The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-06-21


| firmly and justly. ee5er to resort to gen.
| tie measures wherever possible. unyield-
| ing when treachery and violence made
| force necessary. Unlike the opponents of
| expansion We do not regard the soldiers
| of Otis and Lawton and Macarthur as an
enemy's camp
| I'm 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, II
| they get control of the House. to cut off
! appropriations for the army and thus COM
| pei the withdrawal of our troops from the
Philippines. The result would be to force
| the retirement of such soldiers as would
| remain to Manila, and their retreat would
be the signal for the massacre and plumber
of the great body of the peaceful inhabi-
| tants of the islands who have trusted to
| us to protect and guard them. Such an
| event would be an infamy. Is the Gov
| eminent, is the House, to be given over
, to party capable of such policy? Shall
| they not rather be entrusted to the party
which will sustain the army and suppress
the brigands and guerrillas who. under
/ pretence of war, are now adding so freely
| to the list of crimes committed in the
name of liberty by usurpers and pretend
ers. and who, buoyed up by Democratic
promises, keep up highwayman's war
fare in hope of Democratic success in No
vember? 1t is for the American people
to decide this question.
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, Snd
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
surrender nor retreat We will not write
failure across this page Of our history. We
will do our duty. our full duty, to the peo-
pie of the Philippines, and strive by every
means to give them freedom, contentment,
and prosperity. We have no belief in the
old Shareholders doctrine that the Con-
stitution of its own force marches into
every newly acquire4 territory, and this
| doctrine, which we cast out in 1860, We
still reject
I'VE do not mean that the Philippines
shall come without our tariff system or be-
come part Of our body polite. We do
mean that they shall, under our teaching,
learn to govern themselves and remain
under our flag with the largest possible
measure of home rule We make no hy-
pocritical pretence of being interested in
/ the Philippines solely on account OF others.
While We regard the welfare Of these peo-
pie as a sacred trust, we regard the well
fare Of the American people first. We see
| our duty to ourselves as well as to others.
Trade Expansion.
I'VE believe in trade expansion. By ev-
cry legitimate means within the province
I of Government and legislation We mean to
stimulate the expansion of our trade and to
open new markets. Greatest Of all markets
is China. Our trade there is growing by
1nor ord hour mil rt1 nf
war. gives us inestimable advantages in
developing that trade. 1t is the corner
stone of our Eastern policy, and the bril-
liant diplomacy of John Hay in securing
from all nations a guarantee of our treaty
rights and Of the open door in China. res;o
upon it. We ask the American people
whether they will throw away these new
markets and widening opportunities for
trade and commerce, by putting in power
the Democratic party, who seek under
cover OF newly discovered affection for
the rights of man, to give up these islands
in the East and make Dewey's victory
fruitless.
THE choice lies between this Democratic
policy OF retreat and the Republican policy
which would hold the islands,
give them freedom and prosperity,
mites for ourselves and our pos
terity The Democratic attitude toward the
Philippines rests wholly. upon the propo-
sition that the American people have
neither the capacity nor the honesty to deal
rightly with these islands. They assume
that We shall fail. They fall down and
worship q Chinese half-breed w',ose name
they had never heard three years ago, and
they SANDER, and cry down, and doubt the
honor of American soldiers 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 hu
mainly, the capacity of the American peo-
pie. To feel or do otherwise is to doubt
ourselves, our Government and our civili
zation We take issue with the Demo-
Gratis. who would cast off the Philippines
because the American people cannot be
trusted with them, and We declare that tho
American people can be trusted to deal
Justly, wisely, and generously with thosa
distant islands and will lift them up to
higher prosperity, broader freedom, and
q nobler civilization than they have eve.
known. We have not failed elsewhere We
shall not fail here.
Those are the questions We present to
the American people in regard to the Phil
ippines. Do they want such a humiliat-
ing change there as Democratic victory
would bring? Do they want an even more
radical change at home? Suppose the can
didate of the Democrats, the Popalists. the
foes of expansion. the dissatisfied and the
eny;ous. should come into power, what
kind OF an administration would he give
US? What would his Cabinet be? Think
what an electric spark of confidence would
run through every business interest in the
country when such a Cabinet was an
nounced as We can readily imagine he
would make. More important still we ask
the American people whether they will
put In the White House the hero of I'M
counted platforms. the prodigal spendthrift
of words, the champion of free silver, the
opponent of expansion, the assaflLnt of the
courts; or whether they will maintain in
the Presidency the Union soldier. the lead
er of the House of Representatives. the
trained statesman who has borne victo-
riously the heavy burdens of the last four
years; the champion of protection and
sound money, the fearless supporter OF
law and order wherever the flag floats?
Republican "Prosperity."
"But there is one question which we will
put to the American people in this CAM
paign which includes and outweighs all |
others. We will say to them: You were
Democratic Administration; you are on the |
heights Of prosperity today
viii that prosperity continue II you |
make a change in your President and in |
the party which administers your Govern
ment? How long will your good times last
IL you turn out the Republicans and give
political power to those who cry nothing
but Woe! Woe!''-the lovers Of calamity
and foes of prosperity. who hold success
in business to be a crime and regard |
thrift as a misdemeanor? If the Demo-
Gratis should win do YOU think business