E 13U 
 
 
\ 
 
 SPEECH 
 
 OF 
 
 Hon. ELIHU ROOT 
 
 SECRETARY OF WAR 
 
 AT 
 
 PEORIA, ILLINOIS 
 
 SEPTEMBER 24, 1902 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C. : 
 
 Gibson Bros,, Printers and Bookbinders. 
 
 1902. 
 
SPEECH 
 
 OF 
 
 Hon. ELIHU ROOT 
 
 SECRETARY OF WAR 
 
 AT 
 
 PEORIA, ILLINOIS 
 
 SEPTEMBER 24, 1902 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C. I 
 
 Gibson Bros., Printers and Bookbindekj 
 
 1902. 
 

 Bv Transfer 
 AUG 3 1914 
 
Feli.ow Citizens : 
 
 Once before, and only once, 1 have visited the city of 
 Peoria. It was on that day, in the autumn of 1S99, when the 
 stately and beautiful monument to the soldiers of the Civil 
 War, which adorns your public square, was unveiled. It was 
 a day of festivity and rejoicing. All business and controversy 
 and selfish care had been laid aside, and from all the town 
 and all the country round the people had gathered to look 
 upon the face and listen to the voice of their beloved President, 
 William McKinley. As liis sweet and vibrant tones carried 
 his words to the very limits of the great throng, every sentence 
 was an impulse of patriotism. Every wave of responsive 
 sympathy lifted the people up to higher planes of citizenship 
 and of manhood. Not merely what he said but what he was, 
 the intimate relation of the listener to the man himself, for the 
 moment ennobled every heart and forever left it better than it 
 was before. His character was so pure, so unselfish, so free 
 from uncharitableness and malice ; his sympathies were so 
 broad and genuine ; his love of country and of humanity were 
 so sincere ; his sensitive regard for the feelings and desire for 
 the happiness of others were so considerate ; the native dignity 
 and grace which fitted his high oflice were so charming — that 
 the interests of political opposition and the rancor of partisan 
 prejudice insensibly lost the wish to assail him ; and even 
 while he lived antagonism to the party leader merged into 
 affection and honor for the man. His wisdom, his tenacity of 
 purpose, his quiet and unostentatious strength, the sagacity and 
 skill of his sympathetic control and leadership over men, made 
 his nobility of character an active force for justice and peace 
 and righteousness. Men may find, or think they find, error 
 in his judgments. Men may differ as to the wisdom of his 
 policies ; but that his judgments were formed in sincerity as 
 
4 
 
 he saw the right; that his policies were the outcome of strong 
 desire for the peace and happiness and honor of his country 
 and of his race, and that he worked them out, so long as he 
 lived, along the lines of justice and of humanity ; no one who 
 knew him as we knew him, will ever doubt. 
 
 His memorv lives. The powerful impress of his noble char- 
 acter persists. The lofty purpose with which he undertook the 
 responsibilities and the duties which the fortunes of war cast 
 upon the American Government is still the guide of action for 
 his party and his country. The first words spoken by his succes- 
 sor, when taking the oath of office at Buffalo were : " It is my 
 purpose to continue absolutely unbroken the policy of President 
 McKinley for the peace, prosperity and honor of our beloved 
 countr}'." I challenge judgment upon the truth and loyalty 
 with which Theodore Roosevelt has redeemed his promise. 
 The murderer's bullet robbed us of a friend, it did not produce 
 a revolution. It changed rulers, it did not change policies. 
 The great party which was in power has continued the same, 
 and its policies have continued. President Roosevelt has 
 followed them not merely because be promised but because he 
 approved. If he had not approved he could not have promised, 
 for there is no shadow of deceitfulness in him. With loyalty 
 and resolution, with the vigor of his intense convictions, and 
 with tlie honesty, frankness and courage for which the American 
 people love him he has continued the work McKinley began 
 and pressed forward the performance of the great duties which 
 they both believed the welfare of their country and of man- 
 kind imposed upon the Government of the United States. 
 
 The American people is now called upon to consider 
 whether it wishes to withdraw its support from the policy of 
 McKinley and of Roosevelt and elect a House of Representa- 
 tives whicli will oppose and, by a hostile majority, frustrate 
 and prevent all further effective action by the President. 
 
 Of course such action as that waiuld result in an ineffective 
 Government. A Government half Republican and half 
 Democratic can never be a Government of progress or of 
 affirmative action. It cannot deal with difficulties or accom- 
 
plish beneficent results. If the honor and welfare of the coun- 
 try demand that things be done, that constiuctivc statesman- 
 ship accomplish results, such a divided Government vvould 
 fail. That may be no reason why the people should not 
 change the majority in the House for sufficient cause, but it is 
 a reason why it should not be done lightly, thoughtlessly, and 
 for the mere sake of change. Grave disapproval and loss of 
 confidence only could justify the people in thus dividing their 
 Government against itself. 
 
 What has the Republican Administration of the country 
 done, or failed to do, to call down upon it such disapproval and 
 loss of confidence.'* 
 
 The principal, indeed almost the sole attack by the rep- 
 resentatives of the Democratic party, which occupied the 
 greater part of the last session of Congress, was violent 
 denunciation of the administration's policy in the Philip- 
 pines, and of the execution of that policy. A crowd of 
 difficulties to be dealt with by the administration had ac- 
 companied the war with Spain. A large army had been 
 raised, the national debt had been increased by the borrow- 
 ing of $200,000,000, burdensome war taxes had been im- 
 posed. In the islands yielded or ceded by Spain, millions of 
 men of alien races, dift'ering in language, in laws, in customs, 
 in traditions, in jDrejudices, in ways of thinking, most of them 
 ignorant, most of them suspicious, many of them unfriendlv, 
 were to be pacified and reconciled and governed and taught 
 self-government. New experiments in government were to 
 be tried. There were no precedents, and precedents were to 
 be made. There was no governmental machinei-y, and govern- 
 mental machinery was to be constructed. The principles of 
 American liberty were to be applied to new and strange con- 
 ditions among peoples who hardly knew the alphabet of free- 
 dom . 
 
