The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1908-02-13
Lincoln Would Approve Policy
of Administration in De-
TAIL" He Says
"Crime to Have Let Philippines
Go Unaided," Declares the !.
War Secretary
RooseveIt's Curbing of Trusts
Is Work Along Lines of
Liberator, He Ayers

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich, Feb. H.
The Lincoln club banquet here to-
night was brilliant success, with a
galaxy Of speakers never eeualed in
Michigan political banquets. More
than 1000 persons occupied seats at
the tables. The hall was elaborately
decorated, and as a compliment to
Ambassador Jusserand of France,
French colors were mingled with the
American.
The speakers were Ambassador
Jusserand, Congressman George Ed
nlund Foss. Secretary of War Taft,
Governor Curtis Guild Jr. of Massa-
chusetts and Director John Barrett
of the bureau of South American re-
publics.
greeted with enthusiasm, it was Sec
retary Taft who received the greatest
outbursts of applause.
1t continued for several minutes be-
fore he could begin his address. In
terrupted frequently by applause, he
spoke as follows:
The Philippine islands came to us
without our design. In war one must
pursue his enemy where he can find
him. 1t was necessary that Dewey
shouId destroy the Spanish feet in the
Pacific to prevent it's use against our
commerce and against our Pacific ter
ritory. The destruction of the Span
ish feet put the islands at our mercy.
INVOKED .sURGENTs' AID
We had no troops. however, and as
a reasonable war measure we invoked
the assistance OF Auginaido and his
fellow insurrectos against the poy>er
of Spain to assist US in establishing
calm IL the island until our army
could traverse the 1000 miles between
our ports and the Philippine islands
With the assistance of Aguinaldo' s
army we took the city of Manila and
peace came The question then was
what course lay open to u.s.
Should we turn our island allies
back to the government of Spain and
the oppression against which they had
revoIted? Would Abraham Lincoln have
advised that course? I do not think
so. Should we turn the islands over
TO Aguinaldo and his military subor-
dinates? They themselves in the
nine months intervening had tried
to establish a civil government, and
the tyrannies and insufflciencies of
that government in trying to maintain
order would have made it a crime
against the whole people of the islands
for US thus to seek to escape the bur-
den.
WHAT OF LINCOLN's STAND
would Abraham Lincoln have, ad-
vised a policy OF scuttle and retreat
from these islands, to leave them with
no government and a chaos that would
only increase the suffering of those
unfortunate people? Clearly. there is
nothing in the declaration of indie
pendence as interpreted by Abraham
Lincoln that would have compelled
this pusilanimous course.
'Tt is true that the declaration re-
cites that all Just government must
rely on the consent of the governed;
but that is to be interpreted as mean
ing a consent of the governed who
have intelligence sufficient to enable
them to discriminate as to what is
government in their own. interest
Lincoln in his disputes with Doug
las did not insist that the colored men,
the government as voters, but he evil
IDENTIFY treated the postulate in the dec
Iaration of independence as tue ideal
toward which all government should
work.
He would have been the last man
to affirm that it was the duty of Nc
Kinley and the republican party. re-
sponsible for administration, to have
turned those over to a people of
seven millions, with 80 per cent hav-
ing density of ignorance hard for
us to understand and with 10 per cent
though somewhat civilized and intel
ligent, yet without the slightest expe-
rlence in the exercise of political and
governmental control.
FOLLOWS AMERICAN IDEALS
Il affirm that the policy adopted by
William Mckinley and embraced by the
republican party. under which it is pro-
posed by a gradual extending of self
government to the people of the Philip
pine islands as they shall become bet
ter and better politically educated by
practice and by the school system. is
following the true spirit and proper
Interpretation of the principles of the
declaration of independence.
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