The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1902-06-05
Our Purrose in the Philippines.

supported the treaty of Paris with
a full consciousness Of what its ratifi-
cation involved realized fully that
grave responsibilities would rest upon
us by the cession of the Philippines.
l did not support the treaty because
of the material or commercial posi-
bilities which the islands might afford
our citizens.
have not been able to bring myself
to the consideration of our duty in
the islands from the standpoint of
their commercial advantages to us, no
matter how considerable they may be.
l have from the beginning put our duty
upon higher plane. The obligation
TO care for and protect those who.
through one of the great evolutions of
human history have been committed to
US. has seemed tC me always to be
our paramount duty.
1t does not matter to me whether
the Philippines have gold in abund-
ance or forests of rare and valuable
woods, or fields of unexceiled fertili-
ty, or ports filled with a large COM
marce present or prospective. The SUI
prone question with me. as with an
overwhelming majority of the Ameri-
can people, has been and is that ques-
ton which concerns our duty to men
and to humanity.
Question One of Human Rights.
While We are a nation of tremen-
dous commercial activities and untold
wealth, they are not our greatest
glory, nor are they the controlling fac
tors in determining our national duty
The questions of human rights and
human liberty are the potential ques-
tons which have summoned our
mightiest armies and have assembled
our fleets and stirred our country to
the utmost depths.
1t was not gold nor the dream of
empire that summoned us in 1898 from
the fields of peace to the theater of
war. 1t was not the thought of terri
torial aggrandizement which led the
American congress in the exercise of
its exalted constitutional power to de-
clare war against Spain. It was not
the lust for mere martial victory for
which 100000 of the flower of the
youth of the land left the vocaticns of
peace and went down to the battle
fields of the republic. No, not that.
But be it said in honor and praise of
the great republic that it was to over
throw the power of tyranny and to
give to the oppressed children of men
the privileges of republican govern
ment
Responsibility for EIoodshed.
Whoever says that the course of the
administration and the Republican ma
jority in congress is inspired by the
sordid and ungenerous motives gross
ly misjudges men.
Aid of the government in it's effort
to maintain the laws wherever it's
Jurisdiction extends and wherever it is
assailed is not censurable, it is not
criminal, and it never will be. Oppo-
sition to the efforts of the government
to assert it's lawful authority has never
been regarded with favor. We erect
no monuments to commemorate the
efforts, no matter how earnestly and
honestly they may have been rendered,
of those who put themselves in the
pathway of national duty and national
progress. Blood has, indeed, been
shed, but it has been shed in an effort
to establish the lawful authority of the
government in territory which indis-
putably belongs to it by virtue of the
law. 1 regret most sincerely that
blood has been shed, but | am graft
fed to know that it is not upon our
hands.
The Folly of Opposition.
So long as a vestige of instruction
remains in the islands, opposition in
this country means an increase in the
death list of our soldiers and seamen.
It means an increase of the money
required to support the army and
navy; it means an increase in the pen
sion roll; it means hindrance in build
ing up the waste places in the islands
and in the establishment of civil gov
eminent. Granted that such opposi-
ton springs from exalted motives, and
do not question it for a moment. we
can only regret that there are those
who so enormously, though honestly,
read their national duty.
The suggestion that our attitude is
governed by 1.-The greed for gain and
the lust for power is unfounded and
ungenerous Our responsibility came
unsought and without any desire
whatever for the extension of our COM
mercial dominion All parties recog-
nize that we are under certain obliga-
lions and duties which We cannot
or honorably abandon. We
are in the Philippines. and must con-