OCR Text |
Show GOOD SENSE FROM ' TEDDY ROOSEVELT! THE ANCIENT AND SENSELESS FRAUD OF IMPERIALISM EXPOSED. Roosevelt's Speech in Grand Rapids -What Has Really Been Done in the Philippines and How It Was Done Effect of the "Fire From the Rear." The Guerrillas Will Gi-re op When McKinley I; Re-elected. ' I as anderstod by Americans has been Illustrated by astoundingiy arbitrary and cruel decrees, which were put Into force as far as practicable, and by the cold-blooded assassination af . their ablest generals." To give to auch men the right to oppress others in the name ef liberty would be, the merest travesty the principles of right No men can profess the doctriaea our political foes profess as regards the Philippines without being speedily lured i-Cto positions even more destructive destruc-tive of the national honor, lae extremists ex-tremists among them of every grade have actually been attacking the President Pres-ident for what he has done in China, and one of their leaders even had the wild folly-to state that the Boxer outbreak out-break in Chinn was due to our possession posses-sion of the Philippines. This sapient gentleman might just exactly aa well have stated that our occupation of the Philippines produced disturbances in the rings of Saturn. It Is noteworthy that the first result of the militarism complained of in the Philippines haf been to enable the President la lakt the load In protecting our miatstar and our missionaries in China. It la difficult diffi-cult to know which to admin the most the cool-headed moderation with which the President throughout the Chinese difficulty has refnsed ta ailaw his country to take. a vindictive attitude atti-tude or to da more I ha a exact justice or, on the other hand, the staadfast and unswerving resolution with which he Is insisting that thia justice akeald be obtained. My fellow-citizeas, the troth aa regards re-gards the preaent aituatioa a simply and clearly that the American people now have ta decide whether ar met to their own devices to work out their own destruction. I have spoken of the cruelties committed com-mitted by the Insurgent natives, especially espe-cially upon those natives who refused to Join in the Insurrection. Many of the officers whom I knew before Santiago San-tiago write me about affairs in the Philippines. Phil-ippines. I cannot, as a rule, make public pub-lic their names. From one series of letters, however, I desire to quote to yon certain extracts. In one of the letters let-ters he says: "We have worked and planned to get these people who cared to be friendly and accept our protection to come into town. We succeeded. Many of the Filipinos came in and were given houses. Those without food were supplied, sup-plied, the sick were doctored, etc. Now, it is the earnest endeavor of all the Insurgents In-surgents to burn the town, kill or carry car-ry off the people men, women and children. They treat their prisoners with great cruelty. There is terrible suffering among the amigos when we eannot protect them. I hear continually and believe they are waiting for the November election and will be active until then. Our troops entered a new town not long ago and called In the ehief local officer for a talk. The matter mat-ter was laid fairly before him as to whether he wished to join with us or go with the iusnrrectos. Being a thinking think-ing man he hesitated a few moments, and then fairly took the breath from the officer by asking him whether Bryan and McKinley would be elected this falL He joined ns only after being assured that there was no possibility of Bryan's being elected. I would certainly vote the straight Republican ticket if I were at home. "I cannot understand how our own ountry should do so much to encourage encour-age the insurrection and cause the loss of so much life. In this Island I know that the army of insurrectos and guerillas guer-illas Is kept alive by people at home. Bryan's campaign is most closely followed. fol-lowed. The speeches of public men who expose expansion, and in doing so la many points there is a curious similarity between this campaign o; 1900 and the compaign of 1804, when President Lincoln was re-elected. Not alnce the close of the Civil war have we ever had an administration which did 00 much to uphold the honor and Interest of America as President Me-Kinley's, Me-Kinley's, and not since the close of the Civil war, not even in 1808 or 1800, has It been of such vital consequence to overwhelm a political party as it now la, for the success of our opponents would mean to the couury a disiister fraught with the gravest consequences. There is a close similarity between the arguments used by the Populistic Democracy De-mocracy at the moment and by their analogues, the copperheads of 1804; and exactly as in 1804 so now we ap-peal ap-peal for the support of all good citizens. citi-zens. We have a right to ask that the old-line Democrats will stand with us, for the old-line Democracy always ahampioned hard money and expansion. and does not add as mack ta ear baa-dens baa-dens as either of these. Now a word specifically aa ta the Philippines. It is in connectiaa with the Philippines that Ur. Bryaa has chiefly harped upon the "aonaest af i-e governed" theory. Aa matte af fact we cannot dearly keep ia mind that the success of the Aguinaldian rebels would mean not liberty far all