The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1904-09-15
PRESIDENT SENDS
EXPECTED LETTER
CONTINUED from page g.

as 1t is in our power to guarantee Their
individual rights to life. liberty and the
pursuit of happiness are now by act Of
congress jealousy safeguarded under
the American flag; and if the protection
OF the flag were withdrawn their rights
would be lost, md the islands would be
plunged back u der some form Of vicious
tyranny. We have given them more self.
government than they have ever before
had; we are ia ing steps to increase it
still further by providing them with an
elected legislative assembly; and sure
ly we had better await the result of this
experimentation it is wholly new ex-
pertinent in As.a-before we make
promises which as a nation we might be
forced to break, or which they might
interpret ony way and we in another II
may be asserted without fear of success
full contradiction that nowhere else in
recent years has there been as fine an
example of constructive craftsmanship
and wise and upright administration as
has been given by the civil authorities,
aided by the army, in the Philippine
islands. We have administered them in
the interest of their own people; and the
Filipinos themselves have profited most
by our presence in the islands; but they
have also been OF very great advantage
to us as nation"
Conclusion.
In conclusion the president says:
"Our appeal is made to all good citi-
zens who hold the honor and the interest
of the nation close to their hearts. The
great issues which are at stake, and upon
which have touched, are more than
mere partisan issues, for they involve
much that comes home to the individual
pride and individual well-being of our
people. Under conditions as they actual
ly are, good Americans should refuse,
for the sake of the welfare of the nation,
to change the national policy. We, who
are responsible for the administration
and legislation under which this coun-
try, during the last seven years, has
grown so greatly in well-being at home
and in honorable repute among the ma
lions of the earth abroad, do not stand
inertly upon this record. do not use this
record as an excuse for failure of effort
to meet new conditions. On the con-
trary, we treat the record of what we
have done in the past as Indictment to
do even better in the future We believe
that the progress that we have made NAV
be taken as measure of the progress
we shall continue to make If the people
again entrust the government of the ma
ton to our hands We do not stand
still. We press steadily forward toward
the goal of moral and material we'll
being for our own people. or just and
fearless dealing toward all other peo-
pies, in the interest not merely of this
country, but of mankind. There is not
policy, foreign or domestic, which we
are now carrying out, which it would
not be disastrous to reverse or abandon.
II our opponents should come in and
should not reverse our policies, then they
weuld be branded with the brand of
breken faith, of false promise, of in
sincerity in word and deed; and no man
oaR work to the advantage of the nation
with such a brand clinging to him. If,
on the other hand they should come in
and reverse any or all Of our policies, by
just so much would the nation as a whole
BE damaged. Alike as lawmakers and
as administrators Of the law we have
endeayored to do onr duty in the interest
of the people as a whole.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT"