i -g-
The Commoner.
February 21, 1903.
The Exploiters
arc
Impatient.
War Costs
Only $22,500,00
Per "Month.
Senator Teller provided food for thought when
lie declared: "In the whole history of the world
no nation has ever elevated tho
Truth people of another race or nation
in a against the protest of the people
Nutshell. whom it attempted to elevate.
If people are elevated they must
elevate themselves by their own efforts." Ours is
not the only power that has sot at defiance all ex
perience and sought to do that which history
teaches us is impossible; and, like our predeces
sors in vain experience, we will yet be made to
realize the folly of our course.
Republican newspapers are going to consider
able pains these days in presenting Interviews from
the Filipino people intended to
sustain the statements made by
Governor Taft. A number of
those interviewed say that Gov
ernor Taft's forecast can be
realized if congress "acts for the benefit of the
Philippines." It is noticeable also that in many of
these statements a hint is thrown out that tho
country must be opened to capital and enlarged
opportunities for men with money to invest so they
may obtain substantial results from their invest
ments. It will now be only natural if an effort is
made to remove all restrictions concerning the
grant of franchises. The exploiters are becoming
impatient and they cannot wait for the work of
subjugation to be completed before the work of
exploitation begins.
Mr. Broderick, the British secretary of war,
in making a report in the house of commons,
showed that the cost of tho
South African war for the pres
ent year amounted to $305,350,
000. Mr. Broderick stated that
on January 1 there were 237,800
British- soldiers in South Africa, and ho con
gratulated the English people on the fact that "the
expenses of the war had now been reduced to
atout $22,500,000 per month. In the light of the
fact that the king of England said that the war
was reaching a conclusion, and that the British
ministry has sought to impress that false notion
upon the world, it is interesting to hear the British
war secretary congratulate his people that "the
expenses of the war had now been reduced to
about $22,500,000 per month." Even according to
this optimistic view, the English taxpayers are
"staggering" under the load.
In one of his Washington dispatches to tho
Chicago Record-Herald, Walter Wellman, com
menting on the republican ob
jection to doing anything in the
matter of the tariff for Cuba,
says: "If the tariff question is
to be opened for the benefit of
foreigners, they say why not open for the benefit
of our own people?" Then Mr. Wellman says:
"It is just dawning upon the United States legis
lators that out in the west there is a strong senti
ment in favor of reduction of the tariff on the
pioducts of the steel trust and of other great
trusts." To be sure, if we are to open the tariff
question for the benefit of foreigners, "why not
open it for the benefit of our own people?" But
"why not open it for the benefit of our own peo
ple" anyway? Is it not strange that in the light
of the revelations that are being made each day
showing conclusively the Btrong alliance between
the republican party and the trusts, that there are
yet intelligent men who if ace confidence in the
professions and pretensions of the republican
party? To be sure, "why not open the tariff
question for the benefit of our own people?" If it
is simply a question of a fear republican lead
ers have that the opening of the question entirely
will provide too much manual labor for them, they
might "open it for tho benefit of our own people"
to the extent of adopting tho proposition made by
Mr. Babcock and those republicans who stand
with him in insisting upon a reduction of tho tar
iff on trust-made articles.
For the Benefit
of Our
Own People."
&?&
Senntor Piatt on
"Threadbare
Talk."
In a speech in tho senate, Senator Piatt of
Connecticut said: "I am tired of hearing this
threadbare talk about tho con
sent of tho governed. Wo Have
the. consent of a large proportion
of the Filipino people. Wo have
tho consent and the acquiescence
of a greater number of them than the dictator
ever had. Just at the point where we have secured
the consent and good will of tho remainder, our
friends get up here and argue in favor of abandon
ing our whole duty, of turning tho Filipino people
adrift. I cannot understand it." A great many
republicans are "tired of hearing this threadbaro
talk about the consent of the governed," but if It
is true that we have the consent of a largo pro
portion of the Filipino people, how does it hap
pen that as the truth begins to leak out, it becomes
more and more apparent that wo can never ob
tain their consent and never establish our author
ity over them until we subjugate or exterminate
them?
The Chicago Chronicle is authority for tho
statement that tho most powerful lobby that over
assembled at Washington is op
The Geary posing the re-enactment of the
Exclusion Geary Chinese exclusion law.
Act. According to the Chronicle, "tho
members of the lobby represent
diversified interests, which not only honeycomb
this continent, but extend across tho Pacific to the
Philippines." Former Senator John M. Thurston
of Nebraska, if the Chroniclo report is to be relied
upon, is working early and late, "presumably on
behalf of the Union Pacific railroad, to have the
Geary law shelved." A great many laboring men
would be surprised if, under republican adminis
tration, the Chinese exclusion bars were let down;
and yet these men ought to know that every day
tho republican party, acting under the influence of
special interests, is doing things in various di
rections just as inconsistent with the party's
pledges and pretensions as would bo the destruc
tion of the Geary act.