 By the spring of 1902 the Republican Administration had 
 dealt with all these diificulties, and as to all but one had 
 reached a point where the success of a wise policy and efiec- 
 tive administration could not be gainsaid. 
 
The army of 270,000 men had been disbanded, and the regular 
 force had been i-educed to two-thirds of the permanent number 
 allowed by law to safeguard the country against future attacks. 
 The war taxes had been repealed, and the industry and property 
 the country had been relieved of their burden. The process 
 of again reducing the national debt had progressed so far that, 
 through payment and refunding, after paying all the expense 
 of the war and in the Philip[)ines, the annual interest charge 
 upon the debt was less by $6,844,431.70 than it was at the 
 opening of the war with Spain. 
 
 Plain duty had been done by Porto Rico, and done with 
 such judgment and discretion that a new system of taxa- 
 tion, suited to her conditions, was studied out in detail, put 
 in force, and made productive, taking the place of the cus- 
 toms duties, upon which she had relied, without a break 
 or embarrassment in the financial affairs of her government. 
 American currency had replaced the Spanish pesos, civil 
 government had been established upon just and firm founda- 
 tions, the laws which protect individual liberty had been 
 planted in that unfamiliar soil, the judicial procedure which 
 protects the innocent had been substituted for arbitrary 
 power, the writ of habeas corpus^ the great writ of personal 
 freedom, had supplanted the inconimiinicado. The stoim of 
 detraction and abuse which raged around the administration 
 in the spring of 1900 had died away and disappeared upon the 
 demonstration of the wisdom of the Republican Porto Rican 
 policy, and before the spectacle of a prosperous and happy 
 people, governed by the harmonious action of their own elected 
 legislative assembly and of the officers appointed by the Presi- 
 dent of the United States. 
 
 The work of pacification and construction in Cuba had been 
 completed. Military government there had faithfully given 
 effect to the humane purposes of the American people. With 
 sincere kindness our officers had helped the Cuban people to 
 take the steps necessary to the establishmentof their own consti- 
 tutional government. During the time required for that pro- 
 cess they had governed Cuba wisely and justly , had honestly 
 
collected and expeiulcd for the interest of the people the reve- 
 nues, amounting to nearly sixty millions of dollars ; liad executed 
 thorough sanitary measures, improving the healtli and lowering 
 the death rate. By patient, scientific research, they had ascer- 
 tained the causes of yellow fever, and by good administration 
 had put an entl to that most dreadful disease which had long 
 destroyed the lives and liindered the commercial prosperity 
 of the Culians ; they had expeditctl justice and secured pro- 
 tection for the rights of the innocent, while they had cleansed 
 the prisons and created healthful conditions for the punishment 
 of the guilty ; thev had providctl adequate hospitals and 
 asylums for the care of the unfortunate ; they had established 
 a general system of free, common schools throughout the 
 island, in which over two huiulred thousand children were in 
 actual attendance ; they had consti ucted great and necessary 
 public works; they had trained the Cubans themselves in all 
 branches of administration so that the new government, upon 
 assuming power, had begun its work with an experienced 
 force of Cuban civil service employees competent to execute its 
 orders ; they had borne themselves with dignity and self-con- 
 trol, so that nearly four years of military occupation had 
 passed unmarred by injury or insult to man or woman ; they 
 had transferred the government of Cuba to the Cuban people 
 amid universal expressions of friendship and good will, and 
 had left a record of justice and liberty, of rapid improvement 
 in material and moral conditions, and of progress in the art of 
 gfovernment which brought honor from all the world to the 
 people of the United .States. 
 
 Of all the executive problems following in the train of the 
 Spanish war the problem of the Philippines alone remained. 
 Success there had not then been demonstrated, and it was still 
 possible that the failure there might lead the American peo- 
 ple to withdraw power from Republican hands. Accordingly 
 the Philippine policy of the Administration was attacked. I 
 ask the people of the United States to consider the record 
 made by the Democratic party in that attack. 
 
 The policy was simple. Spain, which for more tlian three 
 
centuries before Dewey's victory had exercised undisputed sov- 
 ereignty over the Philippine Islands, ceded the islands with all 
 her title and sovereignty there to the United States, by the treaty 
 of peace which was signed at Paris on the loth of December, 
 1S9S, and was confirmed by the Senate of the United States on 
 the 6th of February, 1S99. The cession was one of the terms of 
 peace, and was upon a special consideration of $20,000,000 to 
 be paid to Spain by the United States. Upon the ratification 
 of the treaty and the payment of that money, sovereignty 
 over the Philippine Islands vested in the United States, the 
 territory of the islands became the territory of the United 
 States, the public lands belonging to Spain in the islands 
 became the property of the United States ; all the rights and 
 all the obligations towards the other nations of the world in 
 respect of the Philippine Islands which pertained to sovereignty 
 devolved upon the United States. The Supreme Court of the 
 United States has declared this without difference of opinion. 
 For a long time before the ratification of the treaty the army 
 of the United States had been in possession of the city of 
 Manila, and on the 4th of February, two days before the rati- 
 fication, a body of insurgents, under the Tagalog chieftain 
 Aguinaldo, attacked our forces in that city, and they were driven 
 back with heavy loss, and with the loss of 260 of our own 
 soldiers, killed and wounded. Then the two armies rested, 
 facing each other in long lines surrounding the city of Manila. 
 Under these circumstances, and with a full knowledge of 
 these facts, the treaty under which we acquired the Philippines 
 and paid $20,000,000 for them was ratified b}'^ two-thirds 
 vote of the Senate. The vote was not a party vote. Some 
 Republicans voted against the treaty. Many leading Demo- 
 crats of the Senate voted in its favor. Mr. Bryan, the great 
 Democratic leader of the day, was urgently in favor of the 
 ratification. Subsequently the $20,000,000 to pay for the 
 islands was appropriated without a party division by an over- 
 whelming vote of both Houses ; and on the 2d of March Con- 
 gress again without a party division authorized the increase of 
 the regular army from 37,000 to 65,000, and the raising of 
 
