The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1900-01-19
TEN PAGES TODAY.
A QUESTION OF ooMMERcrALIsm

Under the appropriate and admonitory
caption OF LET Us BE Honest" the Wash
ington Post says;
Why can not wo DO honest in our utter
ence touching the territories we have re-
Gently acquired2 Really II would save time
and trouble to say nothing OF life and treas
ure. 10 come out frankly with the announce
meut that We have ann exed these possessions
in cold blood. and that We intend to utilize
them TO our PROFIT and advantage, All this
talk about benevolent assimilation; all this
bypocrtical prctenae Of anXioty for tho moral
social. EBd Intellectual exaltauon OF the ma
ives all this transparent parade OF respon-
ability aul derp-6eated purpose all this
deceiTes nobody, a ale nothing. helps us not
an inch in the direction OF pruht. dignity
and honor We all knew, down 10 our hearts.
that these elandg. groups etc. are impor-
tbnt to us only In the ratio OF their prac-
ticsl possibilities, We value them by the
sthndsrd Of their commercial usefulness, and
by ms othpr All this gahhls about civilixlrR
and uplifting the benightsd barbarans Of
Cuba aud Lugon is mere sound and fury,
sisnifying nothing FoOishly or wisely, We
want these newly acquired territories not for
any missionary or altruistir purposes but for
The trade, che commerce, the power. and the
money there are In them Why beat about
The bush and promise and protest all sorts
Of thinRst why not be honestY Il Will pay.
AZ matter Of fact, we ere not concerned
p,u She ethical p religious uplifting Of the
Tie faot-thal we want Cuba. Porto Rico
HaRa.l and I.uzon-- together with any other
Islands IN either ocean that may hereafter
commend themselves to our appstite-because
We believe they will add TO our National
strength. and become purchasers at our bar
gain counters2 We might as well throw OF
the plou6 mack and Indulge ourselves In a
little honest candor, II will cost us nothing.
aud Vt may profit much. At any rate we
shall have tho comfort and satisfaction of
being honest with ourselves and the privilege
q looking IL ~
II the Washington Post has not been
the apologlst OF the Mckinley admlnistra
lion. 1t has not been It's especially adverse
critic Tdese utterances reproduced from
chat paper may. therefore, be accepted
as Of more than ordinary consequence.
They are precisely IN line with our treat
ment OF the subject they embrace.
We have persistsntly held that there
was no motive behind the republican par
tvs policy OF imperialism. except an alb
solutely mercenary one. At no time since
tho institution OF the new fad has the
past5 in power over attempted to lnaugu-
rate a policy in keeping with the pre-
lenses and promises that characterized
initially cur trouble with Spain. The
consistency. dupiicity and fraud as to
compel every bipartisan mind to the con-
elusion that the government, In It's deal
ings with both Cuba and the Philippines.
has been controlled by the greed OF COM
mercislism and that this greed has relied
Tor Its salvation. upon the brutal arm OF
ths military, Holding stoutly 10 this view
The Post has challenged the imperialist
TO get down TO facts and figures aud show
wherein commereialism can derive a profit
from the forcihie annexation OF rebellious
territory. as against the burdens such a
policy must Inevitably impose upon the
American masses, not engaged in COM
mereisi transactions. Our challenge has
gone unaccepted, We are met with a vol
icy OF generalities, as unsuhstantial as
moonshins or. are told to read what soma
political hack has had to say on the glorIes
of expansion. The benefits to accrue 10
southern cotton mile from American pos
session OF the Philippines has been made
20 do perpetual service aud used as A
weapon to trighten into submission to the
wild regime of imperialism every man who
dares raise his hand in protest against the
maintenance of enlarged empire by a
military machine. Let those resplendent
militarlsts, who are wont to fling the
derisiye eplthets OF mossback, fossil retro
gade and traitor at men hon
est enough 10 stand with the
masses Against the burden, the
woe. the cruelty, the selAshness. the van
lily. the ldioey OF a colonial system that
no government since governments besau,
has been able 10 maintain with prof, to
anybody or anything. except the fayorites
u the goyernuleh responsible for that
policy, show In what single respect the
American farmer and laborer win be bene-
lled
Cotton mills in The South are paying on
Sapltpi invested from to so per cent.
according to whether they are Indifferent
~ or excellently conducted. II we can be-
lieve the factory statistlcians. They would
continue to pay them under the conditions
sim existing that made them possible. il
The Philippines had never been heard Of.
Not one Of them has been built IN the
south on the prospect OF Philippine
market being opened by the bsyonet. Tho
United States has not been forced TO sub
jugate any people or take any country 10
get in or the ssouns aoor ~ the matter d,