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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 14, 1902)
5 " The effort to subjugate the Filipinos has al ready cost the United tates-$300,000,000, and it is estimated that this un-American imperialism effort is now requiring the ex 15 pendituro of $12,000,000 per Expensive. month. ' The Philadelphia Times says: "It is estimated that Great Britain has spent more than a billion dollars on the war with the Boers. An interesting fact Is the Increasing cost of war. The wars of Napoleon for thirteen years cost France a billion dollars. The four years of civil war in the United States cost four billions, or a dozen times more per year than Napoleon's cost France. Now Great Britain has spent in three years on a small war as much as Napoleon spent in thirteen years in a series of great wars. This, too, without the use of her navy or contact with a great power." Professor Wylie of the agricultural depart ment seems to be afflicted with a defective mem ory. The. other day he appeared The Wylie before the ways and means com ncmory mittee and denounced the propo- 15 Defective. sition to reduce the duties on Cuban sugar 25 per cent. He was quite sure that such a reduction would work un told hardship upon the beet and cane sugar inter ests of this country. Yet it is less than two years since this same Professor Wylie appeared be fore the industrial commission and declared that "if today wo were to admit absolutely free from duty every pound of sugar made in Porto Rico, Cuba and the Philippines it would not affect the progress of our beet sugar industry 4n this coun try." It would seem that Professor Wylie has seen a great light since then. Would he be will ing to explain why and when he changed his mind? VN'S Who is This American "Herso Expert?" Major Arthur Lee, conservative member of parliament, recently made some remarks in debate . ., j . that demand, investigation and explanation. Major Lee was formerly military attache of the British embassy at Washington. During the debate in question he stated that ho had secured the services of the chief horse expert of the United States army as adviser in purchasing horses for the use of the British army in South Africa. "I secured this favor through the good will of a high official," declared Major Lee. Is this another sample of the "neu trality" of this government? Major Lee has made this assertion in open debate. He should bo com pelled to give the name of this American "high official." The American people have a right to know it if their military servants are being used to assist British agents In the detestable work of assassinating a republic. Former Postmaster General Charles Emory Smith takes issue with President Schurman con cerning McKinley's purpose- to ward the Filipinos. It will be remembered that Mr. Schurman said that Mr. McKinley had inti mated to him that independence would ultimately be granted to the people of the Philippine islands. Mr. Smith, through his news paper, the Philadelphia Press, says: "It is safe to say that President McKinley did nothing of the kind." Mr. Smith explains: "He, Mr. McKinley, wanted Dr. Schurman for the immediate occa sion and Dr. Schurman met it with admirable skill and ability. The statesman was dealing practically with the exigent problem; the scholar may have been theorizing and dreaming of the remote future, and if he read his own conception in the smile of the gracious, but wary and re served president, it was not the first time such mistakes have been made." Perhaps this provides an explanation of the lack of harmony between the statements made by Mr. Schurman while he was on the stump in behalf of the republican party "Wanted for tho Immediate Occasion. The Commoner. in 1900 and the statements made by the same gen tleman In the speech recently delivered in Bos ton. The administration "wanted Dr. Schurman for the immediate occasion and Dr. Schurman met it with admirable skill and ability' In other words, however pronounced may have been the opinion of Mr. Schurman, the scholar, concerning the duty of this country to the people of our new possessions, Mr. Schurman, as president of tho Philippine commission, was persuaded to set aside his convictions and "deal practically with the exigent problem.' This, according to administra tion interpretation, meant that on tho stump and in newspaper interviews Mr. Schurman should give expression to opinions with which, in fact, ho had not the slightest sympathy. Many people are beginning to suspect that Dr. Schurman Is not the only conspicuous man whom the republican ad ministration has "wanted for tho immediate oc casion," and whom the republican administration has persuaded to "meet it with admirable skill and ability." VS Filipino Much Like Others. A Nation of Demagogues. In a newspaper interview Mr. Taft, governor of the Philippine islands, says: "I have found that tho Filipino is much like any other man In one respect fair treatment will have its ef fect on him, and we are seeking to show him that the only qual ification required from him in order that he may receive the most liberal usage is loyalty and good citizenship' If the Filipino is "much like any other man in one respect," may ho not be much like any other man in several respects. And if the Filipino is "much like any other man," may he -not aspire to liberty as persistently as any other man has aspired to liberty, even, indeed, as persistent ly as our own forefathers aspired to liberty? And if the Filipino is "much like any other man," may we hope to conquer him? May wo hope to subjugate him? May we hope to force upon him a -government with which he has no sympathy and a sovereignty for which he