New-York tribune., 1908-02-13
MIR. TAFT ON LINCOLN.
Continued from first page.

vote. It must be So But while all independent
| voters a mass exercise more control oyer t1s ne
decisions in an election, as individuals tney 90
not do so. The man who would retain his indl-
vdual influence and effect good measures IN our
CARRYING on of the government. must be a party
man. And no one recognizes TINS more iuliy
than did Lincoln. For that reason we may say
In the first place, that II Lincoln were living To-
day he would be Republican ,;u.,...,,,
! Lincons economic views were not distlnctly
marked. Early I'm his career he favored internal
| improvements in Illinois as meMDer OF the
Legislature to such a point as to inVolve the
state in a heavy indebte edness, which never III
ured largely to the benefit of the people. His
| mind was not directed even during the war. 10
| finances Of the country to his Secretary of the
! Treasury, Mr.. Chase AS a follower OF Mr.. Gay.
] he in favor of the protective or American
tration the Morrill, tariff passed. for the
system of protection to American industries on
: the modern plan then fully fnaugurated.
We can therefore. assign him to place in the
present day among protectionists.
LINCOLN AND EXPANSION.
Where would he stand In respect to our Phil
| ippine policy and expansion? Would he. as the
anti-imperialists take the position. were he lv-
! ing to-day, that the Republican party in its ac-
| tion in respect to Porto Rico and Cuba and the
Philippines had departed from the principles
that actuated him in becoming Republican ana
In retaining that party In national controi! MI.
Lincoln relied greatly in his discussions on the
slavery question upon the terms of the Declara-
ton Of Independence. He dwet upon the postu-
late set forth in that instrument that all men
created free and equal. and he insisted thats
In SO far as the Constitution recognized slavery.
and in far slavery institution or
our government, it was departure from the
Declaration of Independence. and it is possible
to quote from his writings and speeches. SEN
tences which, taken from their text and made
applicable to the Republican policy in the Phil
ippines. would seem to be at variance with it. But
when we understand what it was that Mr.. Lin
coin attacking and compare 1t with what IL
is that We nave done ana are oolhe ia tne fhp
ippines 1t will be that the two things are
SO different that 1t is utterly unsafe to assume
that his attitude toward the policy of expansion
and our Philippine policy would be the same as
his attitude toward the institution Of human
slavery. He maintained that the words All
men are created free and equal" included the
negro as we'll as the white man. but affirmed
with great emphasis that he did not mean that
the men who were thus declared equal wers
necessarily fitted at to be voters or take
part in the government. What he contenoed was
that they were entitled to the bread they earned
and should be given the right of life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness
Lincoln was not man stifay dogmatic He
was a man who allowed the application of his
principles to be controlled by the fitness of the
thing His whole nature was that of sweet rea-
sonableness and common sense. Had he been
in the seat occupied by Mckinley Wheh the
problem was presented to him after the Spanish
war as to what should be done with respect to
the Philippines there Is nothing in his career
nothing in any of his speeches properly under
! stood, which would have prevented him from
taking exactly the same course which Mckinney
took.
THE WAR WITH SPAIN.
1t is true that Mr. Lincoln opposed. with argu-
ment and resolution, the course of Mr.. Poks
administration in beginning the Mexican war.
and that he regarded it mere quest for mil
itary glory and acquisition of territory that did
not belong to us; but when compares the
different circumstances surrounding the recent
Spanish with those OF the Mexican War no
fair minded man can sustain an analogy pc
tween the two. We all remember the re-
Iuctance with which Mckinley was finally
| brought to the necessity of taking up arms IN
behalf Of the Cubans against Spain. No impair
ta historian will attribute to him in the begin
ming Of that either greed Of territory or
lust of power. The self-denying resolution or
Senator Teller attached to the declaration Of war
relieved Congress and the country from any i'm
putation of having as motive in beginning that
war territorial aggrandiZement. 1t was a war
that found its reason IN the misgovernment CT
a people so near to the United States that their
decentralization, their sufferings and their dan
ger in point of health to all their neighbors had
become international scandal. and Mckinley
resisted to the uttermost the appeal to arms.
but force Of public opinion was too strong Tor
him. and he yielded to the inevitable. Lincoln
would have done exactly the same and he could
have done so without the slightest departure
from the principles which guided him through
the Mexican War and through the Civil War
When the exigencies of the Cuban war took
us to the Philippines and Porto Rico and the
problem submitted to US after the protocol
was signed, whether we should take over the
Philippines. a question arose Tor decision tnat
/ finds no analogy whatever in the issues which
Mr. Lincoln was called upon to consider. and our
national course in that regard found no con-
trolling principle in his declared political philos-
| ophy for specific guidance.
THE PHILIPPINE PROBLEM
The Philippine Islands came to US without our
! design In war one must pursue his enemy
! where he can find him. 1t necessary that
| Dewey should destroy the Spanish fleet In the
Pacific to prevent its use against our commerce
| and against our Pacific territory. The destruc-
| ton of the Spanish feet put the Philippines at
| our mercy We had no troops. however, and as
| a reasonable measure we invoked the as
! sfstance of Agunaldo and his fellow insurrectos
! against the power Of Spain to assist us In es-
| tablishing control on the land until our army
| could traverse the seven thousand miles between
! our ports and the Philippines With the assist
| ance of Aguina1dos army we took the city OF
| Manila and then peace came. The question was
| what course lay open to u.s.
| Should we turn Philippine allies back TO
| the government OF Spain and to the oppression
| against which they had revolted? Would Abra-
| ham Lincoln have advised that course? 1 can
| not think So Should we turn the islands over
| to Aguinaldo and his military subordinates?
| They had themselves in the nine months inter-
vening tried to establish civil government, and
the tyrannies and the insufficencies of that gov
I ernment in trying to maintain order would nave
| made it a crime against the whole people of the
| islands for thus to dodge responsibility and
! seek TO escape the burden which Providence
seemed to have thrust upon us. Would Abra-
| ham Lincoln have advised policy of sCuttle and
| retreat from these islands. TO leave them with
! no government and a chaos that would only in
crease the suffering Of those unfortunate people?
| Clearly. there is nothing in the Declaration of
| independence interpreted by Abraham Lin
| coin that would have compelled this pusillani-
/ course.
| 1t is true that the Declaration rectes that all
| 1ust government must rely on the consent of tho
| governed: but that is to be Interpreted as mean
| ing a consent of the governed who have intel
, lgence sufficient to enable them TO discriminate
as to what Is government in their own interest.
| Lincoln in his debates with Douglas did not
| insist that the Colored men, as they then were,
| should take part in the government as voters.
| but he evidently treated the postulate in the
Declaration of independence the ideal toward
| ShO V0T II