35iOOO volunteers for service in the Philippine Islands, where 
 active fiii^hting had been resumed. 7^he policy of the Repub- 
 lican Administration has been to maintain the sovereignty thus 
 acquired ; to put down the insurrection against that sovereignty 
 by the use of the means thus furnished by the people of the 
 United States without regard to party ; and then to give to the 
 people of the islands all the blessings of civil and religious 
 liberty, of just and equal laws, of good and honest administra- 
 tion, of education, of individual freedom, of social order, and 
 of self-government just so far as thev were competent to govern 
 themselves. 
 
 President McKinley declared that policy in liis message of 
 that year in these words : 
 
 '• Until Congress shall have made known the formal 
 expression of its will I shall use the authority yested in 
 me by the Constitution and the statutes to uphold the 
 sovereignty of the United States in those distant islands as 
 in all other places where our flag rightfully floats. I 
 shall put at the disposal of the Army and Navy all the 
 means which the liberality of Congress and the people 
 have provided to cause this unprovoked and wasteful in- 
 surrection to cease. If any orders of mine were required 
 to insure the merciful conduct of military and naval opera- 
 tions, they would not be lacking ; but every step of the 
 progress of our troops has been marked by a humanity 
 which has surprised even the misguided insurgents. The 
 truest kindness to them will be a swift and eflective defeat 
 of tiieir present leader. The hour of victory will be the 
 hour of clemency and reconstruction. 
 
 No effort will be spared to build up the waste places 
 desolated by war and by long years of misgovernment. 
 We shall not wait for the end of strife to begin the benefi- 
 cent work. VVe shall continue, as we have begun, to 
 open the schools and the churches, to set the courts in 
 operation, to foster industry and trade and agriculture, 
 and in every way in our power to make these people 
 whom Provitlence has brought within our jurisdiction feel 
 that it is their liberty and not our power, their welfare and 
 not our gain, we are seeking to enhance. Our flag has 
 never waved over any community but in blessing. I believe 
 the Filipinos will soon recognize the fact that it has not 
 
lO 
 
 lost its gift of benediction in its world-wide journey to 
 their shores." 
 
 The Civil Commission, of which President Schurman was 
 the head, after studying the subject on the ground, in the 
 Philippines, declared their conclusions in these words: 
 
 "Deplorable as war is, the one in which we are now 
 engaged was unavoidable by us. We were attacked by a 
 bold, adventurous, and enthusiastic army. No alternative 
 was left to us except ignominious retreat. 
 
 It is not to be conceived of that any American would 
 have sanctioned the surrender of Manila to the insurgents. 
 Our obligations to other nations and to the friendly 
 Fili]5inos and to ourselves and our flag demanded that 
 force should be met by force. Whatever the future of the 
 Philippines may be, there is no course open to us now 
 except the prosecution of the war until the insurgents are 
 reduced to submission. The Commission is of the opinion 
 that there has been no time since the destruction of the 
 Spanish squadron by Admiral Dewey when it was 
 possible to withdraw our forces from the islands either 
 with honor to ourselves or with safety to the inhabitants." 
 
 In those early months of 1S99, when the course of our Gov- 
 ernment towards the insurrection had to be determined, there 
 was no ditlerence of opinion between the two parties as to the 
 duty of the Administration. The Democratic equally with 
 the Republican press throughout the country demanded that 
 this policy be followed. 
 
 '•In the light of the thrilling news from Manila," said 
 tlie Atlanta CoJibtitution of February 6, 1S99. "there 
 now remains but one course for the American Government 
 to pursue, and that is to conquer the forces of Aguinaldo. 
 In our own way and in our own time we can deal with 
 tlie question of local government in the Philippines, but 
 as long as an armed foe stands in the way the only work 
 ahead of us will be to vindicate the authority of the flag." 
 
 The Louisville Coiiricr-Jiniriial of the same day declared : 
 
 " There can be but one result, which will be the prompt 
 and complete assertion of our authority over Aguinaldo 
 and his Tagalogs as it was asserted over the Spaniards. 
 
II 
 
 We know how to deal with the misguided and maliciously 
 instigated insubordination of the Filipinos." 
 
 The New Orleans Picayziiic said : 
 
 '■• It will now be necessary to crush the insurrection and 
 firmly establish the American control before the future 
 form of government for the islands can be for a moment 
 considered." 
 
 The Nashville Avicrican : 
 
 " We must make them know that our power is supreme, 
 otherwise we cannot give to them the blessings freedom 
 and individual libert}' have in store. The United States 
 cannot and will not yield to Aguinaldo. Aguinaldo must 
 and will yield to the United States." 
 
 The New \oxV Journal said : 
 
 " To the unprovoked attack upon our forces at Manila 
 while we were extending every effort to reach an amicable 
 adjustment with tlie Filipinos, and while our commission 
 of inquiry was actually on the way, there can be but one 
 answer. Order must be restored in the Philippines. The 
 men who have taken our forl^earance for weakness must 
 be taught their mistake. American authority must be 
 established at once lieyond challenge throughout the archi- 
 pelago." 
 
