The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1911-05-20

AMERCANDQSN IODAY|OUR LOST OPPORTUNITY
Declamation)
LEON LEITNER

[Senator Hoar's Address on the Sub
| jugation Of the Filipinos, to the Unit
| ed States Senate in December, l902.I
| We have to deal with a territory ten
| thousand miles away, twelve hundred
miles in extent, containing ten million
people.
| \ majority of the Senate think that
people are under the American flag and
| lawfully subject TO our authority. We
! are not at war with them or with any
body. The country is in a condition
| of profound peace as well as of unex-
ampled prosperity. The world is in
! profound peace, except in one quarter,
in South Africa, where a handful of re-
publicans are fighting for their indie
| pendence, and have been doing better
lighting than has ben done the face
of the earth since Thermopylae, or GER
tainly since Bannockburn.
You are fighting for sovereignty,
You are fighting for the principle of
leternal dominion over that people, and
that is the only question in issue in the
conflict We said in the case of Cuba
that she had a right to be free and in
dependent.
tion, I think without a negative voice.
land would not meddle with her terri
ltory or anything that belonged to her.
/ That declaration was a declaration
of peace as well as of righteousness
and we made the treaty, 50 far as con-
cerned Cuba. and conducted the war
and have conducted ourselves ever since
on that theory-that we had no right
to interfere with her independence,
that we had no right to her territory or
to anything that was Cuba's. So we
only demanded in the treaty that Spain
should hereafter let her alone. If you
had done to Cuba as you have done to
the PHILIPPINE Islands, who had exact
1y the same right, you would be at this
moment, in Cuba, just where Spain was
when she excited the Indignation OF
the civilized world and we compelled
her to let go. And if you had done in
the PHILIPPINES as you did in Cuba, you
would be today or would soon be in
those islands as you are in Cuba.
But you made a totally different dec
Iaration about the Philippine Islands
You undertook in the treaty to acquire
sovereignty over her for yourself
which that people denied.
> You declared not only in the treaty
, but in many public utterances in this
chamber and elsewhere. that you had a
, right to buy sovereignty with money
. or to treat it as the spoils of war OIL
the booty of battle. The moment yor
made that declaration the Filipino
people gave you notice that they treat
= ed it as a declaration of war. So your
. generals reported, and so Aguinafdt
: lexpressly declared. In stating this ac
, count of profit and loss l hardly know
which TO take up first, principles ant
honor, material interests shoulC
lhave known very we'll which to hav.
taken up first down to three years ag'
what you call the sentimental tn
ideal. the historical on the right sid
;, | of the column: the cost or the profit il
honor or shame and in character am
in principle and moral influence, il
true national glory; or the practica
;, side, the cost in money and gain, il
= life and health, in wasted labor. in dis
: minished national strength, or in pros
= poets of trade and money getting.
, What has been the practical states
= manship which comes from your ideal
- and your sentimentalities. You hav
wasted nearly six hundred millions o
treasure. You have sacrificed nearl
ten thousand American lives-th
" flower of our youth. You have de
y vastated provinces. You have slain un
counted thousands of the people yo
:" desire to benefit You have establish
ed recommendation camps. Your gen
;" erals are coming home from their har
:" vest bringing sheaves with them,
the shape of other thousands of sic
- and wounded and insane 10 drag OF
miserable lives. wrecked in body an
mind. You make the American flag
- the eyes of a numerous people the en-
blem af sacrilege in Christian churche
and of the burning Of human dwell
ings. and of the horror of the watt
ie torture. Your practical statesmanshi
d which disdains to take George Wasl
eu ington and Abraham Lincoln or II
sc soldiers of the revolution or of the civ
war models, has looked in son
e. cases to Spain for your example. l b.
&C jlieve-nay, l know-that in gener
ca our officers and soldiers are human
~ But in some cases they have carried
~ your warfare with a mixture of Ame
III lean ingenuity and Castilian cruelty.
eli Your practical statesmanship HI
ny succeeded in converting people WI
So three years ago were ready TO kiss q
hS hem of the garment of the AmericS
and to welcome him as a liberator, WI
- thronged after your men when tn
hs landed on those islands with benedi
h' tion and gratitude. into sullen and
h' reconciliable enemies, possessed of
II hatred which centuries can not erad
'Ie cate.
lie The practical craftsmanship Of I
TN Declaration of Independence and I
n Golden Rule would have cost nothil
en- but a few kind words. They wou
Is have bought for you the great title
,p- liberator and benefactor. which yo
* fathers won in Cuba. They would ha
ice bought for you undying gratitude
re- a great and free people and the und
'se ing glory which belongs to the nal
OF of liberator. That people would ha
er- felt for you as Japan felt for you VIII
ter she declared last summer that :
las owed everything TO the United STAT
ell of America.
II What have your ideals cost you, a
ied what have they bought for you? F
do' the Philippine Islands you have had
se. repeal the Declaration of Independent
yer For Cuba you had to reafirm and g