Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-04-23

progress
there. They command the commerce of
the east. Why should we, then, in the
very hour when commArciall expansion is
swiftly becoming our mortal need, abandon
this possession; throw away The multiplied
millions of dollars they have invested: de-
nounce our soldiers as pirates; give up the
mastery of the Pacific and the control of
the orient? 1t is a policy Of decrepitude
proposition of disgrace.
If Fflipinos should be found capable of
self-government, the republican party will
give it to them. But the republican party
proceeds on facts, not on imagina ton. And
therefore the Senate proposes a census of
the Philippine Islands. for the purpose of
informing Congress to what extent and in
what places Filipinos can govern them
selves. Is this not the method of reason?
First find the facts and then fit our action
to these facts. And while these facts are
being gathered American administration
in the Philippines is extending self-govern-
meht in town and village as rapidly as the
Fflipinos themselves can manage it. We
are teaching them by practice; we are
training them by education. If we can
make them self-governing, none will hail
that contamination with such delight as we
who are fnstructing them. But we will not
turn them back to barbarism. We will not
abandon them to rival powers. We will
not haul down the flag. We will do our
work like Americans and men until all the
east shall bless the name of the great re-
public and al mankind cheer American
benef1cence.
Philippine Expenses-Oriental Markets
Do they tell US of expense? Every dollar
of expense Of Philippine civil administra-
ton is paid out of the revenues of the
archipelago. And the opposition admits
the necessity of our military expense, be-
cause it proposes to keep our army there
till stable government is established, and
we do not propose to keep it longer.
Who is BurdenedP
Philippine expenses! Who feels their
burden? Is it you, farmer, who are more
prosperous than you have been for a quar-
ter Of a century? Your farms alone are
worth 81 300, 600, 900 more today than before
the war with SPAIN Is it you, manufac-
terer. whose plants are running with dou-
bic shifts? You have increased your pro-
ductive investments over $500 900 600 since
the war with Spain began. Is it you,
workingman, who in factories alone are
earning $50O,000,000 more wages every year
than before our period of expansion? In
spite of the hundreds Of millions of war
expenses, in spite of other millions eXpend-
ed in laying the foundation of future
wealth in our dependencies, republican adj
ministration has paid it all, and, in addi-
ton. and at the same time actually, re-
duced the nations debt $10,000O00, and SO
refunded the remainder that today the
American people pay $7,OO0,O0O less interest
annually than we paid before the war with
Spain began: and, in addition, still and at
the same time, accumulated the heaviest
surplus in our treasury of any nation in
the world. Think of the contrast! Eight
years ago peace, democracy, disaster and
a deficit! Today, in spite of war republic
canism. prosperity and a surplus! More
still! During the period from March l.
1897. the inauguration of William Mckin-
ley, until March 1, 1902, a period of Just
five years, the American people sold to the
rest of the world 5000 1884, 462, and bought
1922 1923. 566. In these five years the bal
ance of trade in favor of the United States
reached $2,70S ,0109O6. In these five years
of republican rule, in spite of war, the
favorable balance of trade was more than
in the entire history of the republic before
More? Yes, 600 per cent more. From the
foundation Of the government to the be-
ginning of the present republican regime
March /. 1897, the balance of trade in favor
Of the United States was only 1888 02S, 497;
and. consider it again, since Mckinley was
inaugurated the balance of trade in favor
of the American republic has reached the
unthinkable sum of $2,70S, 01O,9O Will the
American people reject a party which ad-
such results even under conditions of
peace? Well! This is the republican rec
ord under conditions of war
Charges Against American Soldiers.
Do they tell us of the brutality of Ameri-
can soldiers? War has no record of mercy,
tenderness and care that compares with
the American treatment of prisoners in the
Philippines. Read the story of Ameri-
can RECOMMENDATION in Martinique The
Filipinos there were fed with food bought
by American money. When those who ter
rorized them had been killed or captured,
Filipino physicians signed voluntary state
ments that the peoples health within those
American lines was fifty per cent better
than it had been in their own homes. And
those people departed to their field, at last
made peaceful, with rejoicings on their lips
that they had finally been rescued from
their own oppressors, and with blessings
on the American flag and the American
soldiers who had worked that deliverance.
The republican party stands by the Amer
lean soldier in the Philippines today as it
stood by the soldier of the Union forty
years ago, stands by him now, and will
stand by him until the last gray and hon
ored head bows to the conqueror of us
all. To those who now denounce American
soldiers the American people will give the
same answer they gave to the defamers
of the boys in blue in the old days: I'VE
stand by the boys beneath the flag