The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1900-07-27
in some Of the Southern states, but Il
never entered the head of human being
~ aftavont ,hok

in some Of the Southern states, but Il
never entered the head Of a human being
to attempt what
The C1pperhend Prophets
Of disaster had frantically foretold. In
'08 and 90 you yourselves saw regiments
and brigades and divisions return from
Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippines, to
be disbanded and swallowed up in the
mass Of the people, If volunteers, and If
regulars to assume their ordinary work
In fort and cantonment, and after greet
ing them on the day they returned the
bulk Of the people would never have been
able to tell, except by the newspapers,
whether they had come back or not.
"Of all idle chatter the talk Of the
danger Of militarism is the idlest. The
army We have now Is, relatively to the
population Of tho country, less in size
than 1t has been again and again during
the last century and q quarter. in times
when we had only our own Indians to
guard against. In Washington's admin
istration Gen. Wayne spent some three
years in Ohio warning against the Tagals
Of that day, with an army under him
larger In proportion to the then popula-
ton Of the nation than all our present
combined. and there Is Just as little dan
ger from the evils Of militarism now as
there was then. It Is as utter folly to
talk of our liberties as menaced by the
existence Of a force capable of keeping
order In our outlying possessions as 1t
would have been to talk Of their being
who followed Custer and his fellows
Tovsno ho An ho Nd 0i1,,~
mo, our opponents mean nothing and
know that they mean nothing when they
prate about militarism, when with forked
tongues they say that they favor ex-
pansion but are against imperialism.
They used precisely the same arguments
six years ago against our taking Hawaii
that they now use against our taking tho
Philippines. They pulled down our nag
in Hawaii just as they now wish to pull
it down in the Philippines. We had to
undo their work In Hawaii Just as in the
end. but at an infinite cost Of bloodshed
and woe. we would have to do in the
Philippines IL they were successful In tho
coming election. Yet not one Of them
now would dream Of saying that we were
not right about Hawaii; In fact, they
could not do so. when by a strange irony
sA0 1AoASdS lily CONVENTION N8O 70 rely
upon the vote Of Hawaii before 1t could
settle its Views on the financial system Of
our country.
Al Regards the Philippines,
even the Kansas City convention felt
that they had to propose some policy.
What they propose Is that we should
first give them 4 stable form of govern
ment; second. independence. and third.
protection from outside Interference. BY
tho order in which they put these propo-
sitions they showed their estimate Of
their importance. Well, what we are do
ing now is precisely and exactly to try to
secure a stable form of government In
the Philippines. and the chief obstacle
In our way is the support given to the
bloody Aguinslaian oligarchy by their
sympathizers among the people that were
represented in the Kansas City conven-
ton Moreover, now we are seeing that
no outside nation interferes In the island
After we have secured q stable govern
ment We then intend to give them SELF
government as rapidly Is they are fitted
TO- It. Our opponents say that they wish
now to give them Independence. To give
independence" now would be precisely
like giving Independence to the widest
tribe Of Apachss In Arizona. It would