course. Since we
have destroyed the reputation of this re-
1 public as a steadfast friend of peace and
| as a faithful champion of human rights
/ and Justice and liberty in our dealings
| with other people. these men respect US
| for our strength and perhaps dread us
1 for our grasping unscrupulousness. but
/ .l.. frao