h rri&TtyT
The Commoner
Vol. 16, "no! 9
8
Mr. Bryan and the Promise of Phil
ippine Independence
CONGRATULATORY TELEGRAMS
Washington, D. C, August 29, 1916.- Hon.
William Jennings Bryan, Lincoln, Nebraska. My
dear Mr. Bryan: I take pleasure in quoting here
inbelow a cablegram received from the Honor
ablo Sorgio Osmena, speaker of the Philippine
assembly:
"Quezon, Washington. The following for Hon.
William J. Bryan: Permit mo to extend to you,
in tho name of tho Filipino people, the sincerest
appreciation and thanks for tho help you have
rendered in tho passage of tho Jones Philippine
bill. You havo more reason to rojoice than ariy
other Amorican over the stop just taken towards
tho consummation of an act of justice which you
havo so long and so laboriously advocated. Pray,
accept tho tribute of gratitude from tho Filipino
people."
Very sincerely yours,
MANUEL L. QUEZON.
Washington, Aug. 17, 191G. Hon. Win, Jen
nings Bryan, Tho Commoner, Lincoln, Nebr.
Tho Philippine bill passed tho sonato yester
day and it will pass the house tomorrow; it will,
of course, receive tho signature of the President
in duo course.
Since your offorts in favor of Philippine inde
pendence havo been largely instrumental in se
curing tho enactment of this measure, allow me
to oxpress to you my heartfelt thanks on behalf
of myself as woll as of tho Filipino people. We
owo you oternal gratitude. I should like to get
"from you either by telegram or by mail a mes,
sago for the Filipino people which I shall bo
very glad to transmit.
' MANUEL L. QUEZON.
Commissioner from tho Philippines.'
MR. .BRYAN'S REPLY
: -.
En 'route, Aug. 22, 1916.,,.
Hon. Manuel L. Quezon,
.Housp of Representatives, , . .
Washington, D. C.
My dear Mr. Quezon:
Your telegram has been forwarded -to me.
Whilo it reached mo too lato to send tho tele
gram for which you asked I shall not bo denied
tho pleasure of thanking and congratulating you,
and through you tho people whom you so faith-
fully represent, upon tho splendid victory won
after a strugglo which has lasted nearly eighteen
years. It was in Decombor, 1398, that I resigned
from the army to begin the fight for a resolution
promising ultlmato Independence. Tho Bacon
resolution, containing such a promise, almost
passod tho sonate at that time. I helped to
writo tho promise of such a resolution into four
national platforms the platforms of 1900,
1904, 1908 and 1912 you can imagine, there
fore, tho satisfaction I find in seeing the pledge
kept and justice done this nation as well as the
Filipinos for our honor and our theory of gov
ernment wore involved no less than the political
rights and wolfare of the people of tho Philip
pines. It is an epoch-making for the doctrine
that governments derive their just powers from
tho consent of tho governed. Urge your people
to show their appreciation of our nation's action
by proving their wisdom, their self-restraint and
thoir unselfish devotion to order, progress, and
tho prosperity of the masses.
.With good wishes I am,
o Very truly yours,
... W. J. BRYAN.
President McKinley, near the close of the year
1898, finally laid the treaty before the United
States senate.
The terms of the treaty as agreed upon recog
nized the independence of Cuba, but provided
for the cession of tho Philippine Islands, thus
transferring to the sovereignty of the United
Slates a new territory having a population of
over 8,000,000, with tho consequent necessity
of establishing over the Filipinos some kind of
a colonial government.
When the terms of the treaty became known,
as first given .in a cablegram from
Paris, under date of December 10, 1898,
Mr. Bryan forwarded his resignation as colonel
of the Third Nebraska regiment to Washington,
and at once took up the fight against a colonial
policy. A copy of Mr. Bryan's letter of resigna
tion follows:
"Camp Onward, Savannah, Ga., Dec. 10, 1898.
Adjt. Gen. U. S. A., Washington, D. C. Sir:
The dispatches from Paris announce that, the
terms of the treaty between the United States
and Spain have been fully agreed upon, and that
tho commissioners will sign the same as soon
as it can bo engrossed.
"Believing that, under tho present conditions,
I can be more useful to my country as a civilian
than as a soldier, I hereby tender my resigna
tion, to take effect immediately upon its accept
ance. Respectfully, etc.,
"W. J. BRYAN,
"Col. 3d Reg., Neb. Vol. Inft."
(BEGINNING OF THE STRUGGLE
. Onihp 1st of October, 1898, the peace com
missioners selected by the governments of the
Unitetf States and Spain mot at Paris to arrange
tho terras of tho treaty which brought about the
ending of the Spanish-American war. "Mean
while the whole force of the administration at
Washington was turned to the policy of getting
as much as possible out of the war, with a senti
ment developing in favor of holding tho Philip
pine Islands.
rhecneacG commission concluded its labors in
Paris I(tho 18tli day of December, 18B8, when
rosult was finally reached in, the form of a
treaty to. be submitted for approval to, the treaty
matcing powers oi optuu uuu me unuuu oiaics.
JJlliU
TJ
pari
. the?
STATEMENT BY MR. BRYAN
Mr. Bryan, upon leaving his command of the
Third Nebraska, gave out the following inter
view at Savannah, Ga., December 13, 1898:
''My reason for leaving the army was set forth
in my lettor to the adjutant general tendering
my resignation. Now that the treaty of peace,
lias been concluded, I believe that I can be more
useful to my country as a civilian than a sol
soldier. "I may be in error, but in my judgment our
nation is in greater danger just now than Cuba.
