The Winslow mail., 1901-01-24
M'KINLEY's FINE WORDS.
Smooth Sayings of the President In
tended to BamboozIe the
People.

In closing his speech before the
Philadelphia Union league President
Mckinley made use of some very
striking phrases tending to reassure
the American people of his benevo-
lent intentions towards liberty. Here
are his concluding words:
'The republican party has placed upon it
| tremendous responsibilities. No party
| could ask for higher expression of conf
| dence. 1t is a great thing to have this con-
fidence; it will be greater thing to deserve
and hold it. To this party are committed
new and grave problems. They are too ex-
| allied for partisanship The task of settle
| ment is for the whole American people.
Who Will say they are unequal toi it?
| Liberty has not lost but gained, in
| strength. The structure of the fathers
| STANDS secure upon the foundations on
which thy raised it, and is to-day, as it has
| been in the years past and as it will be in
the years to come, the government of the
people. by the people, and for the people,
| BE not disturbed; there is no danger
from empire; there is no fear for the re-
| public
Fine sentiments, truly, from the
man who has for the past three years
acted on the theory that the days of
government by the people had gone
by and that the day of government by
destiny had arrived Never before
McKinley's day have the Declaration
of independence and the constitution
been openly jeered at and denounced,
the one as merely string of glitter
ing generalities, and the other as
something which we have outgrown
and left so far behind that it is not
worth while to discuss it. The policy
of imperialism-the advocacy or de-
fense of which necessitates the weak
ening of the respect of the American
people for these two inspiring docu
ments that have been the admiration
of the civilized world since they were
first proclaimed to the public-is go
ing perilously near shaking the foun-
dations of the republic. And when
we weaken the foundation the struc-
ture is endangered, in spite of Mr..
McKinley's assurances that there is
no danger.
"The task of settlement is for the
whole American people," says Presi-
dent Mckinley. "Who will say that
they are unequal to p" Well, Presi-
y,
in the capacity of the American people
to decide American problems, why did
he deny the public information about
the Philippines and insist that this
problem was to be solved by destiny?
He is the one who refused to tell the
American people why the policy of
criminal aggression" towards Cuba
became the policy of "piety and patriot
ism" towards the Philippines. He is
the one who remained dumb as to the
reasons why our ''plain duty" towards
Porto Rico was suddenly changed. He
is the one who clapped a censorship on
news from the Philippines, who sup
pressed reports from officials and who
garbled extracts from other reports in
his letter of acceptance, refusing to
make public the omitted portions. Be-
lief in the capacity of the American
people to settle American problems is
the basis of a self-governing republic.
But how can people kept in the dark
about facts be expected to settle a
thing right? Let Mr.. Mckinley give
the people the facts and the problems
will be settled, and settled right. With
| full information the American people
may always be depended upon to decide
in the right way whatever questions
affect the welfare, prosperity or per-
| petuity of this country. Let Mr.. Nc
Kinley throw off the blanket which he
has thrown over his government and
cease the attempt to mystify the public
as to destiny, and the people will pre-
serve their liberties, and will jealousy
guard this republic from the dangers of
mperialism.-Utica Observer.