Filipinos, but liberty far a aartain bloodthirsty section to oppress great majority of their fellow-countryman. Under Spanish rule the Filipino were treated with intolerable craelty. The Aguinaldian leaders nave, wherever their power has extended, continued system almost as bad. The chief victims vic-tims of this system hare been not the Americans, but their- foilow-Filipino; for their hatred and cruelty have been exhibited chiefly at the cost of their fellow-countrymen, who have had the good sense and genuine patriotism to realize that the true interests of the Islands lay in the American govern- tney will play the part of a great nation na-tion nobly and well. It is with the nation as with the individual. Kane of us respects the man whose aim in life is to avoid every difficulty and danger, and stay in the shelter of his own home, there to bring up children unable to face the roughness of the world. We respect the man wha goes out to do a man's work, to front difficulties diffi-culties and to overcome them, and to train up his children to do likewise.. So it is with the nation. To decline to do our duty is simply to sink as China has sunk. . If we are to continue to hold our heads high as Americans, we must bravely, soberly and resolutely front each particular duty as it arises, and it is because of the great truth contained in this principle that we appeal ap-peal to every man. Northerner and Southerner, Easterner and Westerner, whether his father fought under Grant or under Lee, whatever political party par-ty he may have belonged to in the past to stand with us now when we ask that the hands of President McKinley Mc-Kinley be upheld, and that this nation, ror from its duty, shall stride forward to use its giant strength for the up-holdiug up-holdiug of our honor and the interests of mankind in doing that part of the world work which Providence has allotted al-lotted to us. Moreover, more fortunate than in 1804, we can now appeal to all good men North and South, East and West, to the -sons of the men who wore the blue and the sons of the men who wore the gray alike. Not only was the Spanish war the most righteous foreign for-eign war undertaken by any nation during the lifetime of the present generation, gen-eration, but it welded this country once and for all into an Undivided nation. Our generals included not only, men who fought on the Union side in the Civil war, but men who had with equal gallantry and equal devotion to what they deemed their duty, borne arms for the South men like Joe Wheeler, Fitz-hugh Fitz-hugh Lee and many another whom I could mention. All alike were Americans Ameri-cans and the country cared nothing about where they came from, because it took equal pride in them all. That -Dwwey was born- in " "Vermont concerned con-cerned them no more than that Hob-son Hob-son was born in Alabama, or that Fun-ston Fun-ston came from Kansas and Hale from Colorado. As we in the time of the war appealed to all men who were good Americans, so now in preserving the results of the war, in justifying what we did two years ago, we appeal again to all good men, whatever their political polit-ical affiliations have been in the past, whether they come from the North or the South, the Atlantic or Pacific coast, to stand with us because we stand for ment- So far as I am aware, not one competent witness who has actually known the facts, believes the Filipinos' capable of self-government at present, or believes that such an effort would result in anything but a horrible eon-fusion eon-fusion of tyranny and anarchy. Judge Taft. President Schurman, Professor Worcester, Bishop Potter and all onr army officers are a unit on this point a lie institutions of a free republic cannot can-not at a leap be transplanted into wholly whol-ly alien soil among a people who have not the slightest conception of liberty and self-government as we use those words. You might as well try to transplant trans-plant a full-grown oak into alien soiL Remember that to surrender the Philippines Phil-ippines now to a little band of military usurpers would be to surrender the islands to bloodshed and misery. Our precedent of peace. With us expansion means, as it always has meant, peace. When we took New Mexico it meant iuat we gave to that territory peace, and saved it from the quarter of a century cen-tury of bloody fighting which followed for old Mexico. When we expanded west of the Mississippi it meant that we put a stop to the tribal warfare which had endured for ages among Sioux and Crow, Cheyenne and Pawnee. Paw-nee. So now the establishment of our rule in the Philippines means to give the islands peace, and it is the only praise the 'Filipino bravely struggling for his liberty.' are translated into the several dialects and issued as circulars. circu-lars. From an intelligent prisoner the other day I learned that the people were assured that Bryan would be elected and that our ships would be withdrawn and the massacre of Americans Ameri-cans would be the order of the day. If you doubt this I wish you could see their barbarous mutilation of the prisoners pris-oners and wounded that they take. I do believe that if Bryan and his sym-thizers sym-thizers cannot make their campaign without such acts and speech as are traitorous to the government in time of war, it would be more generous and noble to hold their opinions in