Conservative *
TUB CONSEUVA-
KXPLOUKI )
. Tivn will continue
PKOPHECIES.
to republish from
time to tinio the political prophecies and
financial forecasts which were made in
1890 by the Hon. William Jennings
Bryan then , as now , a candidate for the
presidency .Possibly a pernianoutlystaud-
ing list of prophecies gone to protest
may be established in these columns.
But no prophecies that can not be
identified as of the real genuine Bryan-
archistio brand will be among them.
There is no more fairness in trying to
sell goods from a canning factory under
false labels than in attempting to destroy ,
by misquotations of cant , the reputation
of a cant-ing prophet.
The kind of a
T1IK PHILIPPINES.
declaration to
make relative to the Philippines will
perplex the platform makers for the re
publican national convention. The
failure of congress to act upon the
Spoouer civil government bill places the
party in an embarrassing position. In
his argument in behalf of the bill ,
Senator Spooner urged the necessity of
some action on the part of congress up
holding the president so as to allay the
criticism of one man power. The pur
pose of the bill the senator said was to
"put this measure of authority behind
the president. " "To leave it all to his
war power , " he said , "seems to be
unjust. " It was for congress to deter
mine whether they would do that which
"seems unjust , " to leave all with the
war power of the president , or assume
the responsibility of an authoritative
declaration relative to the future gov
ernment of the islands.
In his message of February , 1899 , the
president thus defines the duty of con
gress : ' 'This whole subject is now with
< l congress and congress is the voice , the
conscience , and the judgment of the
American people. " It is a sad comment
ary upon the American people that its
voiceconscience and judgment have de
clined to speak. Congress has , from the
beginning of the trouble in the Philip
pines , maintained a profound silence ,
and has studiously avoided putting it
self on record.
The first Philippine commission ,
through its president , Mr. Schurman ,
thus forcefully
' .
Schurinan'H Opinion.
urged an' 'authori
tative declaration" by congress , believing
that else "could much
nothing so con
tribute to an adjustment of our Philip
pine trouble : "
"At the present time no one can tell
the Filipinos authoritatively what their
political relations hereafter shall be.
Nay , more , the Treaty of Paris left the
political status and the civil rights of the
Filipinos to be determined by the con
gress of the United States , and since the
ratification of that treaty the Filipinos
have been in this regard floating between
heaven and hell. Aguinaldo's coin-
missioners wore informed that a liberal
form of government would be granted
to the Philippine peoples , with a largo
share of home rule ; that there should
be a governor-general appointed by the
president of the United States , a cabi
net consisting of Americans or Filipinos
appointed by the governor-general , and
judges of the higher courts , either Am
erican or Filipino , appointed by the
president of the United States. But the
shrewd Filipinos immediately made the
point that under the constitution of the
United States only congress could deter
mine their political status ; that what
ever powers the president exercised were
the war powers of the constitution ,
which ceased with the establishment of
peace. "
Mr. Schurman's opinion upon Phil
ippine matters is entitled to cousidera-
, tiou. If , as he says ,
Kvcunl IndufeiiHlblo. , . _ . ' .
the Filipinos are
awaiting a declaration from congress , as
the only body having power under our
constitution to speak , what excuse will
the republicans offer to the people for
not making this declaration ? They
have repeatedly proclaimed their desire
for a speedy termination of hostilities.
How will they defend their failure to do
that which the president of the Philip
pine commission declared to be essential
to bring this about ? "
Senator Spoouer stated , upon the floor
of the senate that it was the purpose
of the republican party "to educate
the Filipinos for self-government
and to give it to them. " If this is
really what the republican party intends
to do , what harm could there have been
for the republican majority in congress
to have said so , in a positive , straight
forward declaration , that the Filipinos
would understand ? Without question
such a declaration would have ended
the war. Can the action , or more ac
curately the inaction , of congress bo
construed otherwise that as an evidence
of a directly-opposite intent , viz. , the
determination to hold the Philippines
and govern them as a dependency ? The
republicans should have their most
skillful word juggler write the Philip
pine plank , if they hope to beguile the
people into endorsing the record of the
majority in congress.
THE WAR WITH .
SPAIN. 1B'S m congress
contended with
Grosveuor of Ohio as to who should
have the honor and glory of having in
volved the United States in a corpse-
making tournament with Spain.
Bailey of Texas and Oummings of
New York , together with other equally
valiant trenchermen like "Ohump" Olark
of Missouri , declared with impetuous
vehemence that except for their efforts
no war would have been brought about.
And thereupon the great arithmetician ,
Grosvenor of Ohio , disputed their
declarations and declamations by aver
ring that it was a republican war. Each
boasted of it as a partisan war. But
thoughtful men deemed it 'merely an
unnecessary war. It cost good blood
and put out noble lives. After it was
over the two countries did that which
they should have done before a gun was
fired. They negotiated. The forces of
mind settled the international disagree
ments and the pen ratified the settle
ment.
The Spaniards at the making of the
treaty in Paris , however , did strenuously
object to one thing.
One Thliif , ' . m.J . . . °
That one thing
was the cession of the Philippines. But
upon that one thing the American diplo
mats under specific instruction from
McKinley inexorably insisted. It was
accomplished and a twenty million dollar
lar plaster at once applied to heal Spain's
pride. Then the treaty came to the
United States.
The older and wiser men of the senate
at first secured a majority against its
ratification. They
Ratification. . . . , , . ,
believed that once
ratified the islands would be as much a
part of the United States as the terri
tories of Alaska , New Mexico , Oklahoma
and Arizona. They held that after the
ratification by the senate the treaty was
as binding as the laws and constitution.
They wavered. They considered. They
attempted to solve the great problem of
insular colonization by study and
thought. But the alleged democracy
would not permit experience and logic
to control. It hastened all its vealy and
unripe statesmen to bring pressure for
the ratification. In Colonel Bryan ,
fresh from slaughtering Spaniards in
Cuba , the friends of "McKinley and his
" found in effective
policy , Washington an
tive ally. The colonel , ripe in experi
ence as a statesman , took with him to
the senators , whom he persuaded to
vote for ratification , a sort of paternal
authority. They were young and knew
little of statecraft when compared to the
sage and philosophic colonel. Thus
Bryan soon brought about ratification of
that dearly beloved treaty , which has
given us the right to christianize ,
chasten and corpse-construct the Filipinos
pines until we are tired , or out of
money and men. Colonel Bryan's fol
lowers then proclaimed Colonel Bryan
the savior of the treaty of Paris the
only man on earth who could , and did
bring about that benignant end. His
fighting lieutenant colonel , the game
and distinguished veteran , Victor Vif-
quain , was so enraptured with the
strategy by which Colonel Bryan brought
about the ratification of the treaty , by
which we have secured the priceless
privilege of killing Americans with
climatio and other diseases , while we
manufacture the Filipino cadaver with
shot and shell that he came out boldly
in a letter and declared that except for
Colonel Bryan the treaty would have
been beaten. With his uniform livery
of modesty even Colonel Bryan himself