 The Memphis Coinincrcial said : 
 
 "As long as they tight American troops our policy will 
 be to fight back and fight to conquer." 
 
 The Denver Daily News: 
 
 " That act has made it impossible for the United ^States 
 to leave those islands imtil it has administered justice to 
 those responsible for the attack. While it may be deter- 
 mined not to hold these islands, and may be disadvanta- 
 geous to hold them, still our national dignity and honor 
 will not permit our forces to he driven out." 
 
 Here and there an individual voice was raised counseling 
 surrender and retreat, but the general voice of the people, 
 without distinction of part}', and without regard to selfish 
 interest, seconded the action of Congress and the require- 
 ments of the Constitution in demanding from the Executive 
 the suppression of insurrection and the establishment of peace- 
 
12 
 
 fill government in the Philippine Islands under the sovereignty 
 of the United States. 
 
 That task also has now been accomplished. The sound of 
 angry voices declaring that it never could and never would be 
 done had hardly died away in our national capital when, on 
 the 4th of July last, the last hostile gun was laid down, the 
 last insurgent surrendered, the last remnant of military gov- 
 ernment was terminated, civil government, with just and equal 
 laws maintaining social order aiid protecting propert}' and life 
 and liberty, was established over the last province of the 
 Philippines outside of the Moro country, the flag under which 
 Lawton and Logan fell floated the emblem of acknowledged 
 sovereignty over every island and every town, and our President 
 celebrated the anniversary of national independence by pro- 
 claiming peace and general amnesty. The task has not been 
 an easy one. I cannot better describe the work our soldiers 
 had to do and the way they did it than by reading the words 
 of the general order which signalized the termination of their 
 most arduous labors : 
 
 "■ The President thanks the oflicers and enlisted men of 
 the army in the Philippines, both regulars and volunteers, 
 for the courage and fortitude, the indomitable spirit and 
 loyal devotion with which they have put down and ended 
 the great insurrection which has raged throughout the 
 archipelago against the lawful sovereignty and just au- 
 thority of the United States. The task was peculiarly 
 diflicult and trying. They were required at first to over- 
 come organized resistance of superior numbers, well 
 equipped with modern arms of precision, intrenched 
 in an unknown country of mountain defiles, jungles, 
 and swamps, apparently capable of interminable de- 
 fense. When this resistance had been overcome they 
 were required to crush out a general system of guerrilla 
 warfare conducted among a people speaking unknown 
 tongues, from whom it was almost impossible to obtain 
 the information necessary for successful pvusuit or to 
 guard against surprise and ambush. 
 
 " The enemies by whom they were surrounded were re- 
 gardless of all obligations of good faith and of all the limi- 
 tations which humanity has imposed upon civilized war- 
 
13 
 
 fare. Bound themselves by the laws of war, our soldiers 
 were called upon to meet every device of unscrupulous 
 treachery and to contemplate without reprisal the infliction 
 of barbarous cruelties upon their comrades and friendlv 
 natives. They were instructed, while punishing armed 
 resistance, to conciliate the friendship of the peaceful, 
 yet had to do with a population among whom it was 
 impossible to distinguish friend from foe, and who in count- 
 less instances, used a false appearance of friendship for 
 ambush and assassination. They were obliged to deal 
 with problems of communication and transportation in a 
 country without roads and frequently made impassable 
 by torrential rains. They were weakened by tropical 
 hea.t and tropical disease. Widely scattered over a great 
 archipelago, extending a thousand miles from north to 
 south, the gravest responsibilies, involving' the life or 
 death of their commands, frequently devolved upon young 
 and inexperienced officers beyond the reach of specific 
 orders or advice. 
 
 "Under all these adverse circumstances the Army of 
 the Philippines has accomplished its task rapidly and 
 completely. In more than two thousand combats, great 
 and small, within three years, it has exhibited unvarying 
 courage and resolution. Utilizing the lessons of the 
 Indian wars, it has relentlessly followed the guerrilla 
 bands to their fastnesses in mountain and jungle and 
 crushed them. It has put an end to the vast system of 
 intimidation and secret assassination by which the peace- 
 ful natives were prevented from taking a genuine part in 
 government under American authority. It has captured or 
 forced to surrender substantially all the leaders of the in- 
 surrection. It has submitted to no discouragement and 
 halted at no obstacle. Its officers have shown high 
 qualities of command, and its men have shown devotion 
 and discipline. Its splendid virile energ}' has been accom- 
 panied by self-control, patience and magnanimity. With 
 surprisingly few individual exceptions its course has 
 been characterized by humanity and kindness to the pris- 
 oner and the non-combatant. With admirable good 
 temper, sympathy, and loyalty to American ideals, its 
 commanding generals have joined with the civilian agents 
 of the Government in healing the wounds of war and 
 assuring to the people of the Philippines the blessings of 
 peace and prosperity. Individual liberty, protection of 
 
14 
 
 personal rights, civil order, public instruction, and relig- 
 ious freedom have followed its footsteps. It has added 
 honor to the flag w^hich it defended, and has justified in- 
 creased confidence in the future of the American people, 
 whose soldiers do not shrink from labor or death, yet love 
 liberty and peace. 
 
 " The President feels that he expresses the sentiments 
 of all the loyal people of the United States in doing honor 
 to the whole armv which has joined in the performance 
 and shares in the credit of these honorable services." 
 
