Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1901-09-11
A STRONG SPEECH
Delivered by Temporary Chairman Hon.
E. M, Sharon at the Iowa State
Convention.

III the Philippine territory, the ad.
ministration has not allowed the peo-
pie to indulge the hope even of ever
obtaining the right to govern them
selves. Mckinley, exercising absolute
control there, has violated every tradi-
ton of our history, every principle of
the Declaration of Independence, the
very letter and spirit of our constitu-
ton.
Even the majority of the Federal Su-
preme Court deny the right Of the
President to exercise any authority in
that territory, while the great lawyers
of that court have said "the idea that
this country may acquire territories
anywhere upon the earth by conquest
or treaty and hold them as mere cole.
mics or provinces and the people inhab.
iting them TO enjoy only such rights rs
Congress chooses to accord them Is
wholly inconsistent with the spirit and
genius as well as the words of the CON
stitution." And as to the doctrine that
even Congress might pass laws for the
government of territories and define
their status and relations to the people
of the United States, one of the great
lawyers of that court said, "If the prin-
ciples thus announced should receive
the sanction of majority CT TINS court,
radical and micchievous change In
our system of government will be the
result. We will in that event pass from
the era Of constitutional liberty created
and directed by n written constitution
into an era Of legislative absolutism."
Principles do not change-they are
the same today, yesterday and for all
time. They We're the same to the PEG.
pie who July 4, 1776, declared their In.
dependence, gave to the world the char.
ter of human rights and established a
government conceived In liberty and
dedicated to the proposition that all
men are created equal" as they are to-
day. One of Des Moines' great ora
tors has said: Principles are absolute
and Interchangeable starting points,
They are simple truths rooted in the
eternal DEGREES of God. No one can saw
that circumstances alter principles.
Principles are the Interchangeable and
eternal landmarks set up for the guild
ance of rational creatures. They are
rock-rooted mountains whose peaks
never sink below the horizon, and
whose everlasting foundations can new
er be shaken. They are fixed stars in
the moral world, ever shining, but new
er moving"
And what were the principles of the
men of 1T7G? They are found in the
declaration which they proclaimed.
Think Of celebrating the Fourth of July
at Manila. 1t is usual on such occa-
siOns to read the Declaration of hide.
pendence that all may know against
what the fathers of the republic pro-
tested and what they claimed as In
alienable rights. The Filipino would
be very apt to get Mckinley substi-
tuted for George III. when he reads
''he has refused his consent to laws the
most wholesome and necessary to pub
lie good" "He has made judges de-
pendent on his will alone for the ten
ure of their offices and the amount and
payment of their salaries" 'He has
erected multitude of new offices to
harass our people and eat out their sub
stance"
The Filipino might protest against
the absolute ruler at Washington for
imposing taxes upon us, for depriving
us in many cases of the benefits of
trial by jury"
The Filipino might think that the
complaints of our fathers were of little
moment when lie looks around his dew
astated country-no right of the living
recognized and forty or fifty thousand
of his people killed for claiming even
that all men are equal and endowed
by their Creator with the inalienable
right to life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness.
What does lie think when he reads
that "all government derives its just
powers from the consent of the govern
ed" when it takes three years of con-
quest by the Government to exercise
some of the authority that had been
exercised by the military government.
l do not know whether the Fill
pinos "can be citizens without endan-
gering our civilization" but do know
that they cannot be subjects of our
people and our government without i'm
periling our form of government. There
are those who laugh ut the dangers of
Imperialism and its accompanying mill
tarism, smile at crown colonies, but it
is not a question of name. One can
exercise the authority and prerogatives
of an emperor without wearing a
crown or carrying sceptre. When any
habitation or the source of his power.
claims to exercise the right to rule alb
solutely any people, to compel their
submission by force and, attempts to
establish his own form of government
over theirs and levies taxes upon their
property without their consent, ap-
points the judges and officers who are
to exercise his authority, that man is
an emperor, n despot, an authority not
recognized by the constitution of any
free government.
1t is not question Of expansion. 1t
is not a question of the flag of acqulr-
ing territory beyond the sens, even. 1t
is a question Of government, rights.
We are told that this imperialism is
not different from the action of the
Democratic party In the acquisition of
Louisiana, of Florida, of California
and New Mexico. There is really no
analogy. The Democratic party,
through its great leaders, acquired
contiguous territory. They got it
through war of conquest. They did not
hold it as crown colonies.
The Mexican war was not fought for
acquisition of territory, but to defend
the liberty and independence that the
Texans won at San Jacinta. For ten
years they had knocked at the door of
Congress asking to join the sisterhood
of States. Mexico threatened that their
admission would be taken as an act of
war and sent her army to enforce her
mandate. The soldiers of the republic
planted the flag over the capital of
Mexico, not in conquest, but to force
the demand that Texas should have the