abeyance abey-ance until we can straighten out this tangle. If Bryan is defeated and the country gives the administration the r'nM mi.iy.rt wo uau liuiuh uj thia jult here without great loss of American life and without great punishment to the natives." "This town, one of the worst on the Islands, is now practically on a self-sustaining self-sustaining basis, and the municipal affairs af-fairs managed by the natives themselves. them-selves. I begin to believe things will shape up here within a few months. We made an expedition last month to the mountains to the relief of some Americanista natives held prisoners by the insurrectos. We found them, and their condition and place of con- iiie uui-01 uuu iiiLeieei 01 our common country. Imperialism an Old Cry. In 1S04 the Democratic platform denounced de-nounced the further prosecution of the Civil war, just as the Kansas City platform plat-form denounces the further prosecution j of the war in the Philippines to-day. Moreover, in 1804, the platform contained con-tained precisely the same frantic assertion asser-tion that civil liberty and private rights had been trr.mpled on, and that justice and liberty demanded an immediate effort for the cessation of hostilities. Much of what is put in the two platforms plat-forms could be Interchanged on this point, and in 1864 there was the same hypercritical sympathy expressed for the soldiers and 6ailors that is expressed ex-pressed again In 1900; in each case the expression of sympathy for the soldier coming in as a tag to a declaration of hostility to the cause for which the soldier sol-dier was fighting, a declaration which was certainly infinitely to increase the work and danger of the soldier. The chairman of the convention in 1864 made a speech in which he declared de-clared that every lover of civil liberty throughout the world was interested in the success of the Copperhead party. This is just the same type of appeal that Is being made now, and it is just as baseless in one case as it was in the other. In 1804 the name of liberty was invoked to secure the continuance of slavery. In 1900 it is Invoked to secure the abandonment of American honor and to throw the Philippines under the rule of a corrupt and tyrannous oligarchy. oligar-chy. In 1804 the cry of imperialism was raised exactly as it is now raised, with just as little basis. The Indianapolis Indianap-olis Sentinel, for instance, declared that if Mr. Lincoln was reelected there would be "no longer a republic In the United States, but a consolidated empire." em-pire." On every hand Lincoln was denounced de-nounced as a tyrant, a sliedder of blood, a foe of liberty, a would-be dictator, dic-tator, a founder of an empire one orator ora-tor saying: "We nlso have our emperor, Lincoln, who can tell stale jokes while the land is running red with the blood of brothers." Even after Lincoln's death the assault as-sault was kept up, and in 1808 the same party declared that if Grant was inaugurated as president the American people would "meet as a subjugated and conquered people amid the ruin of liberty and the shattered constitution." Of course, in 1864 militarism as a threat was worked with infinitely more apparent justification than it can now be worked. We did have big armies in the field then, whereas now our army. Including not merely the regulars, regu-lars, but volunteers, is not hnlf as large relatively to the; population of the country as is the New York city police force relatively to the population popula-tion of that city. To appeal now to the average man to beware lest he groan under the burden of the soldier is a good deal less rational than to appeal to him in New York or Chicago to beware be-ware lest he groan under the weight of the numbers of the uniformed members mem-bers of the fire department. We have a regular army practically no larger in proportion to the population than it was a century ago. We use it just as-we as-we use the police force and fire department depart-ment in great cities, and it Is not a whit more dangerous to our liberties chance they have of getting peace or of getting good government To contract con-tract instead of expand means cruel war, cruel despotism for the islands which we would abandon. We have a right to ask the support of every lover of peace, of every believer be-liever in peace, for the righteous policy poli-cy we have pursued in the Philippines. No statesman worthy of the name, no patriot or philanthropist who Is entitled en-titled to a moment's hearing before the bar of mankind will maintain that the principles of the Declaration of Independence Inde-pendence mean that any man throughout through-out the world, no matter what his crimes or his llmit;K,ons, la excused from the observance of law and order if he happens to think that lawlessness and disorder suit him beat As has been shown again and again, neither Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, nor Lincoln, the man who did most to make the facta of onr national life correspond with that same doctrine, ever dreamed for a moment mo-ment of giving it such interpretation. Lincoln, In one of his great speeches, at Springfield, June 20, 1857, thus alluded allud-ed to the framers of the Declaration of Independence: "They did not mean to assert the obvious untruth that all were then actually enjoying equality, nor yet that they