Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1900-09-21
AT FARGO.

RECEPTION AT FARGO.
.R0Us1NG RECEPTION TO COVER
NOR ROOSEVELT AT FARGO
RoOsEvELT's PATRIOTIC ADJ
DRESS.
Fargo, Sept. 15.-Governor Roose-
welt got a rousing welcome here. The
rain fell in torrents during the. day
necessitating a change in the outside
program. The governor spoke at the
opera house, and said:
"Mr. Chairman and Fellow Citizens
of North Dakota: It has been just
twenty years since I first came to Far
go, when Dakota was a territory, and
l have watched with interest the split
ting Of that territory into two great
safes. l was once a resident of this
territory, a little farther west in the
COW country, and SO l have in a way a
peculiar right to speak to you tonight.
There is much that l would like to say,
but not having the time for a lengthy
discussion l will speak to you tonight
upon but one ISSUE, and that is-ex-
pansion, which u opponents have
miscalled imperialism. In this state,
it seems to me that nc citizen ought
to fail to realize what expansion
means. What is the history of this
state? At the beginning of the pres
ent century, two-thirds of what is now
the United States was Spanish terri
tory and North Dakota wa at time
part of the province of Louisiana.
From Mexico to the Dominion of Can
ada, Spanish rule was supreme. Spain
even at this time, very properly had a
high regard for our expansion quail
ties, and thought that by ceding this
territory to France it would act as a
buffer against invasion from the north.
When Uncle Sam wants a thing he
wants it pretty bad, and he usually
gets it too. President Jefferson, the
author Of the declaration of independ-
ence, and the first democratic presi-
dent, negotiated for this territory, and
by purchase and treaty it was ceded to
the United States. The price was S15,-
100000 and this sum, comparing the
wealth of the country then to the pres
emit day. is a much larger sum than the
$2O,O0O,oW paid for the Philippines.
Jefferson is the man who wrote the
phrase about the consent Of the gov
erned', and it is fair to suppose that
he was better qualified to interpret its
meaning, than some one who lived
many years after. In the purchase OF
Louisiana, there was no vote Of the
people taken, and not a consent asked
in the territory. 1t was procured by
purchase and treaty just as the Philip
pines were. By every moral, legal
and technical right we have the same
claim upon the Philippines as we have
upon the territory in which you live.
There were people who objected to ex-
pansion then just as vigorously as they
do now.
you have heard about the constitu-
tion following the flag, and I wish to
point out why our constitution is a sue
cess. We r a common ems people
and that is why our constitution
works. We have become a mighty ma
ton under it and we have always real
lied that where it comes to the last re-
sort a ton of oratory was not worth an
ounce of hard, shrewd, common sense.
I asked if it would not be the height
of absurdity to teach the savage In
dams of twenty-five years ago, the les.
o of good citizenship?
1T is different now and after years
of teaching they are learning to exer.
else the divine right Of citizenship
You can no more take our constitution
and transplant it to the land of the
half savage Filipinos than you coulC
transplant a mighty oak to an infer
tile soil.
Being in the Philippines by righd
of purchase and treaty, it would be The
act of a craven to recede at this time
and thus treacherously abandon thu
many brave and intelligent natives
who are looking to us for d%eliverance
We have hoisted u flag and it is no
fashioned of the stuff which can b
quickly hauled down.
"The Filipinos have more libert,
now than they Eve had had in theil
previous history"
Voice-"Who gave them that lib