Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1900-11-01
A. to Foreign Policies.
Turning his attention to foreign


lev. President Eliot says:
whenever powerful nation goes to
war no man can tell what the real issues
are to be. The war for Cuba was no ex-
ception in this respect. 1t had inev-
liable consequences. which no mortal
could have foreseen, and the gravest of
these consequences are that the coun-
try is already committed beyond imme-
diate recall to the maintenance of
large navy and considerable army, and
that il is involved in the struggles of
the nations of Europe for new territory,
influence and trade in the far east I'm
der these circumstances the patriotic Cit
iZen has to consider this fall whether the
public interests are to be better ad-
vanced by maintaining in power the pres
ent administrator. with all It's short
comings. or by providing a wholly untried
one
I'm regard to foreign policy" DR.. FL
liot continues, 'it is not easy to state
any material difference between the de-
clared policies of the two great parties.
President Mckinley and Mr. Bryan use
different phrases in describing their for
eign policies; but when it came to action,
in all probability their policies would be
much alike"
He criticises the course of the adj
ministration in Cuba, Porto Rico and
the Philippines, saying:
president Mckinley, in his unwonted
function of sovereign and arbitrary ruler,
committed a lamentable error in the tone
of his proclamation to the F'ilipinos of
December. 1898, and thereby involved his
country in a cruel war-or rather a long
series of military executions-with a semi
civilized but liberty-loving people who
fought by our side against the Spaniards,
and who ought to have been invariably
ITl Will h.. Il yf5,,
not as purchased subjects or conquered
foes, but as comrades and friends.
His administration is responsible for
gross delinQuencies of public officers in
Cuba, and for less than generous treat
ment of the people of Porto Rico. 1t
has also succumbed deplorably to a temp
tation which always besets rulers in time
of war-the temptation to keep from the
people the knowledge, not only of future
plans, but of past events and of docu-
mentary evidence relating thereto. This
is one of the worst incompatibilities be-
tween war and public liberty. 1t may
be wholesome under temporary excite
ments, to bear in mind that our free in
stitutions have been two centuries and a
half in attaining the present imperfect
development, and that it Will doubtless
take as long to perfect them. 1t is al
most the universal American belief that
they are not destined to be destroyed"
Sees Danger In 81 Change.
On the other hand, he says:
THE patriotic citizen may we'll hesi-
tate to contribute by vote or influence to
a complete change of adminstra ton.
President Mckinley is now surrounded by
cabinet officers of capacity and eXpe-
rience, ard he has put good men at the
head of affair, in Cuba. Porto Rico and
the Philippines, while in case of a change
in the presidency nobody can tell to what
sort of persons the great offices of the
government would be intrusted.
1T must be confessed that a peace
loving citizen, who would like to see his
country keep her breath TO cool her own
hot porridge, cannot but be much at
loss how to select his immediate political
associations, The republican admins
traton, supported by republican ma
jority in congress, has, as a matter OF
fact been fighting in foreign parts for
two years and a half; the last demo-
cratic administration took a very i'm
perious tone with Great Britain in an in
significant dispute about an unidentified
portion of the boundary of Venezuela,
and the actual democratic ticket, in
spite of Mr.. Bryans definition of the
paramount issue, is supported by eminent
advocates of American participation in all
the great contentious of the wide world.
The war-hating citizen, who clings
to domestic definition of his countrys $
business, is further embarrassed by the
reflection that some wiespreading and
pregnant benefits have already resulted
from United States expansion in the
West and East Indies-incontestably in
Cuba, and probably in Porto Rico, the
Philippines and China"