Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1904-09-02
OUR FILIPINO WARD 5.
DEMOCRATS NOT SINCERE ~
PROMISING INDEPENDENCE.


PROMISING INDEPENDENCE.
r LonR-Oppressed People Toward Bel
: Government IL the Only Safe One
4 Recent Incident at the Worlds Fai
Washington. d. c.. August 26.-In Z
other country in the world but this coul
one see the Speaker Of the Nations
Legislature sitting on the grass just GU
side the office of the Chief Executiy'
telling funny stories to the Secretary Q
War. and both Of the men absolutel
unconscious of the exquisite democrac
of their attitude. So long as such thing
as this can take place just outside tn
White House, the American people ma,
well be assured that their lives and thei
liberties are in good hands. Foreigner
who come here always fail to recognize
the real democracy of the public mer
of America, and frequently they &c
away with the impression that the Amer
lean citizen worships only the dollar, be-
cal Sc they do not realize that the men
| they run up against on the street cars, 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.
Speaker Cannon and Secretary Taft.
Joseph G. Cannon, the Speaker Of the
House of Representatives, is an excel
lent type of the sturdy western agricul-
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 a 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 a 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 2S0
pounds down on the White House lawn,
and so he leaned against q convenient
tree, and the passers-by who saw two
ordinary Americans laughing over a 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
Secretary Taft but a 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-
Neve Taft Is their best friend. 1t was
the Secretary of War who declined a
position on the Bench of the Supreme
Court of the United States because he
wished to finish his work for the people
of the PARKWAY 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 in 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.
Il 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. l think I 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 ques-
ton of independence at all at the pres
ant time, but of civilization. If we could
make the campaign on this one issue of
Imperialism so-called. taking the Repub-
lean platform and the Democratic plat
form just as they stand, Roosevelt would
1efeat Parker by an extraordinary ma
ority, and the people would repudiate
he reactionary policy of the Democrats
lutte as completely as they repudiated
heir financial policy of four and eight
Tears ago."
This casual talk between the Speak
II and the Secretary of War, and their
irm confidence in the good sense of the
American people. as well as in their
rood faith toward the Filipinos. merely
dds a point to a curious incident at
he st. Louis Exposition the day after
he adjournment of the Democratic Con
ention in that city.
The Philippines Exhibit.
Everyone knows now that the most in
eresting and the most instructive ex- ,
ibit of the great Worlds Fair in St.
4ouis is in the reservation devoted ex-
lusively to the products and the people
(, the Philippine Islands. 1t Is a Gu {
ious exhibit because it represents with
tmost fidelity, not only the best, but l
be worst features, of life in the Phil
ppine Islands. Within the boundary of /
he reservation one may get fairly ac-
urate idea Of the possibilities of
by the educated few among I
10 Filipinos, aud at the same time the e