The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-04-07
BACK WARD
President Roosevelt's Speech at
Fargo, North Dakota.
Reviews the Work of the Past
Four Years.
ORDER OUT OF CHAOS.
Great Good Has Been Accom-
plished in Philippines.
Congress Has Given the Army
Recognition 1t Deserved.
ORDER OUT OF CHAOS.

Fargo. N D.. April President
Roosevelts train arrived at an early
hour this morning.
The city was filled with people and
the president was received with great
enthusiasm. In his address he said;
THE PRESIDENTS ADDRESS.
my Fellow Citizens-The northwest
whose sons in the civil war added such
brilliant pages to the roll of honor OF
the republic. likewise bore full share
in the struggle of which the war with
Spain was the beginning; a struggle
slight indeed when compared with the
gigantic death wrestle which for four
years stamped to and fro across the
southern states in the civil war, but
struggle fraught with consequences TO
the nation, and indeed. to the world. out
of all proportion to the smallness Of ths
effort upon our part
Three and a half years ago President
Mckinley spoke in the adjoining state
of Minnesota on the occasion Of the re-
turn of the Thirteenth Minnesota vol
unteers from the Philippine islands,
where they had served with your own
gallant sons of the North Dakota reRi-
ment. After heartily thanking the re-
turned soldiers for their valor and pa
tr1otiSm and their cOntemDtuoUe refu-
sal to be daunted or misled by the OUT
cry raised at home by the men of little
faith who wished to abandon the is
lands, he spoke of the islands themselves
as follows
That congress will provide for them
a government which will bring them
/ blessings which will promote their ma
/ terial interests as we'll as advance their
people in the path of civilization and
4 Intelligence, / confidently believe. They
will not be governed as vasEals or serfs
or slaves They Will be given a govern
ment of liberty, regulated by law, hon
eStly administered, without expressing
exactiOns, taxation without tyranny.
justice without bribe, education without
distinction of social condition. freedom
of religious worship. and protection in
| piness'''
What he said then lay in the realm
of promise. Now it lies in the realm Of
/ positive performance.
LOOK BACKWARD.
1T IS a good thing to look back upon
what has been said and compare il with
the record OF what has actually been
done. IF promises are violated. if plight
ed word is not kent. then those who
have failed in their duty should be held
the promises have been substantially
made good if the achievement has kept
pace, and more than kept pace with the
prophecy, then they who made the one
and are responsible for the other ara
| entitled of just right to claim the credit
which attaches to those who serve thu
nation well. This credit I claim for this
/ men who have managed so admirably
the military and the civil affairs Of this
Philippine Islands, and for those other
men who have 50 heartily backed them
in congress, and without whose aid and
support not one thing could have been
ACCOMPLISHED.
when President Mckinley spoke. the
first duty was the restoration of order.
and to this end the use of the army OF
the United StateS-an army composed
of regulars and volunteers alike-Was
necessary. To put down the insurrec-
ton and restore peace to the islands
4 was a duty not only to ourselves but
| to the islanders also. We could not
have abandoned the conflict without
icT,1 I'll 41-t
| ourselves recreants to the memory of
our forefat athers. Moreover. II we had
abandoned it we would have inflicted
upon the Filipinos the most cruel wrong
and would have doomed them to a
bloody jumble of anarchy and tyranny
1t seems strange, looking back, that any
of our people should have failed Ia
recognize a duty so obvious: but there
was such failure, and the government
at home, the civil authorities in the
Philippines, and above all our gallsnR
army, had to do their work amid 2
storm of detractiOn. The army in espe-
cial was attacked in a way which fnalI,1
did good, for in the end it aroused the
hearty resentment of the great body OF
the American people, not against the
army, but against the army's traducers.
The circumstances of the war made il
one of peculiar difficulty. and our soI-
diers were exposed to peculiar wrongs
from their foes They fought IN dense
tropical jungles against enemies who
were very treacherous and very cruel,
not only toward our own men, but to-
ward the great numbers of friendly ma
tives. the most pea cea bic and most
civilized among whom eagerly well
coined our rule. Under such circun1-
stances. among a hundred thousand
hot-blooded and powerful young men
serving in small detachments on ths
other side Of the globe il was impossl-
BILE that occasional instances of wrong
doing should not occur. The fact that
they occurred in retaliation for we'll
nigh intOlerab prOVOcafion cannot for
one moment be admitted in the wav
Of excuse or justification All good
Americans regret and deplore them. and
the war department has taken every
step in its power to punish the offenders
and to prevent or minimize the chance
/ of repetition of the offense. But these
offenses were the exception and not the
rule. As a whole our troops showed
, / not only signal courage and efficiency,
but great humanity and the most sim
cere desire to promote the welfare and
| liberties of the islanders In a series Of
exceedingly harassing and difficult cam
. paigns they completely overthrew ths
enemy, reducing them finally to a con-
dition of mere brigandage; and wher-
ever they conquered, they conquered
only to make way for the rule Of tha
civil government. for the introduction
of law, and of liberty under the law
When. by last July. the last vestfge Of
organized insurreetion had disappeared,
peace and amnesty were proclaimed.
f CIVIL GOVERNMENT SUPREME.
AS rapidly as the military rule was
t extended over the islands by the defeat
; of the insurgents. just 50 rapidly WAS
. / 1t replaced by the civil government.
At the present time the civil govern
rnent is supreme and the army in tbe
Philippines has been reduced until it
is sufficient m srely to provide against
: the recurrence of trouble. In Governor
Taft and his associates we sent to the
Fiipinos as upright as conscientiouss