 The problem to be worked out in the Philippines was not 
 a military problem alone. At the bottom of our difiiculties 
 lay the fact that the Spaniards, to secure the assistance of the 
 people against us, and after them the ambitious men who saw 
 the opportunity to secure empire for themselves, had filled the 
 minds of the ignorant and credulous people with vile slanders 
 upon American character, and the most extravagant and gro- 
 tesque tales of American tyranny and barbarity. They de- 
 scribed us as monsters in human form, who sought to fasten 
 upon the miserable Filipinos a tyranny worse than that of 
 Spain, and who would respect neither the rights of man nor 
 the virtue of woman, nor the innocence of childhood, nor the 
 sacredness of religion. To dispel this dreadful belief words 
 were of no avail. Assurance and promises were useless, for 
 they were not believed. Before a genuine acceptance of our 
 sovereignty could come, except by the sullen acquiescence of 
 the conquered, it was necessary that we should demonstrate to 
 the great mass of the people of the islands that our sovereignty 
 meant justice and not oppression, liberty and not slavery, pro- 
 tection of law and not the license of arbitrary power. And so 
 without waiting until the termination of the war, we estab- 
 lished civil government to go hand in hand with our advanc- 
 ing armies. 
 
 A new civil commission was created with Judge Taft at its 
 head. As armed resistance ceased, island by island, province 
 by province, town by town, civil government was substi- 
 tuted for Military Government ; the bill of rights extended 
 its protection over the people ; the writ of habeas corpus 
 
15 
 
 became the guaranty of their liberty ; elections were held 
 at which tlie people chose the officers of their own towns 
 ami provinces; a native constabulary was org'anizetl, and 
 proved foithful and effective for the protection of life and prop- 
 erty ; the people resumed their customary avocations under the 
 protection of law. In this way when the insurrection l)reathed 
 its last in the mountains of Batangas the great bod}' of the 
 people had already commenced to learn the true and beneficent 
 meaning of American sovereignty, and a civil government built 
 up by the careful labor of years was xilready in existence, fully 
 organized and readv for the final extension of its authority. 
 The instructions given by the President to the Philippine Com- 
 mission, which constitute both the organic law of the civil 
 government and the code of rules and principles to guide its 
 conduct, have been adopted bv Congress without change and 
 practically without criticism as the future guide of that Gov- 
 ernment's action. Tlie system of government created under 
 these instructions is continued by Congress unchanged, except 
 by the enlargement of its power. I invite comparison between 
 the body of laws enacted by the Philippine Commission. 441 
 in number, and the statutes of any State and of any country. 
 Thev exhibit constructive ability, legislative skill, painstaking 
 familiaritv with conditions, and fidelity to constitutional prin- 
 ciples. The public revenues have been honestly collected and 
 honestly administered for the benefit of the people, under a 
 strict and thorough audit. Notwithstanding the insurrection, 
 the business of the islands has flourished and has become 
 nearly double what it was in the most peaceful years under 
 vSpanish rule. I quote from a circular issued by the German 
 government last year, for the information of German producers 
 and exporters : 
 
 "Although the pacification of the Piiilippinc Archi- 
 pelago has not as yet been fully established, the accounts 
 of its economic department are so favorable that it can- 
 not be too strongly m^ged upon German exporters to give 
 particular attention to this group of islands. From July, 
 1900, to March, 1901, the exports have increased l)y 34 
 
i6 
 
 per cent, and the imports by 52 per cent., as compared 
 with those of the same period of the preceding year. The 
 testimony cannot be withheld that the American admin- 
 istration of the affairs of the Philippines has, as far as 
 the economic betterment of the country is concerned, 
 ah-eady achieved extraordinary success. 
 
 "In 1S94, which was the last year of peaceful condi- 
 tion while under Spanish rule, the Philippine imports 
 reached $28,500,000 and the exports $33,100,000, Mexi- 
 can, in value. Under American rule, in spite of the 
 continued insurrection of the natives, the imports increased 
 in 1S99 to $40,900,000 and in 1900 to $55,500,000, 
 Mexican, and the exports to $38,500,000 and $53,400,000, 
 respectivelv. Military supplies are not included in these 
 figures. The detailecl statistics show that Spanish trade 
 with these islands is rapidly diminishing, but commercial 
 relations with the United fStates are gaining." 
 
 A million dollars has been applied to the construction of 
 roads, two million dollars to the improvement of the harbor of 
 Manila ; a system of free public schools has been established ; 
 I So. 000 children are enrolled ; and a thousand teachers brought 
 from America and nearly four thousand native teachers are 
 instructing them. A normal school has been established in 
 Manila. Ten thousand adults are attending night schools to 
 learn English. In selecting the employees of the civil govern- 
 ment a rigid and comprehensive civil service law has been 
 faithfully observed. A majority of the prominent men of the 
 insurrection are taking part in the ne.v government. Of the 
 seven commissioners who, with the Governor, exercise legis- 
 lative power, three are Filipinos. The Chief Justice of the 
 Supreme Comt and an Associate Justice, many of the Judges 
 of the first instance and many other high officials, are Fili- 
 pinos. While we have reduced our American troops in the 
 islands from about 70,000 to about 20,000, we have enlisted 
 about 5,000 natives, who have proved to be trustworthy and 
 efficient, and there is no longer occasion to doubt that either 
 as a military force or as a constabulary, the natives of the 
 islands themselves can be trusted to take the principal burden 
 of maintaining order, and that only a small force of American 
 
17 
 
 troops will be required. Our position in the Philippines to- 
 day is far better than the most sanguine American could rea- 
 sonably have expected in those early days of 1S99, when the 
 Democratic press and Democratic leaders were joining with 
 the Republicans in the declaration that the insurrection must 
 be put down. We shall have discouragements and reverses 
 in the future as we have in the past. Grave difficulties 
 doubtless await us, but the greatest difficulties are past. The 
 legislation enacted at the last session of Congress secures 
 the good which has been accomplished, and with wise con- 
 servatism opens the way to future progress. The taking of a 
 census under its provisions has alreadv been ordered, and after 
 the census will follow a legislative assembly elected bv the 
 Filipinos in which they can test and exercise their capacity 
 for government on the broader field as they are alreadv doing 
 in their local affairs. We know now that steady and faithful 
 adherence to the course which McKinley began and Roosevelt 
 is following, will prove beyond question or cavil the truth of 
 the declaration that our flag has never waved over any com- 
 munity but in blessing, and that it has not lost its gift of bene- 
 diction in its world-wide journey to the Philippine shores. 
 
