The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1902-07-19
Congress has na ssed at this sess,or

Congress has passed at this session an
act giving. an ampler and broader power
Tof civil government and. the development
Of the; islands. This act, among other
things. provides for the survey, settlement
opening and deyelopment. of the. mines
and forests c There are in round num-
bers 120oo, 900 acres Of land in the islands
abundance Of timber OF this amount g.
oonoO0G00 acres are public lands, and only s.
c cI1rcb are er, private property. mostly
as laborers. or as tenants, at low wages
or high and exorbitant rents. This sys-
tenn Of church and friar ownership and
some and odious to the natives, and was
o onG Of their greatest of COM
they occupied. Most of them were mere
naked squatters: With a view of reliev-
church lands. the act referred to makes
provision for securing by purchase or
CONDEMNATION these lands and the disposal
to the natives who occupy them The act
further. provides that the natives may
secure from the public lands without cost,
In each case, Of the lands they occupied
and titled before we became possessed #
the t county 1;y, and forty acres Of that soil
makes a good and ample farm. In this
way every family can secure home Of
This free distribution Of land, in fee,
among the nativesLa thing unknown I'M
der Spanish law-will do more than any
thing else to make the mass of the people
sense of ownership begets love Of peace
and taste for law ana order. With land
e oWpneI1ship "a good system Of public
cation. the people will be in a position to
BECOME prosperous and fitted for local
self-goVernment.
and in the. immediate future aim to do,
Tor Tor the e people who came to us as a legacy
In our efforts to pacify, to civilize and
to uplift them, and especially in our re-
cent efforts of legislation in their behalf
we nave, as you all know, encountered
able OPPOSITION of the Democratic party in
congress.
They would havs US lay down our task
abandon the islands and their people to a
hard and hopeless fate, while they are
still helpless and in a state of economic
and political childhood.
Those islands: which some Of the Dem
ocracy, by their votes, for both treaty
and compensation. helped in secur-
ing, those Islands, which our brave and
Valorous army and navy have occupied
and been engaged in pacifying for the
last three. years, now that the hard
drudgery has been done and peace, with
law and order, has been restored and the
people are about to be regenerated and
born to newer and better life, now,
when all this great and necessary pre-
prea CHI the gospel Of scuttle and abandon don
ment louder and fercer than ever, thus
pell lt,ll as tar as they can, the great
d deeia E;n that haye been accomplished and
as they declared the war for the pres
erVat1on of the Union a failure in 1864.
After acquiring the islands by as valid
and Just a method as we ever acquired
any of our territorial acquisitions, after
pouring out our blood and our treasure
for them without stint. voluntarily and
treat them as stranded wreck, as
though we ourselves had been wrecked in
men, and are to cast them adrtft as an
aR pans derelict at sea: This is the
what the American people have, in be-
haif OF humanity and justice, by their
vaior, their treasure and their blood, &C.
CURED and held, they will never permit
to be wrecked, scuttled or abandoned.
The task which under high sense Of
Justice and duty they assumed in 1898
good Of Of. our entire country, and for the
good of helpless and doWntrodden hui
mainly the world over.
In adyoc4ting their scheme of abandon
delight and found luxury in traducing
our army by hunting for and proclaim
ing, with intense zeal and satisfaction,
Isolated cases and instances where some
OF our officers and soldiers goaded by the
cruelty and savagery of the enemy have
transcended the methods of civilized war
dare. me fact that a few of our officers
ana soldiers have, transgressed on the
rules OF war can have no valid bearing
on the justice or wisdom of the policy Of
r Id1I nag.,1 the islands Such transgres-
war, in fact occurred in the Civil war,
ana yet no one ever undertook to measure
the justice of that war by isolated cases
OF cruelty on the part of few men in our
great army. Neither has it appeared or
been shown that the president or the war
department has been Negligent in bring
ing before military courts, for investiga-
ton, trial and punishment, all cases of
cruelty and uncivilized warfare brought
to their attention.
THESE Democratic efforts to besmarch
our army, to exploit a few of the short
com1ngs without giving it credit for it's
patience, It's valor and it's manifold acts
OF generosity and kindness, manifest a
spirit Of sheer partisan wantonness, u.s-
provoked and unpatriotic. Cor they have
no bearing. on the policy of Retention, nor
are they Justified by any negligence of
the president or the war department in
the premises.
President Mckinley had himself partici-
pated IN war, was familiar with all itis
hardshlps and drawbacks, and was
most humane and kinu-hearted man. The
same is true of President Roosevelt and
neither melt Of them would for moment toll
OF cruelty contrary to the rules and Gus
toms of civilized warfare.
The American army is a part of our
own people, of the same race, training
and blood. The rank and file are a fair
representative Of the average of our Gull
ture, the intelligence and the moral status
or the American people, and as a whole
superior in these respects to the rank and
hle OF any other army. They are ALL in a
certain sense, volunteers, for we have no
conscription or enforced military service
in this country as they have in the old
world. They are as humane and as kind
hearted as any troops ever marshaled in
battle array. Their record in Cuba and
in China bear undisputed witness to this
fact; and in the Philippine islands, bar
ring a few instances of cruelty provoked
by the savage and barbarous methods of
the enemy, their conduct has been, on
mistaken this f5rbearance for fear or
want of courage, and they have often en-
countered great perils and suffered MAIN
ing and slaughter because Of their kind
ness, generosity and forbearance
The Democrats have shifted their spleen
against the policy Of retention to spleen
true friend never takes pains to hunt for
our shortcomings or finds delight therein,
but is ever ready to see and proclaim our
good qualities. No Democratic orator in
congress has found occasion to see or
laud or make known any of the good and
noble qualities of that army. He has ut
tered no kind or sympathetic word in its
behalf. Such conduct is
WORSE THAN UNPATRIOTIC,
it is positively. cruel to our army. The Not
of the soldier in war is most hard, dreary
To-, cfs,