were about to confer it immediately upon them. In fact, they had no power to confer such a boon. They meant simply to declare the right, so that the enforcement of It might follow as fast as circumstances would permit. They meant to set up a standard maxim for free society which should be familiar to all and revered by all; constantly looked to, constantly in-bored in-bored for, and even, though never perfectly per-fectly attained, constantly approximated, approximat-ed, and thereby constantly spreading and deepening its influence and augmenting aug-menting the happiness and value of life to all peoples." Sluuder of the Soldiers. I received the other day a letter from Captain Moffett of tire First Dakom volunteers, giving his experience with the prisoners in Manila prison when that city was captured. Of the 1,500 prisoners, 1,100 were released. It ap-peared ap-peared that they had been tortured and wronged in the most terrible was', and most of them had not even been tried for the crimes they were alleged to have committed. Over half of them were probably entirely innocent. I can not even enumerate the tortures habitually habit-ually used by the Spaniards to these Filipino prisoners, and when I read such letters as these of Captain Moffett Mof-fett and such letters as that I shall quote from the gallant son of a gallant Confederate officer, my blood boils at the foul slanders of the men who dishonor dis-honor the name of America by attacks on our policy and our soldiers in the Philippines. The simple truth is that we rescued those islands from the hideous hide-ous tyranny of the Spaniards and the anarchy of the corrupt and bloody insurgent in-surgent chiefs. We are now rapidly establishing a stable government and wherever we have succeeded In establishing es-tablishing that government we have already al-ready given to the natives such justice and liberty as neither they nor their forefathers have ever known throughout through-out the ages. No blacke--vrong could be done them than to turn them back nnement were nomine ijcjuuu uc.nir tion. Their crime was living in a town protected by American troops, and the cruelty with which they were treated was equal to the sort inflicted by our Indians, in their worst days. Their favorite fa-vorite punishment is to break the legs of their prisoners with sticks, or making mak-ing them sit down on live coals of fire. Wouldn't they make a fine class to govern here? The insurrectos governed this island (Leyte) for about a year and a half before we came. Their plan was to sell the offices to the highest cash bidder, and each purchaser sold the offices under him In like manner. The same plan held good of the municipal munici-pal offices. Naturally the most Intelligent Intelli-gent natives are now on our side, and I believe firmly that the best classes will become capable of an Intelligent administration of their Internal affairs." af-fairs." The Philippine Policy. Now, with these extracts fresh in your mind, I wish you to remember that our opponents' proposition is that we should turn over to unspeakable torture at the hands of those who have been fighting us, the men, women and children who have been friendly to us and who have trusted in our honor and power. It seems to me difficult to stigmatize such a proceeding proceed-ing in sufficiently hard language. The proposition Is not to give the Filipinos the right to govern themselves, but to give the Filipino bandits who have been fighting us the right to work their wicked will ou their fellow-countrymen who have been friendly to us. Such an act would be not merely one of culpable culpa-ble folly and weakness, but one of the basest treachery and inhumanity. I have in my possession letters from Mr. George F. Becker, the geologist who was out in the Philippines for considerably con-siderably over a year, and during..! large part of the time acted as a staff officer to General James Franklin Bed. In June, 1899, Mr. Becker, while vi.s.i-ing vi.s.i-ing a lignite deposit in the island of Negros, under the escort of some California Cali-fornia volunteers, was attacked by the Insurgents. A savage tight eusued, and the insurgents were repulsed. their leader, General Vicente Ornedo being killed. Upon his person was found a list of Filipinos who were to be killed by the insurgents if victorious. The list of slaughter thus cooly made up contained the name of the wife of a Swiss gentleman at whose ranch they hnd just spent the night. Mr. Becker quwtts instance after instance of the assassination as-sassination of friendly natives by hos-tiles. hos-tiles. These outrages were much mora common than outrages against the Americans, although 1 need not recall to yon that on February 15, 189 Aguinaldo's government issued an order, or-der, quoted in General Otis' annual report, re-port, for the massacre of all Americans and Europeans in Manila. I have spoken above of General Bell. In one of his letters the following phrase occurs: "The dismal incompetence incompe-tence of the Filipinos for self government govern-ment is much more apparent now than it was then. It would probably be impossible im-possible to find any fairly competent white observer in the islands who regards re-gards the natives as able to maintain order here or to protect the persons and property of foreigners. Their lack of appreciation f the idea of freedom |