Our people defended Cuba against foreign arms;
now they must defend themselves and their
country against a foreign idea the colonial
idea of European nations. Heretofore greed
has perverted the government and used its in
strumental interferences for private gain, but
now the very foundation principles of our gov
ernment are assaulted. Our nation must give
up any intention of entering upon a colonial
policy, such as is now- pursued by European
countries, or it must abandon the doctrine that
governments derive their just powers from the
consent of tho governed.
"To borrow a Biblo quotation, 'A houso divid
ed against itself can not stand.' Paraphrasing
Lincoln's declaration, I may add that this na
tion can not endure half republic and half col
ony half free and half vassal. Our form of
government, our traditions, our present inter
ests and our future welfare, all forbid our en
tering upon a career of conquest.
"Jefferson, has been quoted in support of im
perialism, but our opponents must' distinguish
between imperialism and expansion; they must
also distinguish between expansion in the west
ern hemisphere and an expansion that involves
us in the quarrels of Europe and the Orient.
They must still further distinguish between ex
pansion which secures contiguous territory for
future settlement and expansion, which secures
us alien races for future subjugation,
"Jefferson favored the annexation of neces
sary contiguous territory on the North American
continent, but he was opposed to wars of con
quest and expressly condemned the acquiring of
remote territory.
"Some think that the fight should be made
against ratification of the treaty, but I would
prefer another plan. If the treaty is rejected
negotiations must be renewed and instead of
settling tho question according to our ideas we
must settle it by diplomacy with the possibility
of international complications. It will be easier
I think, to end -the war at once by ratifying the
treaty and. then deal with the subject in our own
way. The issue can be presented directly by a
' resolution of congress declaring . tho policy of
the nation upon this subject. The President in
his message says that our only purpose in tail
ing possession of Cuba is to establish, a stahin
government and then turn that government over
to the people of Cuba. Congress could ro
affirm this purpose in regard to Cuba and assort
the same purpose in regard tp the Philippines
and Porto Rico. Such a resolution would make
a very clear cut issue between the doctrine of
self-government and the doctrine of imperialism
Wo should reserve a harbor and coaling station
in Porto Rico and the Philippines in return for
service rendered, and I think we would be justi
fied in asking the same concession from Cuba
"In the case of Porto Rico, where the people
have as yet expressed no desire for an inde
pendent government, we might with propriety
declare our willingness to annex the island if
the citizens desire annexation, but the Philippines
are too far away and their people too different
from ours to be annexed to the United States
even if they desired it." '
Mr. Bryan left Savannah, December 13, for
Washington, for the purpose of entering actively
into the fight against a colonial policy, later ex
pressing himself very emphatically to his demo
cratic associates upon the duty of congress In
regard to the Philippines. .
THE BACON RESOLUTION
On the 6th of February, 1899, when the treaty
with Spain in regard to the Philippines was un
der discussion in the United States senate, Sen
ator Bacon of Georgia offered the following
amendment:
"Resolved further, That the United States
hereby disclaim any disposition or intention to
exercise permanent sovereignty, jurisdiction or
control over said islands and assert their deter
mination, when a stable and independent govern
ment shall have been erected therein entitled, in
the judgment of the government of the United
States, to recognition as such to transfer to said
government upon terms which shall be reason
able and just all rights secured under the cession
by Spain and to thereupon leave the government
and control of the islands to their people."
The vote upon the motion -was 29 to 29, a tie
vote, and it was decided in the negative by a
vote of tho vice-president. ' . '
WHY THE TREATY WAS RATIFIED
The following is ah extract from Mr. Bryan's
speech on "Imperialism," delivered In Indian
apolis, Ind., on August. .8, 1900, in accepting the
democratic nomination' for the presidency:
"I was among the number of those who be
lieved it better to ratify "the treaty and end the
war, release the volunteers, remove the cause
for war expenditures and then give the Filipinos
the independence which might be forced from
Spain by a new treaty.
"In view of the criticism which my action
aroused in some quarterst I take this occasion
to restate the reasons given at that time. I .
thought it safer to trust the American people to
give independence to the Filipinos than to
trust the accomplishment of tliat purpose to
diplomacy with an unfriendly nation.
"Lincoln embodied an argument in the ques
tion when he asked, 'Gan aliens make treaties
easier than friends can make laws?' I believe
that we are now in a better position to wage a
successful contest against imperialism than we
would have been had the treaty been rejected.
With the treaty ratified a clean-cut issue is pre
sented between a government by consent and a
government by force, and imperialists must bear ,
the responsibility for all that happens until the
question is settled."
DEMOCRATS TAKE UP THE FIGHT
In the next national campaign following the
ratification of the treaty, the democratic party
in its platform strongly denounced the repub
lican party for its policy of imperialism and
took up the fight tp bring, about the recognition
of the independence of the Philippine Islands.
The platform of the democratic party in 190
contained the following plank:
"We condemn and denounce the Philippine
policy of the present administration. It has in
volved the republic in unnecessary war, sacrificed
the lives of many"of our noblest sons, and
placed the United States, previously known and
applauded throughout the world as the cham
pion of f reedomttn ithe false and un-American
position of crushing' -with military force the ef
forts of our formers-allies to achieve liberty aim
Self-governm'erit.dtiMte Filipinos can not be cit
izens without endangering our civilization; they
can not be subjects without imperiling our form
of government; and as we ara not willing to