The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1902-05-22
Listen to MIR. Mckinley.
- Iss...*:s*..


Hepublican editors who seek to justi-
~ the cruel practices in the Phil
1ppines would do well to read the mes
sages of President Mckinley during.
and Immediately prior to, the Spanish
American war period.
These messages are full of denun-
Citations of the practices in Cuba, which
practices were not so brutal as recent
revelations would indicate the prac-
'tices in the Philippines to be.
In the message of December 1, 1897,
Mr.. Mckinley referred to the concen-
tration system, then established in Gu
ba by Spain and now maintained by
the United States in the Philippines,
as "a cruel policy" He said that this
/, was not civilized warfare" it was eek
termination;" and he referred to this
policy as IAN abuse of the rights of
war" And in his message of April
II, 1898, Mr.. Mckinley reiterated the
statements of his 1897 message and.
referring to this concentration system.
declared: "The only peace it could
beget was that of the wilderness and
the grave"
In his message Of December 6, 1897.
Mr.. Mckinley denounced SPANS policy
In Cuba as system of warfare that
tended ito drive the Cubans to the
horrible alternative of taking to the
ticket or succumbing to misery" He
referred, in that same message, to s'the
policy Of cruel rapine and extermina-
ton that SO long shocked the universal
sentiment Of humanity" He referred
also to the Spanish commander whose
brutal orders inAamed the American
mind and shocked the civilized world"
He denounced "the horrible order of
concentration"
In his message of April IL, 1898, Mr..
Mckinley referred to Spain's policy in
Cuba as "the horrors of strife of a new
and inhuman phase, happily unprece-
denied in the modern history of civil
lied Christian peoples" He denounced
"a policy wherein "the farms were laid
waste, dwellings unroofed and fired,
mills destroyed, and, in short, every
thing that could desolate the land and
render it unfit for human habitation
or support"
In the same message Mr. Mckinley
said: "The prospect Of protraction
and continuation of the present strife
Is contingency hardly to be contem-
plated with equanimity by the civilized
conflict are either unable or unwilling
world" He spoke of the United States
acting according to the large dictates
OF humanity" and as the first ground
for intervention he proposed: GIN the
cause of humanity and to put an end
to the barbarities, bloodshed, starva-
ton and horrible luiseries now exist
ing there and which the parties to the
conflict are either unable orunwilling
to stop or mitigats."
It has not been forgotten either that
in the preamble of lhe war resolutions,
it was said that "tl>e abhorrent condi-
lions which have existed for more
than three years in the island of Cuba
30 near our own DO Mers, have shocked
1.-THE moral sense OF the people of the
\ United States and have been dis
grace to Christian civilization"
When Spain did things in Cuba sim
Idlar to the things we are now doing in
)the. Philippines, these things were bit
terly denounced. No attempt was made
to apologize for them; and yet today
when American citizens protest against
these evils in the Philippines they are
arraigned as enemies of their own
government and as assailants of the
American army!
What special dispensation can there
. be that would justify a wrong COM
mitted in the name Of our own gov
eminent which, if done by the repre-
sentatives of any other government,
would call for prompt and vigorous
protest in every section of this coun-
try?