Evening journal., 1904-03-29
TUESDAY. MARCH s9, 1904,
sENAroR vEsr on eRAY.

SENATOR VEST ON GRAY.
In his very entertaining reminis-
cences senator Vest in the current
number OF the Saturday Evening Post
discusses the treaty Of Paris which
ended our war with Spain, and again
brings up the much- discussed action of
Senator Gray in signing that docu-
ment. Mr.. Vest says;
Senator Gray. OF Delaware. the only
Democrat on the commission, was em-
phaticauy opposed to our acquiring
jurisdiction over the archipelago or any
part Of &C. Senator Frye admitted In q
conoquy upon the floor of the Senate
In open session that the President had
instructed the commissioners when they
left Washington under no circum-
seances to take any part of the archi-
pelago except the island of LuzOn; but
after our commissioners had ascer-
tained In Paris from the Spanish COM
missioners that Spain was utterly help
less and could make no further resist
ance. q majority Of them determined TO
seize the whole archipelago; and the
correspondence between them and the
state DEPARTMENT, made public two
Years HIltI NHc treaty was A'AAAAAAA'Af
shows the opinion of each one of the
commissioners in regard to what should
be the policy pursued by this Govern
rnent. All five OF our commissioners
signed the Paris Treaty taking the
whole archipelago from Spain and
making a charitable donation Of S20,-
600. .o0o 10 that unfortunate country i'm
sheer pity for the deplorable condition
in which Spain had been left by the
war. Among the papers made public
by action Of the Senate is the protest OF
Senator Gray against taking any part
Of the Philippine Archipelago. In this
protest he denounces such action as
being opposed to the traditions and
settled policy Of the United states, and
says that the acquisition Of the islands
by this Government would violate the
declaration made by the Teller resolu-
ton. He declares that the acquisition
of the Philippines viii derange our
labor system, demoralize our young
men, and prove an incubus IN the fu-
ture. Senator Gray closes his protest
by stating that his conscience would
not permit him 20 sign the treaty. but
for some reason Of which I have no
knowledge and about which I shall in
dulge In no conjecture. he did sign the
treaty at Paris. and then came back
10 the Senate. where he was one OF It's
most strenuous enthusiastic supporters.
It would seem that sufficient time has
elapsed since the signing OF that treaty
TO consider st on It's merits, and we
are inclined 70 think that Mr.. Vest
could guess the motives which moved
senator Cray without doing too great
violence 10 his political prejudices. II
Is well-known that when Senator Gray
left for Paris he was sternIy opposed
to our acquisition OF any part Of
Philippine territory But arriving
there and confronted with the necessity
Of making a treaty which should be
equitable and permanently satisfactory
to an. there was a condition and not a
theory facing him.
There were several courses open TO
the American commissioners, and they
had TO make choice. The Philip
pines which had been in rebellion
against Spanish oppression for cen-
turtles might have been turned over
again TO their oppressors. But that
would not have been humane, and, be-
Sides It was well-known that Spain
could not assert her authority.
or the independence Of the islands
might have been declared and that
would have meant the placing Of ad-
venturers like Aguinaldo and Mablni
in the saddle with consequent revolu-
tion and disorder, ending In the seizure
OF the islandsiby some European power.
There were but two other courses;
either to seize one or two islands and
leave the rest derelict to harass US,
or to annex the whole archipelago.
Reluctantly Senator Gray came to
the support Of the last plan, and it is
pertinent to ask what any American
citizen placed in a similar position
would have done? The commission
could not satisfy the American people
with academic discussions; they had
10 do something. And any critic should
set about answering the question OF
what he would have done under the
same circumstances