The Oskaloosa herald., 1902-07-31

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battle to the death. The Republican
party will fearlessly use every means
in its power to reach this great evil
and where notifications of the tariff
would be useful to that end, without
serious injury to the laborers of this
country, will not hesitate to resort
thereto. 1t may as we'll be understood,
| however, that the Republican party
will neither consent to abandon it's
cardinal doctrine of protection nor to
the oppression of the people by the
trusts. Its cry is not for commercial
freedom at the expense of prosperity,
but commercial freedom and prosper
ity.
Hardly was the Republican party
safely returned to power when the de-
mand for the freedom of Cuba became
almost universal and to that end war
was undertaken with Spain, was little
| fore-knowledge of the great problems
| that were to arise out of that war to
veX us long after the purpose of the
war was accomplished. With doubts in
the minds of many as to the wisdom
of the pledges made we sacredly kept
| faith with the Cuban people, and on
|
| Cuba was everywhere raised in the
| island and the Cuban republic took
| its place among the nations Of the
earth. AS she has been the recipient
of our boundless bounty in our treas
ure and in our blood, so she will al
ways have our cordial good will, and
we trust that she will demonstrate to
| the world the capacity of her race to
| long maintain genuine republic,
based upon the will of the people,
governed and controlled by law.
Out of the war with Spain we came
into possession of Porto Rico and the
Philippines. The former gladly accept
ed our form of government and is al
ready enjoying a large measure of
benefit. The development that is there
going on can be no better illustrated
than by saying that in March, 1899,
there were between 10000 and $4,000
scholars in the schools and there are
now $4,000. The doubling of school at
tendance in three years marks the
progress being made in Americanizing
the island, for there is nothing that
so tends to that end as the American
school house and the American teach
er.
In the Philippines we were not so
generously welcomed. An insurrection
against us broke out before our title
was perfected by treaty. The treaty
with Spain was ratified by Democratic
and Republican votes and the title Of
Spain passed to the United States. No
Republican President would order
| American soldiers to retreat before
! the onslaught of the semi-civilized
and treacherous foes that were in
! arms against us in the islands, and
! the war went on amidst difficulties
| greater in many respects than ever
| confronted American soldiers, except
| perChance in some of the Indian wars.
Faced by foes that buried captives
alive and mTtilated the living and the
dead, our brave men went on some
times fighting with odds against them,
as much as eighty to one, to final and
complete victory. Our Democratic
friends, not satisfied with siding with
the enemies of their country in this
struggle, commenced to denUunce the
administration of the war as cruel
and inhuman. Every time some Amer
lean soldier who, after looking upon
| the mutilated remains of some of his
comrades became too severe with the
wretches who had been guilty of such
| outrage the incident was taken up
and magnifed to the disCredit of the
| American army, but no reference was
made to the brutal provocation that
mitigated if it did not excuse the act.
| The Republican party has no sympa
| thy with cruelty, and the Republican
| administration has made every effort
| where there was a semblance of truth
behind such charges to bring the gull
| ty to justice. Not refusing to humili-
| ate in his Old age that brave and he
! TOic soldier of two years, General
| Jacob H. Smith, when it appeared that
under great provocatiOn he had gone
! to too great length. But the Republi-
can party will not countenance indis-
| criminate attacks upon the soldiers of
the republic, who for four years have
| been nobly fighting our battles against
brutal and savage foes on the other
side of the world, beneath a scOrching
! trOpic sun. When it became manifest
| that the American people would not
| tolerate the Democratic assault upon
| the American army our Dem
ocratic friends fastened to say
that they were not attack
ing the army, but individual acts
| Of cruelty. Unfortunately, on the oath
| day Of January last, and before our
Democratic friends found that it was
specific acts of cruelty they were at
lacking and not the army, an appro-
priation bill was pending in the House
of Representatives which provided
"for the proper shelter and protection
of officers and enlisted men of the
army of the United States lawfully on
duty in the Philippine islands, 10 be
expended in the discretion OF the
President, $500,OOO:" and when the
vote was taken sixteen Democrats vot-
ed for it, 1O7 voted against it and
thirty-four paired against it. OF course
our Democratic friends are not oppos-
ed to the army, but nine-tenths of
their chosen representatives in the
lower house of Congress would com
pei the officers and enlisted men to be
exposed to the weather during the
rainy season in the tropics, rather than
appropriate one dollar to put shelter
over their heads Thank God not one
Republican voted against that appro-
priatiOn. With this fight in the rear
constantly going on the army gallant
ly overcome every obstacle and on the
Fourth of July the President was en-
abled to issue his proclamation de-
claring peace reigned throughout the
pbi1inninac with all hut tha MOh am