The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1916-02-11

Mr.. Reed. | did not think anything
of the kind. / understand the innuen-
do of the gallant knight from the
Southwest; but since the Senator has
asked me the question, will say to
him that / had regiment raised and
the promise of the Governor of my
State that | should be the next to be
mustered in. The only reason l did
not go was because the war was over
before Missouri was assigned any
more troops. ! have, however, not
been in the habit of parading my
modest efforts. would not mention
the circumstance now, except for the
somewhat contemptuous and insulting
remark the Senator has passed over
to this side of the Chamber.
The Vice President. Let us be care
full not to violate the rules of the Sen
ate.
Mr.. Fall. If the Senator can con-
strue my question an insult, he is wei
come to such construction as he de-
sires to place upon it.
Mr.. Reed. understood the Senator
would come back with his usual cour-
tesy and repeat what he had already
said; that has happened often in the
Chamber, and it has no more effect on
me now than it has had in the past.
| pass from that fruitless topic to re-
mark that much cheap politics are
these days being played. Men who,
if they were charged with the grave
duties devolving upon the head of this
Government would observe discreet
silence are very voluble and highly
critical. These knights of forum and
sanctum talk all the Drawer because
they only fight with words and bear
small measure of responsibility, else
they might not be so often heard
carping. declare that it is my hum
BILE judgment that the man who at
this crisis of the worlds affairs will
Intentionally do anything to aggra-
vate the international situation is a
bad man, dangerous citizen, and the
worst kind of a demagogue. What
we ought to be trying to do is to pre-
/ serve our calm, our deliberation, and
to keep ourselves as nearly as posi-
Bile before all the world as q nation
standing impartial, desiring only to
see the European conflict brought to
an end.
1t may be that,we ought to have in
vaded Mexico with an army of 300
900 men; it may be that we ought to
have imposed debt of two or three
billion dollars upon our people; but
| repeat that if the question were put
to vote in this Chamber today the
men who have so often criticised our
Mexican policy would not dare to vote
declaration of war against Mexico.
| have said that much simply because
the intimation was rather broad, as
understood it, that, after all, if we
really had a red-blooded President,
we would have better maintained the
dignity of this country and we would
have better protected our citizens.
conclude with this remark, that
| trust even those who did not go in
to the Spanish war, as did the Sena-
tor from New Mexico (Mr. FalD, may
be permitted in this Chamber to ex-
press an opinion with reference to our
national and international matters and
even to speak the sacred name of
Roosevelt without any further intima-
tions that they are lacking in person
al courage or in patriotism. The quail
ity of courage is not limited to any
one race or to any zone man. 1t is
therefore possible that courage may
be sometimes associated with great
vehemence of speech or even a con-
temptuous tolerance for the opinions
of others.
Continuing his remarks on the Phil
ippines, Mr.. Reed said;
Mr.. President, either these people
are capable of self government or
they are not. We have been in the
islands 16 years. At the end of
four-year period, when it is proposed
to grant to the Philippines the right
to set up a separate government, we
will have been there 20 years. If at
the end of that time the Philippine
people are incapable Of maintaining a
government of their own, who will say
that at the end of a further period
of five years they shall be able to
maintain a government of their own?
And what greater right would there
be on our part to abandon them to the
tender mercies of all the nations of
the world at the end of 25 years than
there is at the end of 20 years, count
inp the time from the date we took