 Before the American people determine whether they will 
 withdraw from the administration which has done these things, 
 the power to continue its effective action, and hamper it by 
 an adverse majority in the House of Representatives. I would 
 like to have them understand and consider what part the 
 Democratic party has played in this history. 
 
 It concerned the credit and honor of our country that we 
 should succeed in the Philippines. If we had failed, we 
 should have stood before all the world, and in our own con- 
 sciousness as well, convicted of weakness and inefficiencv and 
 of lacking the strength and unity of purpose and the capacity 
 for resolute and persistent action, without which no nation can 
 be great. 
 
 And, my fellow-citizens, there come always in every great 
 and difficult undertaking times when failure seems possible ; 
 times when discourasrements and difficulties and doubts beset 
 
i8 
 
 the pathway of endeavor. Then it is that high courage and 
 unshaken resolve mark the quality of a nation's greatness, and 
 then it is that faint hearts with querulous regrets and carping 
 complaints seek always to give up the fight. Such times came 
 during the Philippine insurrection. Where was the Demo- 
 cratic party then.? Was it helping the nation to succeed, or 
 was it helping the Administration to fail ? The very men who 
 had cried '^ Down with Aguinaldo," "Hurrah for the flag," 
 "The insurrection must be put down ; " the very men who 
 had voted to take the cession of the Philippines, who had 
 voted the money to pay for the Philippines, who had voted 
 for the troops to send to the Philippines, to put down the 
 insurrection, seized the moment of discouragement to demand 
 that in the face of armed resistance, the war should be de- 
 clared a failure, the struggle should be given up, sovereignty 
 should be relinquished, and defeated and humiliated America 
 should surrender the cause for which the lives of so many of 
 her soldiers had been sacrificed. There were some honorable 
 exceptions, but most of them retired to the background and 
 left the leadership of the party to the men who were willing 
 to voice this policy which for all time would have marked us 
 as a nation rash in counsel and feeble in execution. 
 
 The new leaders filled the air with outcries over the cost of 
 suppressing the insurrection. 
 
 They wrung the hearts of our people by parading the sad 
 statistics which told the story of our dead and wounded. 
 
 They protested that the islands would never pay, and 
 pointed with triumph to the custom-house figures, which 
 showed that although our trade with the Philippines had in- 
 creased, it had not in the midst of insurrection sprung up 
 like Jonah's gourd in a single night. 
 
 They asserted that we never could and never would suc- 
 ceed. " Thirty thousand, forty thousand, fifty thousand men 
 will be required for five years, for twenty-five 3'ears," they 
 cried. Five months have not passed and there are but 30,000 
 American soldiers there. They tore passion to tatters in their 
 insistence upon the construction of the Constitution which 
 
19 
 
 would include the archipelago within the provisions of the 
 Dingley Tariff, and subject that distant tropical country to the 
 duties provided to suit the conditions of life and production of 
 the United States. With vindictive insolence they denounced 
 the Supreme Court for deciding otherwise, and then urged 
 that Congress should include the islands within that tariff' law. 
 Was it because they sought the welfare of the Filipino that 
 they desired to impose upon him the provisions of this statute, 
 which they abhor and condemn.? Certainly not. It was be- 
 cause those duties were so unsuited to the life of the Philippine 
 Islands, that business there could not continue and the people 
 could not live under them, and an attempt to govern the 
 islands under them would have been an inevitable failure. 
 
 They gave courage and hope to the insurgent leaders by con- 
 stantly insisting that terms should be made, tliat independence 
 should be conceded, that the insurgents should be induced to 
 lay down their arms by promises, and they thus continually sup- 
 plied incentive to further resistance by the apparent possibility 
 of substantial success. 
 
 They slandered our title, and denied that we acquired 
 sovereignty at all by the cession from Spain. 
 
 They asserted that we had no right to succeed because 
 we had promised Aguinaldo independence, and the asser- 
 tion of sovereignty was an act of perfidy — the perfidy of 
 George Dewey and Wesley Merritt and William McKinley ! 
 They asserted this against the official reports and the sworn 
 testimony of Dewey, who alone could have made the prom- 
 ise ; against the evidence of the original written document 
 signed by Aguinaldo and his associates, which shows that 
 he came to Manila not relying upon any promise ; but with 
 the expressed intention to obtain arms from the Americans in 
 order to use them first against the Spaniards and tlien against 
 the Americans themselves. They asserted it against the writ- 
 ten statement of Mabini, the Prime Minister of the insurrec- 
 tion, declaring that there was no agreement whatever, and 
 against the admission of Aguinaldo that there was none. 
 
 They charged that the outbreak of hostilities on the fourth 
 
20 
 
 of February was an unprovoked and wicked attack by the 
 American soldiers upon the peaceful Filipinos who had no 
 thought of war ; and this in the face of the written evidence, 
 over the signature of Aguinaldo himself, by proclamation, by 
 letter, bv telegram, by military order, that the Philippine 
 forces had been for months preparing and intending to bring 
 on that very conflict. They charged that the officers of our 
 army were guilty of the atrocious wickedness of making that 
 attack to aflect the ratification of the treaty by the Senate, and 
 they charged that the dispatches which Dewey and Otis sent 
 were sent in anticipation, before the fight occurred. 
 
