Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1902-02-05
TIE PHILIPPINE QUESTION.
Hon. Abe Jones Presents His Views on
this Important Subject.

One of the most important questions
before the American people today is the
Philippine problem; and what is its his
tory? Admiral Dewey was ordered to
find the Spanish fleet and capture or
destroy it; he did so. Then it was said
that,a coaling station would be good
thing to have and this is undoubtedly
true. But as the old saying is "the
more vou:have the more you want"
and thelfirst we knew the entire Archi-
pelago was bought for 100000. The
object of thatpurchase has not yet been
made clear to the befogged minds of a
vast number of the American people.
They are of the opinion that not a sim
gle farmer, merchant, laborerlor me-
chanic will ever make his home in that
country permanently. Then why was
it bought? There may be reasons
which the ordinary mindlcannot COM
prehend. Another question arises as
to who had the right to make the sale.
Some may have heardl of one VIM.
Penn who bought large tract of land
in America of the King, of England
and also bought it Of the Indians.
When he was about to embark for this
country he had an interviewAwith the
King and told him he was about to es-
tablish a colony in the New World
What, among those savages? They
will burn you at the stake in twenty
four hours" Penn said he had no
fear as he had bought the land:of them
and paid their price "Why man, you
have already bought the land of me-"
NJ know 1 have, friend lGeorge, and at
a dear rate too. By what right do you
claim that land?" "By the right of
discovery of course" "Now, friend
George, If a canoe-load of those Indians
should happen to sail blythe islands of
Great Britain would that.entitle them
TO own it by the right of discovery"
The result was with all the Indian
wars, uprisings and treachery VIM.
Penn and his colony were never dis
rurbed, showing that the greatest saw
age has respect for genuine honesty and
fair dealings. These islands were
bought from the Spanish andiif any
one can tell when the Spaniards OBJ
tsined absolute and undisputed owner
ship of the islands would like to hear
from them. The war in the PHILIPPINES
has cost thousands of lives and millions
of money aud what it isIfOr is still a
mystery to the ordinary American c.ti-
zen. An army is kept there larger
than.the.whole United States force in
time Of peace; and the question for So
luton is, who is to be benefited there
by? We hear frequently that the war
is on its last legs, but the army is still
kept up on larger basis than peace
footing. Itiwould be we'll to remember
that our forefathers fought for seven
years for the same principle the Philli-
pinos are fighting for, and chat they
had only one third the population the
PHILIPPINES have. So when the war
will end is more matter of specula-
ton than reality. 1t ha. been said We
must civilize, educateJand train these
benighted heathens to our notion. Did
you ever realize the JOB you would have
on your hands? These brown and yell
low folks have u strange tongue, eat
strange food and have strange re-
Iigiou; they cannot be made American
in thought and character by law any
more than in color. We must try Ia
realize that the brown map living uli-
der tropical sun is.not even in his ca
pacity with an Anglo Saxon. If some
tangible reason can be given for the
loss of life, the great expenditure of the
peoples motley that is now going on
10000 miles away we would be glad to
hear of it. ABE JONES,