Omaha daily bee., 1902-02-16
WHAr worLp LINooLN EVE poNEi

war with SPAIN Would he have pur-
sued the policy of william Mckinley in
trying to avert the war? Would he
have pursued the policy Of William Nc
Kinley after war had been declared by
congress, and what conditions would he
have exacted from Spain after the last
Spanish feet had been destroyed In
front Of Santiago? Would Lincoln have
dictated the terms embodied in the
treaty Of Paris, or would he have or
dered Dewey to pull out Of Manila and
leave the Filipinos to their fate under
Spanish ruler And what would Abra-
ham Lincoln have done with the Philip
pine islands II he now occupied the
position of Theodore Roosevelt7
They say a fool can ask questions
that 1t would puzzle a wise man to an
swer. 1t would take a man endowed
with second sight to tell what a live
man might have done If he had occu-
pied the place Of another living man
under certain trying conditions. But
even a long-distance mind reader could
scarcely divine what a dead man, who
successfully solved nineteenth century
problems, would have done IL called on
to solve twentieth century problems
were he still alive.
In the light Of the record which Abra-
ham Lincoln made in peace and In war,
and with his known humane impulses
and aversion to needless bloodshed 1t is
safe to assume that he would have re-
sisted the desperate efforts of the yellow
journals and bloodthirsty swashbucklers
in and out Of congress to precipitate a
war with Spain just as long and just as
tenaciously as did William Mckinley.
It Is also safe to assume that after war
had been declared against Spain by con-
gress, he would have performed his
sworn duty as chief executive as vigor-
ously and as effectively as did William
Mckinley.
What conditions Abraham Lincoln
would have imposed upon Spain after
Spain had thrown up the sponge is un-
movable and problematical. but editor
ial salvation army exhorters and politi-
cal demagogs who desecrated the
memory Of Lincoln by garbled quota
lions to bolster up their views of So
called paramount issues in the cam
paigns of 1896 and 1900, insist that
Abraham Lincoln would never have con-
sented to the coercion of the Filipinos
by force Of arms, or their government
under military rule against their con-
sent. In this assertion they impeach
the democratic and pOpulist members OF
the United States senate, who, under
the inspiration Of William Jennings
Bryan, voted to ratify the treaty Of
Paris, 1t would be an indictment of
their intelligence to say that they did not
know that the ratification of that treaty
absolutely annexed the Philippine is
lands and made them Just as much a
part Of the United States as was Louis
lana after the purchase negotiated by
Thomas Jefferson, or California, after
the treaty ratified by a democratic SEN
ate and democratic president
II Abraham Lincoln had been presi-
dent at the close Of the Spanish-Ameri-
can war and entertained doubts Of the
expediency or wisdom OF extending
American sovereignty over islands
seven thousand miles distant, he would
have instructed the American peace
commissioners 70 desist from including
the Philippine islands with Porto Rico
as part of the wal indemnity, but no.
body who knew Abraham Lincoln and
his answering loyalty to the flag could
be made to believe that he for a moment
entertained the proposition to order the
American army and navy to evacuate
the Philippines after it had become his
duty to maintain the integrity Of the
United States on every foot OF territory
within its limits.
To ask what Abraham Lincoln would
have done In the place Of William Nc
Kinley is about as sensible as TO ask
what General Grant would have lone
II he had been In the place of George
Washington, or what King Edward VII
would have done in the place of George
III. The only reasonable question that
might be asked at this time would be
to ask what would Abraham Lincoln
have done IL he had been in the place
Of Theodore Roosevelt. and wal con-
fronted with the question Of how to
govern the Philippine islands under ex-
listing conditions. Would Abraham
Lincoln, IL he were president. shirk the
responsibility assumed by the United
States to protect life and property In
the Philippine islands when 1t became O
party to the treaty of Paris. Would be
withdraw the troops and give the Phil
ippines Independence when they are not
in condition to govern themselves
Would he let the Tagalog Fillplnos sci
up a republic in Luzon and two or three
islands in the face of the fact that the
semi-savage population Of several hun.
dred other islands do not speak thell
language and do not in any way affiliate
with them, and I'VE vary from them IL
religious creed? Would he withdraw the
American army and navy and allow the
2~,OO0,0O0 Tagalogs to wal upon Tia,
4 a ~ nAn