Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-11-01

| ter, or do you not? And | have failed
i as every other person has failed, to
get any response whatever. But it Is
about prosperity, and replies, what
more do you want?
:. Then There's Porto Rico.
Turning to Porto Rico. These peo-
so Hospitality to their country almost
as their liberator, but recognizing that
he came to them from liberty
loving people; these people who lived
under a government without one dol
lar of Indebtedness at the time the
treaty was signed, but with hundreds
of thousands of dollars in their treas
ury; that little island, rich enough
and wealthy enough on different occa-
sions to loan to other nations millions
of dollars of money for the purpose OF
carrying on war and other purposes;
that little island which had resisted
the great nation of Great Britain on
two occasions and preserved their lit
lie government there; that nation, be
1t to their credit, which had freed over
$4,000 slaves and paid the full value
of their freedom; that little island
whose people were represented in the
government of Spain by, if l remem-
| Der right, with sixteen representatives.
with absolute free trade. At the time
the treaty was signed these people,
100000 and more of whom were white.
OF the caucasian race, out of the
100000 inhabiting that island
these people laid down their arms and
threw themselves in the arms of Amer
lea as a liberty-loving nation. ana
what did they get? They got taxation
without representation, and your rep
resentative voted for it, And he voted
for it against the voice of the people
OF Iowa expressed in resolution pass
ed by the assembly of the state. There
was reason for it. 1t is claimed that
there was voice-the voice of the
sugar trust which was more powerful
with our administration. and our rep
resentatiyes, than the voice of the peo.
pie was.
1t is claimed that if Porto Rico came
IN under the treaty of free trade, that
the Philippine islands will come in. or
must come in, in the same manner.
and with the fine woods. and
the sugar and the coffee free into this
country, competing with the products
OF the trusts, and hence they say they
don't propose to have it that way.
| Also the Philippines.
would like to talk to you about the
Philippines. 1 was led to believe by
the press that those people were saw.
ages and totally and wholly unfit to
govern themselves. But when | went
into history found that it was a mis-
take. found that the islands had
colleges, seminaries, SCHOOLS of art
schools of science. common school
system, normal schools and
other educational institutions.
found, or l ascertained, that in their
government, in their cabinet, that they
had graduates Of colleges; that
Aguinaldo was not only graduate OF
two, if not three, colleges, but that he
held postgraduate or taken post
graduate courses, and was one of the
best educated men in that country.
have read his papers of state and they
compare very favorably with other pa
pers and correspondence in connection
with the same transactions. | fine
with these people men noted for theil
bravery, women for their affection an(
virtue. l notice further that the chill
dren respected and loved their par
iel1lS. LJNSl lhSul DSlCT6 TeTlrlnS
they kissed the hand of their father
and their mother, and the same in the
morning. Those are the people whom
it has been said and claimed, are not
fit to govern themselves. Tell me that
la people with a domestic government
such as that are not fit to govern them
selves. Do they forget history? Do they
forget our forefathers who were dress
ed in the skins of wild animals of the
forest, with their moccasins and coon
skin caps, fint-lock muskets and
knives made from the anvil? Mothers
dressed in their homespun clothing, nc
school houses, the log house in the
little clearing, at the time when Great
Britain said to them that they were
not fit to govern themselves, and tina,
with the right and the Almighty or
their side they fought the greatest ma
ton on the globe and were victorious
Oh, l would like to have the time
to refer YOU here specifically, to the
history of the trouble in the Philip
pines. l would like to call your at
tention particularly to the correspond
ence that has passed between this
country and that government. Oh
they say, haul down the flag, Steck
what are you going to do with the
Philippines? I would give them to dis
tinctly understand they would have
their liberty and independence if they
laid down their arms and came in ant
surrendered. (Applause.) There
; would be no room for second con
struction of the language l use. AnG
: there would be no necessity in hauling
down the fiag-none whatever.
Gets Back to California.
am almost forced-or l ought prob
ably not to say that-but l am almost
constrained to refer to an instance uI
in the northwest part of this country
told me by man from California the
other night. coming on the train from
Chicago. His name is Pearson rep
resenting a large iron company from
.. the coast. l asked him about the
political situation in California or OF
the coast, and he said, We'll, Mr.
Steck," thinking l was republican
81 am very sorry to say to you that
believe California and Oregon an(
Washington are going for Mr.. Bryan,
and said how do you account for tina
state of affairs? Then he said: "Well
I'll tell you. The republican part,
: have not expressed in ,--eir platform