Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1900-09-20
RO0sEVELTs ACCEPTANCE.
Declares the Republican Policy was
Established by Jefferson.

Declares the Republican Policy Was
Established by Jefferson.
Oyster Bay, L. l., Sept. 1.-THE let
ter Of acceptance of Theodore Roose-
welt accepting the Republican nomina-
tion for vice president is a document
Of over 1000 words, devoted mainly
to the Philippines question. He ap-
peals to "all good citizens who are far
sighted enough to see what the honor
and interest of the nation demand"
After asserting that the reelection Of
President Mckinley is of vital import.
ance to the whole country that TO put
into practice the principles of the Kan
sas City platform would mean grave as
10 to ! is fraUgl't with destruction TO
every home in tho land, and that men
who refuse To make the financial issue
paramount have no excuse for raising IL
at ali. Mr.. Roosevelt discusses briefly the
question of trusts. declaring that puollc-
ity as to capitalization, profits, etc. Is the
most useful measure Tor their control.
Discussing the Philippines he says that
The parallel between what Jefferson did
with Louisiana and what is now being
done in the Philippines is exact Dis
cussing this question further he says:
The constitution has never yet 'folloW-
ed the flag the army officer and the
civilian agent still exercise authority,
without asking the consent of the gov
erned. w e must proceed IN the Fhlllp-
pines with the same wise caution, taking
each successive step as 1t becomes de-
sirable, and accommodating the details
of policy to the peculiar needs OF the
situation. But as soon as the present
revolt is put down and order established,
II will undoubtedly be possible to give
the islands a larger measure of self gov.
ernment than Jefferson originally gave
Louisiana.
We are making no new departure. We
are not taking a single step which In any
way affects our institutions or our tra-
ditional policies. From the beginning we
have given widely varying degrees of self
government to the different territories,
according to their needs. The simple
truth is that there is nothing even re-
motely resembling imperialism" or
'militarism" involved in the present de-
velopment of that policy of expansion
which has been part of the history Of
America from the day when she became a
nation. The words mean absolutely
nothing as applied to our present policy
in the Philippines, for this policy is only
imperialstic in the sense that Jefferson's 8
policy in Louisiana was imperialistic !;
only military in the sense that Jackson's 3
policy toward the Seminoles or Custer 5
toward the Sioux embodied militarism
and there is no more danger of its pro-
ducing evil results at home now than
there was OF its interfering with freedom
under jefferson or Jackson, or in the
days of the Indian wars on the plains
Our army Is relatively not as large as
IL was in the days of Wayne; we have
not one regular for every thousand In
habitant. There is no more danger of a
draft than there is of the reintrOduction
of slavery.
1t must be remembered always that gov-
erning these islands In the interest Of the
Inhabitants may not necessarily be to
govern them as the inhabitants at the
moment prefer. To grant self govern
ment to Luzon under Aguinaldo would
be like granting self government to an
Apache reservation under some local