OCR Text |
Show LIBERTY. I ; ! B In the "Commoner" Mr. Bryan Avants some Repub- T, M lican Avho approves of the present policy of our f I M Government toAvard tho people of the Philippines T to ansAver the speech of Senator Hoar on that same J' 1 ( H subject. A short response Avould be to cite the fl fa M speech of the Democratic Senator Morgan. M? il The Philippine question ought not to be a parti- A f, , san one. The soldiers avIio are there belong to f'l .',' I both political parties, so do their friends at home; j j H the management of that island is one in which tho P H honor, if not tho Avelf are, of our Avhole country WiV H is so much involved, that the question should bo. I i j ' H not a partisan, but a national one. Iff' 1 Tho struggle of Mr. Bryan and those avIio en- Hgj I dorse his views is to impress upon the Avorld a Ifljlll I belief that our Government just noAA', is engaged WSm' 'B in an attempt, through a bloody conquest to sub- Wm 'B due a liber ty-lovingvpeople to a species of servi- W!l& IB tude. That Mr. Bryan hopes to make the most flra' 'B solid plank in the next platform Avhich he expects IikP( fl to dictate the construction of. faliu j The first ansAver to all this is that no other Avord K !j ' fl is so much abused as that Avord liberty. It is If 'fl proper to ask first Avhat kind of liberty the irre- ii i 'ifl concilables in the Philippines are struggling to i j$ ;$H achieve? Second, if attained, Avhat Avould inevit- i il ably folloAV? Can an uncivilized people found a I ifl ' government of civilization? filll llfl It is true since tho capture of . uginaldo the fflmi lB soldiers of the American army have fought none fiWfr i fl but barbarians, and barbarians of a type Avhich H'lil'VB Avould appnl a Avild American Indian, by their wml -B atrocities. Wjf fl The people are divided into many tribes. It m ' ' c fl has been the rule there from uie first for the mem- jjl H ber of one tribe, if possessed of a knife, on meet liilB ing an unarmed member of another tribe, to kill !f! &IH him. The Avhole race seems to care nothing for P.! iH human life or human suffering. Auguinaldo himself aHflftB did not hesitate to have his most accomplished lieu- KPftlHifl tenant assassinated Avhen he thought he Avas be- Brim Ifl coining in a masurc, a rival. BfPiH What kind of liberty do these creatures covet, ntl'lB what kind of government do they desire to cstab- BP'ltifl lish? mmm They are Asians. It Avas in Asia that history Wfel'C had its birth. When on that soil has any people BlPxfl ever yet shoAvn a disposition to establish that lib- Bfflf sfl erty Avhich has for its underlying idea the equal lf v rights of men? HUt!' When a feAV men fight for the liberty to ensavo giJr and rob their felloAV men; to brutalize and enslave fllillt Avomen; to build a throne to ignorance and cruelty HfljIP and stop everything like progress, is their cause HPrit so holy that tears of sympathy for them and their Hp'fm cause should Hoav perpetually? B,, Again, Avhat is proposed in case this "conquest" Bterlii is carried on to a final finish? Is any one to be By .frl enslaved? We may judge by Avhat has been done HlMlr in those districts Avhere the "conquest" is already BB&ftffi) complete. Local government Avhich is almost self Wm, i fl government is the rule, native officers are in the Bfll majority; school houses are going up everywhere; IflEflrM the hospital Avherever needed; the property rights HKjitJjfl of the people are absolutely protected, every man B&HH is free to do any legitimate tiling, and the men of IfllBH property there, and the peace-inclined Avorkiug men flSHfl hail the change as a very benediction of heaven HflH sent to them. What is there in the picture which IBHi starts in flow the tears of a man like Senator Hoar? B Is it so very Avickcd to estabnsu the rules of civ- ll jlization and to start progress among saA'ages, and 'flBfl semi-savages? fll There is another feature of the case. When our jHlfl flag Avas carried to Asia it Avas flashed in the facos t fll 'HBB JBHS HHyj !i f 000,000,000 of people who never knew what frcc- H w& i tlom was. It was a notice to those myriads that a H Ii I new world power was in the ascendant, a power B ri j that in a country had advanced from a few little B ijj'l j settlements on the shore of a far oflf ocean, to he !' ! i the f ormost of the world's nations, and that the "II i g I advance had been due to the fact that its govern- B 'f; mont was founded on the inherent equality of men. H 'Mjjf Suppose as Senator Hoar desires that flag be HIj' ii brought away, can he not see that it would be 'j(' time for him to read the parable of the man who B ff hid his stake in the napkin and could show no in- M P terest gained during the master's absence. H But he and his friends want a promise given that H ra. people that so soon as they are ready for full free- If y ' dom it shall be given them. How does Senator H W Hoar know that when that time come the men of H'il those islands will want a change? How docs he H ,1 know that when that time comes they will not have Hv'mIK all the freedom they want? 1 i Hi - m L Is not the boy who on the brink of the St. H f. Lawrence whistles behind his plow as free as is the Hf f,5 boy who tends his father's flock in the Grampioti MlHl hills? H L J, j i It is common to control children. The state of H r!hj' j ' such a child is not one of slavery. H, T'M! Grown up children! of vicious and mongrel races i j j 1 1 W1 !' need control much more than does the well born M il i . American boy. |