The Commoner
roI. i. No. 31.
Lincoln, Nebraska, August 23, 1901.
$i.oo a Year
A Strange ''Moulding Force."
a
.General MacArthur's official report hai' "been
jaade public, and conveys the impression that
Ifter all we have not completely subjugated
10 Filipinos. General MaoArthur says that
the attitude of the people who have declared
or peace, and that of the leaders of the federal
arty must not bo attributed "entirely to unre-
lerved pro-Americanism." It would be unsafe,
So General MacArthur thinks, "to assume the
ronservative forces as constant factors, the
friendly operation of which can be relied upon
Irrespective of external influences."
General MacArthur makes it very plain that
Ithe forces of neither the army or the navy
.should be reduced. Ho gives us a word of
hope when he says: "In due time and beyond
any question, if beneficial republican institu
tions are permitted to operate with full force,
tithe Filipino people will become warmly attached
fto the United States by a sense of gratitude."
jWe may obtain a hint as to the "beneficial re-
I'publican institutions" which General MacArthur
has in mind by his statement that "in the mean
time the moulding forces in the islands must
e a' welF organized army and navy." And
General MacArthur assures us that "anything
in the immediate future calculated to. impede
the activity or reduce the efficiency of these
instruments will not only be a menace to the
present but put in jeopardy the entire future
of American possibilities in the archipelago."
It is rather strange to bo told that in the
opinion of representatives of the greatest re
public on earth "beneficial republican institu
tions" are represented by a condition in which
"the moulding force" is "a well organized army
and navy." It may be true that under this
"moulding force" the Filipinos could be sub
jugated? but it is open to serious doubt whether
such a force would so operate upon the Filipino
people that they would become "warmly at
tached to the United States by a sense of grati
tude." Banking Law Follows the Flag.
It seems, in one respect, the national bank
ing law has a large advantage over the consti
tution. According to Secretary Gage's inter
pretation, the national banking law follows tho
flag.
The Secretary announces that- the rational
banking law in force in the states will be ap
plied to Porto Rico. In other words, accord
ing to the administration it requires an act of
congress to carry the constitution to our new
possessions, but an act of congress concerning
national banks goes by its own force to any
place where the establishment of national banks
will be advantageous to promoters.
But the Secretary is having considerable
trouble in adjusting some of the provisions of
the national banking law to the peculiar condi
tions of Porto Rico. This law provides that
every director of a national bank must be a
citizen of tho United States. It also provides
that at least three-fourths of the directors of a
bank must have resided in the state, territory
or district in which tho bank is located for at
least one year immediately preceding their elec
tion and must be residents therein during their
continuance in office.
The Foraker law defines the people of Por
to Rico as ' 'citizens of Porto Rico." Under
the banking law a citizen of Por$o Rico cannot
become a bank director, and no citizen of tho
United States can become a bank director until
he shall have lived in Porto Rico for at least
one year. As a consequence it may be difficult to
obtain bank directors in Porto Rico;
It has been suggested that tho Porto Ricaiis
can avoid this obsta6le by becoming citizens of
the United States by the process of naturaliza-
tionjbutrwhen the "citizen of-Porto Rico&un -
dertakes to become, through, naturalization, a
citizen of tho United States, ho encounters an
other serious obstacle. It is necessary for one
who desires to become a citizen of the United
States to renounce his allegiance to his former
sovereign. 'Mr. McKinley is the only "sover
eign' ' which the Porto Ricans have, and Mr.
McKinley is also president of tho United
States. It would not do for the Porto Rican
to renounce his allegiance to Mr. McKinley,
while at the same time seeking to become one
of Mr. McKinley's subjects.
On the whole, the situation is a complicated
one, and will be altered probably by putting off
tho establishment of national banks in Porto
Rico until those who wish to be directors ob
tain legal residence there, or by amending the
national banking law in a way to suit the con
venience of those who intend to establish
banks in that island.
The most important feature of the situation
is that it gives new emphasis to the absurd
ities we were guilty of in assuming sov
ereignty over a people and establishing juris
diction -in a territory making the territory our
property, while denying to the people the priv
ilege of even being known as citizens of the
United States.
A Forgotten Truth.
The Gallatin Democrat, of Shawneetown,'
Illinois, has resurrected, an old speech mado
by President, then Congressman, McKinley.
The following extract shows how the Presi
dent has changed for tho worse during tho last
decade:
"Human rights and constitutional privileges
must not bo forgotten In our raco for wealth for
commercial supremacy. The government of the
people must bo by tho people, and not by a few of
the people. It must bo by the consent of tho gov
oined, and of all the governed. Power, It must not
bo forgotten which Is secured by wrong or usur
pation, Is soon dethrdned. Wo havo no right In law
or morals to usurp that which belongs to another,
whether it bo property or power."
This is sound doctrine, but it is entirely
out of harmony with republican policies at this
time. When wo outgrew tho Declaration of
Independence and tho Constitution, wo out
grow the high ideals that all parties formerly
appealed to and tho patriotic expressions of
those who formerly aspired to leadership.
W
Senator Vest's Interview.
The Kansas City Times recently published
an interview given out by Senator Yest, of
Missouri. It is not necessary at this time to
answer his criticism of Mr. Bryan's part in tho
ratification of tho treaty. The readers of Tiiic
Commonjjr are familiar with the reasons which
led Mr. Bryan to prefer to have the war termi
nated and the independence of tho Philippines
secured through the action of this country
rather than continue the war and risk interna
tional complication in an effort to compel Spain
to do what we could more easily do ourselves.
Neither is it necessary to discuss what he says
in condemnation of "Mr. Bryan's leadership."
Mr. Bryan makes no claim to leadership. Ho
only claims the right to have convictions and
to express them; if other people have like con
victions, he will have company, if not, he will
be alone.
Someone has defined a leader as "one who
is going in the same direction asthe people and
a little bit ahead." Mr. Bryan believes in tho
principles set forth in the Kansas City platform,
and is not willing to surrender them in order
to win the approval of those who oppose thoso
principjes. "When the democratic part repu
diates those principles, it will find itself going
in another direction with Cleveland, Carlisle,
"Whitney, Francis, et al "a little bit ahead."
Senator Vest outlines a platform which is
good as far as it goes. He says:
"If I could write that platform without tha
intervention of any new issue I would declare:
."First For a graduated income tax, which
is the fairest and most equal system of taxation
ever invented. Our present system of national
taxation in the shape of internal revenue and
tariff duties makes the poor man pay the ex
penses Of the government while the multi-millionaire,
who consumes neither beer nor whisky,
and imports nothingfrom Europe except clothing;
pays nothing. But in the event of war the poor
.