 They asserted that we had no right to succeed because we 
 found a people struggling for liberty and became their ally. 
 There is no basis for the assertion. When Dewey destro^-ed 
 the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay, the people of the Philippines 
 were not struggling at all. There was no insurrection there. 
 There had been an insurrection, and it had been terminated 
 four months before by the payment of money to the leaders, the 
 chief of whom was Aguinaldo, and their expatriation to Hong- 
 kong. The agreement by which that insurrection was termi- 
 nated said nothing either about independence or about reforms. 
 It was a simple agreement to stop fighting for money ; and it 
 declared that Aguinaldo and his associates desired to preserve 
 their Spanish citizenship. 
 
 Here is a copy of Aguinaldo's proclamation when he left 
 his country : 
 
 " BiACNABATO, December 25, 1S97. 
 
 " I lay down my arms because furtlier warfare will 
 bring not happiness but trouble and disaster, which is not 
 the end the insurrection seeks. I quit the field since my 
 ambitions for my people are one with the lofty desires of 
 the noble Governor General, Senor Don Fernando Primo 
 de Rivera, Marquis de Estrella, who inspired by his love 
 for our dear country inaugurated an era of peace from 
 that time he took up the reins of government of this Span- 
 ish territory. I lay down arms in accordance with the 
 patriotic advice of the intermediary, the maginoo, Pedro 
 A. Paterno, lover of the well-being of oiu" mutual native 
 
21 
 
 land. T go ot my own will. I go for in spite of the per- 
 sonal immunity which is given me by the laws, by prom- 
 ises and by Spanish honor, yet the violent passion of 
 hatred or some other political excitement might raise its 
 suicidal hand and make anew victims, thereby creating 
 disturbances and interfering with the progress of our de- 
 velopment. 
 
 Viva Espana, Viva Filipinas." 
 
 He declares that he leaves because his amliitions for his peo- 
 ple are one with the desires of the Spanish Governor General. 
 There was surely no independence in those desires. And he 
 conclutles ''•Viva Espana, Viva Filipinas!" That was the 
 condition of affairs at the time when the outbreak of war be- 
 tween Spain and the United States suggested to the little band 
 of expatriated adventurers in Hongkong that they might 
 profit by our destruction of the Spanish power with which 
 they were in such appreciative accord. When Aguinaldo first 
 went ashore from Dewey's ship on the 19th of Ma}', 1S9S, to 
 start the insurrection with the arms that Dewev furnished to 
 him, he found no insurrection and no support, and returned 
 discouraged to the ship and asked to be sent to Japan because 
 he could do nothing. Dewey told him to try again and sent 
 him back. And now his friends here say there was an im- 
 plied obligation to give him the countr}^ for Dewey found the 
 people struggling for their liberty. After reading the procla- 
 mation announcing the accord of Aguinaldo with the lofty 
 desires of the Spanish Governor General, this letter which he 
 lias just written to the President is most interesting : 
 
 "■ The Honorable Theodoke Roosevelt, 
 
 President of the United States of America. 
 
 ••' Sir : I have the honor to present to you an expres- 
 sion of mv gratitude for the amnesty which opens the 
 prison doors and lifts the ban of banishment from many 
 Filipinos who have honorably struggled for their ideal. 
 
 "■ I trust that such a generous and noble course on the 
 part of the Nation which you represent will be beneficial 
 in uniting, in the futui"e, the friendly relations between 
 Americans and Filipinos, and I am assured that with the 
 
22 
 
 disinterested and just protection of the wortiiy descend- 
 ants of the great George Washington, the aspirations of 
 my country will be satisfied, and which, I am sure, will 
 fully demonstrate its gratitude for the benefits which are 
 being done for us. 
 
 " Very respectfully, 
 
 " EMILIO AGUINALDO y FAMY. 
 
 " Manila, Cali.e Concordia, July 5, 1902." 
 
 He is a philosopher that Aguinaldo ! 
 
 The Democrats in Congress declared that we ought not to 
 succeed because the Filipinos were competent to govern them- 
 selves. We know that in fact their pretense of constitutional 
 government disappeared at the first symptom of dissent from 
 Aguinaldo's will, and he became an absolute military dictator. 
 VVe know this power was made secure by the assassination of 
 his rival, Luna, who, whether by Aguinaldo's order or not, 
 was slain upon Aguinaldo's threshhold by Aguinaldo's guards. 
 
 I read the description of that government from the report of 
 the Commission of which President Schurman was the head : 
 
 " Throughout the archipelago at large there was trouble 
 only at those points to which armed Tagalos had been sent 
 in considerable numbers. In general, such machinery of 
 *■ government ' as existed servetl only for plundering the 
 people under the pretext of levying ' war contributions,' 
 and while many of the insurgent officials were rapidly ac- 
 cumulating wealth. The administration of justice was 
 paralyzed, and crime of all sorts was rampant. Might 
 was the one law. Never in the worst days of Spanish 
 misrule had the people been so over-taxed or so badly 
 governed. In many provinces there was absolute anarchy, 
 and from all cities came petitions for protection and help 
 which we were unable to give." 
 
 Among the captured telegrams is one from Noirel and 
 Cailles which further illustrates the character of the govern- 
 ment to which we would have left the millions of humble and 
 peaceful people of the Philippines. It is dated on the 13th of 
 
23 
 
 January, 1S99, just twenty-two days before the outbreak of 
 hostilities, and it tlirows lig'ht also upon the Democratic asser- 
 tion that we were the aesfressors in that conflict. 
 
