Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1904-09-05
OUR FILIPINO WARDS.
DEMOCRATS NOT SINCERE IN
PROMISING INDEPENDENCE.
Republican Policy of Educating the
Long-Oppresscd People Toward Self
Government Is the Only Safe One
Recent Incident at the Worlds Fair.


Recent Incident at the Worlds Fair.
Washington, D. c., August 26.-In no
| other country in the world but this could
one see the Speaker of the National
! Legislature sitting on the grass just out
side the office of the Chief Executive
telling funny stories to the Secretary of
! War, and both of the men absolutely
unconscious of the exquisite democracy
! of their attitude. So long as such things
as this can take place just outside the
| White House, the American people may
| well be assured that their lives and their
! liberties are in good hands Foreigners
| who come here always fail to recognize
| the real democracy of the public men
| of America, and frequently they go
! away with the impression chat the Amer
! lean citizen worships only the dollar, be-
! cause they do not realize that the men
| they run up against on the street ears, or
| the people they jostle on crowded cor
| ners are the elected rulers of the Amer
| lean people who step up one day and
| down the next, and who are not injured
| either by their elevation or by Their
! period of subsequent retirement.
Joseph G. Cannon, the Speaker of the
House of Representatives, is an excel
| lent type of the sturdy western agrcul-
tural class. He has not a stuck-up hair
| in his head and while he never does
| things which are out of place, he is
| never afraid to do things for fear some
| one might accuse him of lack of dig
nifty. 1t was perfectly natural in him
| when coming out of the White House
| the other day to plump himself down
| on a grassy terrace for the express pur-
| pose of telling series of funny stories
| to his companion who happened to be
| Secretary Taft. The Secretary of War
| is big man in every sense of the word,
| physically as well as mentally. 1t was
| no easy job for him to get his $50
| pounds down on the White House lawn,
| and so he leaned against a convenient
| tree, and the passers-by who saw two
ordinary Americans laughing over good
story had but little idea, perhaps, that
these were two of the great men of the
country who had been intrusted by the
people with vast power, but who never
theless had lost none of their Republican
simplicity
Secretary Taft but year ago was the
Governor of the Philippines. He re-
signed that office to accept the position
he now holds only because he believed
that as Secretary of War he could do
more for the Filipinos, the little brown
people he had come to look upon as his
| own children, and who in their turn be-
| lieve Taft is their best friend. 1t was
| the Secretary of War who declined
position on the Bench of the Supreme
Court of the United States because he
wished to finish his work for the people
of the far-away Pacific Islands, and he
would not abandon their interests even
to accept an office to which he had hon
estly aspired every since the day when
he rowed with the crew at Yale and was
known as the strongest athlete III that
great University.
1t was perfectly natural therefore af-
ter the funny stories had been told. and
the last hearty laugh of the big-chested
Secretary of War had foated around the
| White House corner, that the converse
ton should drift toward the subject of
the Philippines.
Would Haul Down the Flag.
'T wish we could make the campaign
on the Philippine ISSUE" said Mr.. Can
| non ''The Democrats in their platform
| have pronounced for the ultimate indie
pendence of the Filipino. They have
| denounced us for endeavoring at the
present time to improve conditions in the
| Island and they have in effect declared
| that if they had the power they would
| haul down the American flag at the first
| opportunity. I think / know the peo-
| pie of this country. l know they are
| in hearty sympathy with the policy of
| the Republican party in regard to the
| Philippines They know the work you
| did out there, and they know the work
your successors are doing. They have
no notion of giving up the Philippines at
the present time, but they intend to APP
| ply American institutions, American
IDEAS and American civilization to the
people of the Island. 1t is not a ques
ton of independence at all at the pres
ent time, but of civilization. If we could
| make the campaign on this one issue of
Imperialism so-called, taking the Repub-
Iican platform and the Democratic plat
form just as they stand, Roosevelt would
| defeat Parker By an extraordinary ma
| iority, and the people would repudiate
| the reactionary policy of the Democrats
| quite as completely as they repudiated
| their financial policy Of four and eight
| years ago."
This casual TALK between the Speak
er and the Secretary of War, and their
| firm confidence in the good sense of the
American people, as we'll as In their
good faith toward the Filipinos, merely
adds a point to a curious incident at
| the ST. Louis Exposition the day after
the adjournment of the Democratic Con
yention in that city.
The Philippines Exhibit.
Everyone knows now that the most in
teresting and the most instructive ex-
hibit of the great Worlds Fair in St.
Louis is in the reservation devoted ex-
clusively to the products and the people
of the Philippine Islands. 1t is a Gu
rious exhibit because it represents with
utmost fidelity, not only the best, but
the worst features, of life in the Phil
ippine Islands. Within the boundary of
the reservation one may get fairly ac-
curate idea of the possibilities of