Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1902-05-08
WASHINGTON LETTER.
IT TVIEI ONII ltUt5 srItEI corresponding
WASHINGTON. Nav 5. 1902


From our Regular Correspondent
WASHINGTON, May 5, 1902.
''The editor or the citizen who underesti-
mates the Philippine question. who fails to
appreciate that it is OF paramount impor-
tance, who imagines that Senators in
ventilating and opposing the Philippine
policy of the administration, are losing
sight of the interests of our own people, is
short sighted. He does not grasp the true
import of the situation, 'said Senator Clay,
in reply to a question | put to him Sat
urday SIS an undertaking which means
to the people of the United States an
annual expenditure of $50, 900, 900, and
which means that expenditure not for one
year, but continuously question of minor
importance And that is not the most
serious phase of the situation. Reflect for
moment upon the effect of the war upon
our American soldiers, officers and men.
1t is brutalizing them as plainly shown by
the evidence which has been given before
the Philippines Committee. And why
this cruelty Is it in accordance with the
past histories of our army? No and for
good reason. In the Civil War men fought
for the principles in which they believed
the rights of the sovereign States ON the
one side, the preservation of the Union on
the other. All were sincere. All were
fighting for their convictions. Ministers,
doctors, merchants, farmers, the best men
in he country on both sides, made up the
rank and file of the armies. To certain
extent the same was true in the Spanish
War when the best of our young men
enlisted to uphold the flag and to free
Cuba But what have we in the Philip
AoI E..
month. Men who enlisted generally only
because other means of gaining a liveli-
hood were barred to them. Stop and think
of the men you know who have enlisted
not as volunteers in the first fever of the
war-but as regulars, for the paltry pay
of private. What manner Of men are
they? Is it any wonder that their officers
cannot restrain them and that they practice
cruelties and avail themselves of methods
of torture? The Filipinos are human
beings with hopes and aspirations like our
own. They have seen the light as the
American colonists saw it in 1775, and now
is it to be wrested from them, and are they
to yield up their hope of liberty? Pacifed?
Yes Temporarily, perhaps, at the muzzles
of American rifles, but let those rifles be
turned away and their hopes and ambitions
will return and they will renew the strug-
gle. We have killed their men and some
times their children, and even, perhaps,
though accidentally, their women. Will
they forgive us and accept our rule ? Never,
except in the presence of large armed
forces. To preserve peace in the Philip
pines we must maintain an army of from
forty to fifty thousand men in the islands
for years to come, perhaps, forever and
this to conquer people to whom liberty is
as dear as it is to us. Can the Philippine
question be said to be one of minor i'm
portance ?"
Apropos of the Philippine question there
has been adopted by the Senate resolution
calling on the Secretary of War for
statement of the expense to which this
country has been put in the administration
of the military affairs of the islands Sec
rotary Root has shown decided tendency
to avoid making this report during this
session, and would doubtless like to post
pone the statement until after the fall cam
paign. He has magnified the difficulties
and in the meantime has refused to furnish
even an approximation, which is all the
Democratic Senators who fathered the
resolution desire. To the $40, 900, 600 paid
as purchase price for the islands may be
added the S55, 47S, 695 expended for mill
taIy purposes for the first six months, from
May to November, 1898, but from that
time on no figures are to be had, and the
most persistent inquiry by Senators and
correspondents has failed to secure any
competent information. 1t is estimated
that the total cost up to November, 1899
was 500, 600, 600, but there all estimates
fail, and if the Secretary Of War has his
December.
All last week in the Senate was devoted
to the consideration of the Philippine ques-
ton, and to-day Senator Lodge will practi
cally open the defense. The House OF
Representatives passed the Omnibus Public
Buildings bill, the Agricultural and the
District of Columbia appropriation bills,
and tomorrow will take up the Omnibus
Territorial bill which grants statehood to
Oklahoma, including Indian Territory,
New Mexico and Arizona. The bill may
precipitate considerable fight on the floor
of the House, but its advocates say that
they have sufficient votes pledged to pass
it, and they hope to get it acted upon with
out serious opposition, although it is known
that the Republican leaders are opposed to
it, and only a show of strength great
enough to oyerrule the Speaker, insured its
receiving hearing.
The appointment by the President Of
Mr.. J. S. GARRISON, of Iowa. to an i'm
portant Federal position in New York, is a
sad commentary on Mr.. Roosevelt's civil
service reform professions. This is the
same Mr.. Clarkson to whom, it will be re-
membered, Civil Service Commissioner
Roosevelt paid his respects in unequivocal
terms. Mr.. Roosevelt, if I remember
rightly, characterized Clarkson as the
''headsman of the administration, " and as
"a conspicous advocate of the spoils sys-
tenn" What can have induced President
Roosevelt to so far depart from his princi-
plies and appoint the man he hayed at St.
Louis, the people will have to judge.
The sensational story sent out by some
correspondents of a combination of the
Democrats in the Senate with the Beet
Sugar Senators to prevent action on the
Cuban Reciprosity bill, the Philippine bill
bill and the Nicaraguan Canal bill isl
positively denied by the Democratic lead
ers. The story may have originated with
the Beet Sugar Senators who are being
driven to desperate straits, but the Demo
Gratis have heard nothing about it except
from the newspapers. AS far as the
Nicaraguan Canal bill is concerned there is
little hope of securing an appropriation for
that purpose Treasury receipts for the
past two months have not been up to
expectations, and there will be compare
lively small margin between receipts and
expenses. so that it is believed most prob
able that Senator Allison will oppose any
large appropriation for an isthmian canal.
PEDRICKTOWN.