has no love? Tho St. Joseph News characterizes as "dema gogues" all who ask that this republic express its sympathy for tho Boers. If ex pressions of sympathy for -people struggling for liberty is demagogy, then this republic has had demogogues for presi dent, and the republic itself was once the home of several millions of demagogues. Not only did President Taylor and congress express sympathy for the struggling Hungarians under Kossuth, but congress actually sent an American ship of war to Turkey to bring Kossuth to this country. And congress wined and dined the great patriot. But that was before we had become a "world power;" before we had become advocates of "benevolent assimilation;" before we had become strenuous friends of monarchies. If expressing sympathy for a people struggling for the right to govern themselves is "demagogy," then this republic is made up of demagogues, but governed by men who would rather dance attendance upon court functions than associate with sturdy patriots who love liberty well enough to die for it. Dr. R. B. Hoyt of Detroit has commanded public attention by a startling announcement. Dr. Hoyt has decided that by the year 2162 this world would be populated by madmen. He points out that during the last fifty years the number of insane per sons and fools has increased 300 per cent. He asserts that this means, if the increase continues, that the entire population of this country with in 250 years will have gone insane. "Figures, the logic of which -Is indisputable," says Dr. Hoyt, "prove that the present generation is doomed un less some sort of measures are resorted to." If the good doctor is correct as to the facts, certainly An Unpleasant Yet Interesting Statement. his opinion that "something must bo dono" Is an eminently correct one. Tho difficulty is that tho doctor himself is In doubt as to tho course to be pursued. Many strange and startling suggestions have been mado by men of an Inquiring turn of mind in recent years, but the assertion that tho world Is soon to bocomo wholly mad is as unpleas ant as It Is interesting. If tho republican party claims credit for good times because It Is in power how will it escape from responsibility for insan ity produced during tho same period? &$ Obstacles to Important Reform. The Chicago Chronlclo thinks it has scored two important points against tho report mado in tho lower house in favor of an amendmont providing for the election of United States sena tors by tho people, when it says: "One cannot help wondering whon he reads this remarkable document whether its author took into account tho fact that tho pro posed amendment cannot be submitted to tho leg islatures of the states without tho consent of two thirds of a quorum of the senate, and that it can not very well become part of tho constitution without tho approval of three-fourths of the leg islatures." The Chronicle well states tho difficulty of submitting such an amendment because many senators, preferring tho present plan, would object to tho popular idea. But so far as concerns tho action of tho legislature, that is a difficulty that may be readily surmounted. When tho proposed amendment shall be submitted, Jf tho people really want to change tho plan of selecting senators, they will elect men to the legislature pledged to adopt tho proposed amendment. y$y Democratic Party Is Aggressive. Some have complained that in order to be suc cessful a political party must take an affirmative rather than a negative position on public questions, and these have contended that the demo cratic party, so far as concerns the question of imperialism, oc cupies wholly a negative position. It is true that In tho beginning of this new, strange policy the democratic party was necessarily required to take a negative position because protest against tho proposed policy was necessary. But on this ques tion the Kansas City platform was an affirmative platform and many people are beginning to realize that the position of tho democratic party on the question of imperialism is not only an affirmative position, but the only positive one. Independence for the Filipinos was the policy outlined in tho Kansas City platform. Independence for tho Flli pins is the policy that is growing in favor today among the American people. Independence for the Filipinos, clearly an affirmative position, is a dem ocratic rallying cry. The immediate promise of ultimate independence will settle the Philippine question. CvN The Boston Traveller, speaking of tho suc cess which has attended the administration of Mayor Mulvlhill of Bridgeport, Laboring Men Conn., discusses the prospect of In a new party. Mayor Mulvlhill Politics. is a representative of the labor element, being a stoker at the time of his election. His honest and straightfor ward methods have brought him Into great promi nence and he Is now talked of as the democratic nominee for governor. The Traveller suggests that the nomination of a good man by a labor party would be followed by his Indorsement by the democratic party and that such a combina tion might lead to success. While tho labor or ganizations may not thin": It wise to become po litical organization, laboring men must learn sooner or later that the ballot box is tho place to redress their grievances and that they have tho power, if it is rightly exercised, to compel tho old parties to recognize any just demand which they may make. Even in Massachusetts the republi can party can be overthrown If the labor vote will join with the democrats. The Kansas City plat form ought to be acceptable to the laboring men, and those who stand upon that platform ought to have no difficulty In co-operdting with the laboring men to secure all needed reforms.