Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-06-20

upon the rights of the black men only, but
of the whites. and which seeks to extend
the same system to North Carolina and
Mississippi?
Has it suddenly come to pass that the
democratic party which today aims when
ever it acquires power to continue in office
by crushing out honest elections and popu-
lar rule; has 1t indeed come to pass. l say.
that that party Is the chosen protector of
liberty? If 1t were SO the outlook would
be black indeed No. The party Of Lin
coin may best be trusted now, in the
past, to be true, even as he was true, to
the rights of man and human freedom.
whether within the borders of the United
States or in the islands which have come
beneath our flag.
The liberators may be trusted to watch
over the liberated. We who freed Cuba will
keep the pledge we made to her and will
guide her along the road to independence
and stable government until she is ready to
settle her own future by the free expression
of her peoples will. We will be faithful to
the trust imposed upon US, and If among
those to whom this great work is confided
in Cuba or elsewhere, wrongdoers shall be
found. men not only bad in morals. but
dead to their duty as Americans and false
to the honor of our name, we will punish
these basest Of criminals to the extent Of
the law.
For the Islands of Hawaii and Porto Rico
the political problem has been solved and
by republican legislation they have been
given self-government and are peaceful and
prosperous under the rule Of the United
States.
The Rebellion in the Philippines.
In the Philippines we were met by rebel
lion. fomented by self-seeking adventurer
and usurper. The duty of the President
was to regress that rebellion, to see to it
that the authority of the United States as
Wiz tf,,llx nd ,~g,rhf ", In,
Philadelphia, was acknowledged and
obeyed. That harsh and painful duty Pres
ident Mckinley has performed firmly and
justly, eager to resort to gentle measures
wherever possible, unyielding when treach-
cry and violence made force necessary.
Unlike the opponents of expansion We do
not regard the soldiers of Otis and Lawton
and Macarthur as IAN enemy'S camp In
our eyes they are the soldiers of the United
States, they are our army and we believe in
them and will sustain them. Even now the
democrats are planning, if they get control
of the House. to cut off appropriations for
the army, and thus compel the withdrawal
of our troops from the Philippines. The re-
suit would be to force the retirement Of
such soldiers would remain to Manila
and their retirement would be the signal
for the massacre and plumber of the in
habitants of the islands who have trusted
to US to protect and guard them.
Such an event would be an infamy. Is
the government, is the House, to be given
over to a party capable of such policy?
Shall they not rather be intrusted to the
party which will sustain the army and sup
press the brigands and guerrillas who IN
der pretenSe Of war, now adding so
freely to the list of crimes committed in the
name of liberty by usurpers and pretenders
and who, buoyed up by democratic prom
tses, keep up highwayman's warfare in
hope of democratic success In November?
1t is for the American people to decide this
question.
Our Position IL Plain.
Our position Is plain The restoration of
peace and order, now so nearly reached in
the Philippines, shall be completed. Civil
government shall be established, and the
people advanced as rapidly as possible
along the road to entire freedom and to
self-government under our flag. We will
not abandon our task. We will neither sur
render nor retreat. We will not write fall
ure across this page of our history. We
will do our duty. our full duty. to the peo-
Pile of the Philippines. and strive by every
means to give them freedom. contentment
and prosperity. We have no relief in the
old shareholders doctrine that The Consti-
tuition of Its own force marches into every
newly acquired territory, and this doctrine.
which we cast out in 1850, we still reject.
We do not mean that the Philippines shall
come without our tariff system or become
part of our body polite. We do mean that
they shall under our teaching learn to gov
ern themselves and remain under our flag,
with the largest possible measure Of home
rule. We make no hypocritical pretense of
being interested in the Philippines solely on
account of others. While We regard the
welfare of those people as a sacred trust.
we regard the welfare of the American peo-
pie first. We see our duty to ourselves, as
we'll as to others
We believe in trade expansion. BY every
legitimate means within the province of
government and legislation We mean to
stimulate the expansion Of our trade and to
markets Greatest of all r.
kets is China. Our trade there is growing
by leaps and bounds. Manila the prize of
war, gives US inestimable advantages in de-
veloping that trade. 1t is the corner stone
Of our eastern policy, and the brilliant d.
plomacy Of John Hay in securing from all
nations guarantee Of our treaty rights
and Of the open door in China rests upon 1t.
Shall This Policy Be Changeds
We ask the American people whether they
will throw away these new markets and
widening opportunities for trade and COM
merce by putting in power the democratic
party, who seek under cover Of a newly
discovered affection for the rights OF man
make Deweys victory fruitless? The choice
lies between this democratic policy Of re-
treat and the republican policy which would
hold the islands, give them freedom and
prosperity and enlarge those great opportu-
mites for ourselves and our posterity.
The democratic attitude toward the Phil
ippines rests wholly upon the proposition
that the American people have not the ca
pacity nor the honesty to deal rightly with
these islands. They assume that we shall
fail. They fall down and worship Chinese
halfbreed whose name they had never heard
three years ago and they SANDER and cry
down and doubt the honor Of American SOL |
diers and sailors. of admirals and generals
and public men who have gone in and out
before US during an entire lifetime. We are
true to our own. We have no distrust of
the honor, the humanity. the capacity of
the American people. To feel or do other |
wise is to doubt ourselves. our government |
and our civilization. We take issue with |
the democrats who would cast on the ]
Philippines. because the American people
cannot be trusted With them, and we
declare that the American people can he |
trusted to deal justly, wisely and |
arenerniislY with these dtetant islands and