S
Elections
and Free
Speech.
A republican senator engaged in defending tho
Philippine policy had considerable to say concern
ing the elections that were held
in "our new possessions." Re
plying to this Senator Hoar said:
"The senator from Connecticut
talks of elections, elections, elec
tions! What does an election signify when men
are forbidden to express any political opinions
under penalty of imprisonment? If there were
elections, what platforms did the candidates run
on? What political parties supported them?
What speecLes did they make? How much of a
campaign was there?" The senator from Massa
chusetts hit the nail on the head. Of what value
are "elections" when free speech is denied the
people for whose benefit it is pretended the "elec
tions" are held? Can any rational man believe
that any benefit is to be derived from the style of
elections held under this policy when the people
to whom we have extended this alleged boon are
even denied the privilege of reading in public the
Declaration of Independence?
yNS'SN
Senator Beverldge of Indiana, replying to Sen
ator Teller's statements concerning press censor
ship in the Philippines, declared
Press Censorship that he was prepared to make
in the ' the statement, from his personal
Philippines. observation, that press dis
patches were not censored in
Manila. Tho Chicago Record-Herald, a republican
paper, replies-to Senator Beverldge on this point.
Tho Record-Herald says that "the newspaper cor
respondents have a different story to tell and their
positive testimony Is much moro convincing than
Senator Beverldgo's negative testimony." Tho
Record-Herald points out that "in tho worst period
of tho insurrection, thero was no justification for
such a censorship as existed, slnco it was ab
solutely unnecessary to safeguard military opera
tions," and this republican authority adds: "Its
chief effect was to keep the news from tho Ameri
can people, who woro entitled to it then as they
are now, and whatever tho situation may bo today
the people need not assume from Mr. Beverldgo's
declamation that tho garbling of news has been a
myth. It has been very real, and some light might
be lot in on this subject at the commltteo's Investi
gation." A reader of Tho Commoner asks for tho real
causo of the Boer war. As Is generally tho case,
tho causo is a matter of dls-
The Cause pute, the English claiming that
of tho Boers began the war wltli-
Boer War. out sufficient cause, while the
Boers Insist that England was
the aggressor and that hor acts constituted a dec
laration of war. After the Jameson raid the Boers
expected an attack from England and prepared
for it, and when England began to mass troops
upon the Transvaal frontier tho Boers demanded
that tho troops be withdrawn. When tho de
mand was not complied with tho Boer army
marched against the English soldiers. Tho editor
of The Commoner believes that the Boers were
justified in making tho attack because it would
have been folly to have waited until England
brought a larger army into tho field. Tho real
cause of the war was tho desire of English spec
ulators to secure tho gold mines which had been
discovered in the Transvaal, and the pretense for
their interference was tho protection of the rights
of Englishmen who had gone in to operate tho
mines. A full account of the causes leading up to
the war will be found in Webster Davis' book en
titled "John Bull's Crime Against Republics." It
i3 published by the Abbey Press, 114 5th ave.,
New York.
"Vsvs
The recent discussions in the senate concern
ing the strange laws in force in the Philippine
islands, laws under which the
Something About privilege of reading in public
Priceless the Declaration of Independence
Principles. vas denied, recalls a speech de
livered before the Home Market
club of Boston, February 16, 1899. This banquet
took place after the ratification of the peace
treaty. Mr. McKinley, in his speech on that occa
sion, said: "The whole subject is now with con
gress, and congress is tho voice, the conscience
and the judgment of tho American people. Upon
their judgment and conscience can we not rely?
I believe in them. I trust in thetn. Until con
gress shall direct otherwise, it will bo the duty of
the executive to possess and hold the Philippines,
giving to tho people thereof peace and order and
beneficent government. That they will be aided
in every possible way to be a self-respecting and
self-governing people is as true as that tho Ameri
can people love liberty and have an abiding faith
In their own government and in their own insti
tutions. No imporial designs lurk in the American
mind. They are alive to American sentiment,
thought and purpose. Our priceless principles
undergo no change under a tropical sun. Tliey go
with the flag. They are wrought in every one of
its sacred folds, and are as inextinguishable as
are its shining stars." It Is difficult to justify an
order prohibiting the reading of the Declaration
in the Philippines with the statement: "Our
priceless principles undergo no change under a
tropical sun. They go with the flag. They aro
wrought in every one of its sacred folds and aro
as inextinguishable as its shining stars."
