Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-10-01
MI. Stanchfield's Infelicities.

Mr. Stanchfield is an able man of high
character, but his speech at Saratoga yes
terday was not felicitous performance. 1t
limped throughout. but at no point quite
so badly as in the paragraph dealing with
the Philippine question. Take this for ex-
ample:
The death of President Mckinley was a
rational misfortune, deeply deplored and
sincerely regretted by all classes and condi-
tions of people. more strenuous If less
polite administration has demonstrated,
however, how egregiously our martyred
President was in error regarding the Phil
ippines. The democratic party has been so
persistently and malevolently miSrepresent
ed as to its attitude in regard to the islands
as to call for a sober and candid statement
OF the truth. We insist that the principles
at the bottom of the war, If it be termed
war, now proceeding in the Philippines are
both un-American and undemocratic. The
administration stands upon the proposition
that we can buy with money. or obtain by
force. the right to hold in subjugation
people whose consent has not been had, and
put upon them such a constitution as we
deem proper
Here, it will be seen, is an awkward eff
fort to saddle upon the Roosevelt admins
tration responsibility for actions taken by
the Mckinley administration. All that Mr..
Stanchfed denounces was done before Mr..
Roosevelt took the helm. The Filipinos
were bought and force was employed to
establish American sovereignty in the
chlpelago, by Mr. Mckinley. There is no
war now proceeding in the Philippines.
The war is over, thanks to the energy
with which the American soldiers executed
their orders. The leading feature of the
Roosevelt administrations part in the af-
fairs of the archipelago has been the urging
upon Congress of the passage of a law ex-
tending the civil power there, and this has
gone into effect! The Filipinos today, after
four years of American rule, are sharing
more largely in the conduct of their affairs
than in the whole three hundred years of
Spanish power.
Then Mr.. Stanchfield proceeds:
The democratic party makes no attack
upon the American soldiers. The rank and
file of our soldiers and sailors is largely
composed of democrats. and foul indeed is
the bird that soils its own nest"
Our soldiers and sailors are not properly
to be defended on political grounds. They
are not serving the country as partisans but
as patriots They have done well, not be-
cause they were democrats or republicans,
but because they were American citizens
No partisan considerations sent them to the
scene, and no partisan considerations have
kept them there. Democratic votes united
with republican votes in the Senate to ratify
the Paris treaty, which accomplished the
purchase of the Filipinos at 81 per head
and many prominent democrats have from
the first been, and are today, in favor Of
the permanent retention of the archipelago.
The Philippine question does not lend itself
to partisan claptrap The record is too
plain and too generally understood. The
war with Spain was not a partisan war and
partisanship is improperly invoked in the
discussion Of settling the difficulties grow
ing out of the struggle