The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-09-29
HOW THE WRONG MAY B: RIGHTED
The First Thing Necessary is to De-
pose the Wrong Doors and Put in
Their Places Those That Re-
cognize the Wrong Done
and Will Repair It.
(By the Associated Press.)

(By the Associated Press)
New York, Sept. 2s.-Cooper Union
was not large enough to hold the
crowd which came tonight to its doors
to attend the meeting of the Antrim
perialist League of New York. The
crowd was a noisy one and before the
meeting was called to order cheered
for Mckinley, for Bryan, for the
full dinner pail and for Debs. Carl
Schurz was received with tumult OF
cheers. Ernest II. Crosby then intro
duced the first speaker of the evening,
Arson Phelps Stokes, who said in
part:
''We are met tonight to protest
against the violation OF the Constltu-
ton and to disaSSociate ourselves from
blood outlines. The result of for
eign conquest is the gain of few,
and the degradation of the people.
The harder the laborer works the bet
ter pleased are the monopolists. The
Filipino war is the greatest folly of
amy administration. We will fail if
we should gain the war. The Filipino
we cannot make citizens without
harm to ourselves and we can never
make them SUBJECTS"
Carl Schurz was introduced and was
given another round of applause.
After some preliminary remarks,
Mr.. Schurz declared that it was his
purpose to defend the principles OF
free government from the attack on
them made by the policy of impe-
rialism as carried on by the present
administration" He added:
IMPERIALISM is NO BUGBEAR.
Let me say at the start that l consider
the manner in which the imperialistic
policy is being commended by some per-
sons to popular approval, the highest con-
fidence game ever practiced upon free
people. In my whole long life l have
never known of such systematic use of
distortion of history, hypocritical cant,
garbling of documents and false pretence
am here to speak a word for truth and
Justice; and in doing SO l shall call things
by their right names. You will pardon
me if those names are not always of the
mildest. For l must confess, when / wit
messed some of the means employed to
lure this great republic from the path of
righteousness, high principle and glorious
destiny, my old blood boiled with indig
nation.
The partisans of the administration OBJ
ject to the word imperialism" calling
it mere bugbear having no real exist
ence They pretend that in extending our
sway over Porto Rico and the Philippines
we merely continue that sort of terrific
ri WI hac
by this republic from it's beginning. This
is a mere iuggle with words amounting
to downright Justification of history.
The truth IS that until two years ago
this republic did indeed add to its terri
tory, but never without the intention and
we'll founded expectation that the acquired
soil would be occupied by a population of
our own. or at least homogeneous with
our own and that it would in course of
time be formed into regular States of
this Union under our Constitution. 1t
was therefore not mere expansion of our
territorial domain to be perpetually ruled
by our arbitrary will, but it was essen
TALLY an intended. and in the course of
time practical extension, of our constitu-
tional system in entire accord with the
fundamental principles of our democracy.
A ISLANDER ON JEFFERSON.
The only apparent exception to this rule
was the annexation of Alaska-but that,
too, only apparent, not real; for Alaska
may be inhabited by population of our
own; and when the development of that
territory has sufficiently progressed and
it's population becomes numerous enough,
it's claim to full constitutional Statehood
will, no doubt, be readily recognized.
Some irnperialists pretend that the pur-
chase of Louisiana by Jefferson and the
legislation connected with it furnish
precedent fully covering the principles OF
Mr. McKinley's policy with regard to
Porto Rico and the Philippines. This
emphatically deny. Whatever that tenn
porary legislation may have been, is there
anybody brazen enough to assert-and
this is the essential, the true point-that
it was the spirit and intent of Jefferson S
act and of the legislation referring to it,
to hold the acquired territory perpefually
as vassal dependency outside of our
constitutional system subject to arbitra
ny rule by the President or Congress?
Docs anybody dare to deny that it was
the understood intent and expectation that
the territory of Louisiana would be filled
by people substantially our own who would