New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-07-07

but never Of set purpose nor from greed of land
/ In the case of Hawaii. the will of the people of
| those islands coincided with the important IN
! tereStS we nave TO guard in the Pacific. IN the
Samoan treaty we freed ourselves from use
/ less and dangerous ENHANCEMENT, and in place
OF undesirable condOninium gained pos
! session of the best harbor in the South Seas
retaining at the same time, all our commercial
! rights in the archipelago. The diplomacy Of
! Mckinley and Roosevelt has been directed prin-
! Cipally TO our present and future interests in
! the Pacific, on whose wide shores so much Of the
! worlds WOrls is TO be done. They have con-
| stantly keptSin view the vast Importance of that
| opening f-cld OF our activities. The long nego-
! tiatioDs for the open door in China the stead
/ fast fight we made for the integrity of that an
Gent empire; President McKinleys attitude
! throughout the Boxer troubles, so severely crit
! Cised at the time and splendidly approved
! by the result: the position President Roosevelt
| has since held and holds in. regard to the
neutrality Of China in the present war-have all
been dictated by consistent policy, of taking
! care that our interests receive no detriment in
the Pacific that while we wish no harm TO any
J one else. shall that damage is done to
our people 10 door is shut in our face.
The negotiations begun by Mckinley and
! successfully completed by Roosevelt for the alb
roGation Of the Clayton-Eulwer treaty, which
| impeded our freedom OF action in building
/ isthman canal, part of the same general
! plan of opening a field of enterprise in those
! distant regions where the Far West becomes
! the Far East. In this matter we were met in
| the most frank and friendly spirit by the Brit
! ism government, as also in the matter of the
| Alaskan boundary which was settled for all
! time by a high judicial tribunal removing
! cloud upon our title TO another great Pacific
| possession. And to close this record of success
! -monotonous because gained by appeals to rea-
| son rather than force, without parade or melo-
| drama-came the treaty with Panama, by
! which finally gained the pathway across the
| isthmus by Il perpetual grant fnsuring the
struction Of American canal under American
| control built primarily for American needs, but
( open on equal terms to all the people of good
viii the world over.
All the foreign policy Of Mckinley and Roose-
! welt has been marked with the same stamp of
honesty and fair dealing, confessedly in Ameri
! can interests, but treating friends with
| equity and consideration They have made
more treaties than any two preceding Presi-
dents; and the conclusion of the whole matter
is that we stand today in independent though
amicablc relations to all the rest OF the world,
without an ally and without an enemy.
HOW ISLANDS HAVE BEEN RULED.
II the government for the last seven years
had done nothing else, it would have entitled
itself to an honorable place I'm history by the
manner in which it has handled the questions
! of the islands whose destiny has been inter
woven with our own. The war with Spain was
carried through with incredible sWiftness and
/ energy, Without n shadow of corruption, with
out a moral a technical fault. hundred
days suffiCcd for the fighting Diplomacy then
did its work and our commissioners brought
home 4 treaty just and beneficial that il
was impossible to unite the opposition against
1t. Then came the far more difficult and deli
cate task of administrations You remember
the doiell prophecies OF eVlI with which the ar
was filled; that had not the habit nor the
ability TO govern outlying possessions: that the
islands would be ceSSpoolS OF JObbeTy ana
fraud; that the enterprise was conceived in vio-
lence and would 20 out in disaster. And now
you know the result The republic never is in
default Of men to serve Il WUrthily when the
Chief of the State is honest and able; when he
has the eve and the will to choose the best men
and viii be satisfied with no less. SO in Cuba.
Porto Rico and the Philippines we got the best
we had. Wood, Allen and Hunt, and TAFT have
each in his place wrought great work and
gained righteous fame. Cuba and Porto RICO
are free and eujoyiug-the one under her own
banner, the other under the Stars and stripes
degree OF prosperity and happiness never
known before in all their troubled story As to
the Philippines. the work done there by Judge
Taft and his associates VIII rank among the
highest achievements OF colonial administration
recorded in history. Never since their diSCOv
cry has there been such general peace and or
der; 50 thorough a protection Of the peaceable
and restraint of eVildoers; wide diffusion
OF education; so complete a guarantee TO indus
try of the fruit of its labors And when they
see this energetic and efficient government car
ricd on free from the veualty and bribery
which formerly seemed 70 them necessity of
existence then, indeed, they are like them that
dream. The principal evil from which they sun
suffer has its origin here. Some we'll meaning
|eople-and others not well meaning are
constantly persuading them that they are OPP
pressed, and that they viii be given their lib-
| erty-as they choose 10 call it-as soon as the
Republican party is uNerthrOwn In this Coun-
try. These are the true enemies Of the FIJI
pinos and not the who striving with
whole hearted energy and with cousummate
success TO afnelorate thelr CONDITION and 10
make them fit for seif-goV eminent and all It's
perialists confound in their daily speeches and
writings two absolutely unrelated ideas-thc
liberty the cvu rights. the self-government
which we have given the FHpnos, and the
Independence which the best Of them do not
want and know they unable to maintain.
To abandon them now, to cast them adrift at
the mercy Of accident, would be act OF
ardice and treachery which would gain the
scorn and reproach Of civilization.
AIDED BY DEMOCRATS.
Our opponents sometimes say We have no right
to claim the credit OF the great deeds Of the
last half century-that we could not have
complished them without the aid OF Demo
Gratis. Nothing truer was ever said; and IL Is
one of the chief Elories Of our annals. and IL
forms the surest foundation Of our hopes for the
future. The principles upon which our party
is built sound, they have so irresistible
an attraction to patriotic and fair minded men,
that whenever Il time OF crisis comes, when the
national welfare is clearly at stake, when voters
must decide whether they shall follow their
prejudices or their consciences draw from
other parties their best men by thousands.
Bright among the brightest of those who found
ed our party shine the names of Democrats;
and when the war came on the picked men OF
that party rallied to the colors. Douglas Short
ly before he died. declared his unfaltering sup
port Of Lincoln. The sun would go down before
heroes for the country. Grant, sherman Sheri-
dan. Dix, Sickles, Logan-in short, iunumer-
able host, Democrats ALL rushed into the field
and thereafter fought and worked with the Re
publicans while life lasted. And that vast ma
| Jority of Llncolns in 1864 would have been inn
possible had not myriads Of Democrats casting
their lifelong associations TO the winds. listened
to the inward monitor which said, Choose you
| this day whom ye will serve"
AS 1t was then, SO II has been in after years
When the attempt was made to repudiate. in
whole or in part, the national debt; or to abol-
ish the system of protection to American indus
tries, founded by Washington and Hamilton
and approved by the experience of a hundred
years; to degrade our currency at the demand
Of mere ignorance and greed-in all these cases
we saw the proof Of the horney adage that YOU
may lead horse to the water but may not
make him drink. in spite of organizations and