 ■o)-i" 
 
 ''To the President of the Republican Government, Ma- 
 lolos : 
 " We desire to know the result of ultimatum which you 
 mentioned in your telegram, and we also desire to know 
 what reward our government is preparing for the forces 
 who will first be able to enter Manila." 
 
 And here is the answer which we have in Aguinaldo's own 
 handwriting : 
 
 "As to the contents of your telegram, those who prove 
 themselves heroes will have as I'ewards large sums of 
 money, lands, extraordinary promotions, crosses of Biac- 
 nabato. Marquis of Malate, Ermita, and Count of Manila, 
 etc., besides the congratulations of our idolizing country 
 on account of their patriotism, and more if they capture 
 the regiments with their generals, and if possible the chief 
 of them all who represents our future enemies in Manila." 
 
 Where were the people to be when the Marquis of Malate, 
 the Marquis of Ermita and the Count of Manila were estab- 
 lished over them witli their large sums of money and grants 
 of land? What was Aguinaldo's title to be .'' What was to 
 become of the sham constitution under which he was then 
 masquerading and which forbade the granting of titles of 
 nobility? No, acceptance of sovereignty over the Philip- 
 pines carried with it acceptance of the duty of protection ; 
 and we should have been false to that duty if we had left these 
 people under the cruel and despotic rule of this dictator with 
 his generals and his Marquises and his Counts. 
 
 Our Democratic friends brush aside with contempt all Ameri- 
 can testimony. The words of Schurman and Taft, and Otis 
 and Wright, and Chaffee are as naught to them, but I will cite 
 to them a greater than Aguinaldo. The greatest genius and 
 most revered patriot of the Philippines was Jose Rizal. 
 Shortly before he was done to death by Spain he sent a mes- 
 
24 
 
 sage to his countrymen. It must have been his hist message ; 
 and in it he condemned the insurrection of Aguinaldo, which 
 terminated just before our Navy appeared upon the scene, and 
 pointed out the path his people should follow to liberty and en- 
 lightenment. This is the message : 
 
 " My Fellow Countrymen : 
 
 " On my return from Spain I learned that my name 
 was being used as a war cry by men in arms. This news 
 shocked me beyond measure, but believing it was all over 
 I remained silent as the harm was done and the deed could 
 not be recalled. Now I hear rumors that the disturbances 
 continue and lest anyone should be taking advantage of 
 , my name in good or bad faith, I write now to correct that 
 abuse and to undeceive those reckless men in order that 
 they may know the truth. When I found out what they 
 were attempting to do, I opposed it on principle and at- 
 tacked it and showed the utter impossibility of its success. 
 
 "I was convinced that the idea was in the greatest de- 
 gree absurd and what was worse would be fatal. When, 
 later, in spite of my advice, the movement was begun, I 
 offered of my own accord, not only my services, but my 
 life and even my good name to be used in any way the}^ 
 might believe effective in stifling the rebellion. I thought 
 of the disaster which would follow the success of the rev- 
 olution, and I deemed myself fortunate if by any sacrifice 
 I could l^lock the progress of such a useless calamity. 
 This can be proven. 
 
 "My countrymen, I have given proof that 1 was one 
 who sought ' liberties' for our country and I still seek 
 them. But as a first step I insisted upon the development 
 of the people in order that, by means of education and of 
 labor, they might acquire the proper individuality and force 
 which would make them worthy of them. In my writings 
 I have commended to you study and civic virtue without 
 which our redemption does not exist. I have also written, 
 and my words have been repeated, that reforms to be 
 effective must come from above. These which come from 
 below will be discountenanced, will be irregular and un- 
 stable. Permeated by these ideas, I cannot do less than 
 condemn, and I do condemn this absurd and savage in- 
 surrection planned behind my back, which dishonors us 
 before the Filipinos and discredits us with those who 
 
25 
 
 otherwise would argue in our behalf. I abominate its 
 cruelties and I disavow any kind of connection with it, 
 regretting with all the sorrow of my soul that these reck- 
 less men have allowed themselves to be deceived. Let 
 them return then, to their homes, and may God pardon 
 those who have acted in bad faith. 
 
 " Jose Rizal. 
 " Fort Santiago, December i6, iSg6." 
 
 That messsage is the platform of the American Government 
 in the Philippines. What was true of the people rebelling 
 against Spain is doubly true of the same people rebelling 
 against the United States. That judgment of the man whose 
 birthday the Philippine people celebrate, and whom they 
 worship as a saint, measures the duty of American sov- 
 ereignty which the American people will surely perform. 
 
 The Democrats declared that we had no right to succeed 
 because our assertion of sovereignty was a violation of the 
 Declaration of Independence, which declares that governments 
 derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. 
 That maxim, though general in its terms, was enunciated with 
 reference to a highly civilized, self-governing people. Its un- 
 qualified application to barbarous and semi-civilized people is 
 contrary to the whole course of civilization. Its unqualified 
 application without regard to the rule and progress of hu- 
 manity and ordered liberty among men is contrary to the 
 whole course of American history. Without tlie consent of 
 the hundreds of thousands of Indians whom our fathers found 
 in possession of this land we have assumed and exercised sov- 
 ereignty over them. Without the consent of the people of 
 Louisiana, Jefterson and the signers of the Declaration and 
 framers of the Constitution purchased and exercised sovereignty 
 over them. Without the consent of the people of the South 
 the Government of the United States, with appalling sacrifice 
 of life and treasure, enforced Its sovereignty over them. 
 
 Whose consent were we to ask in the Philippines, and how 
 was it to be expressed.'' Were we to accept the results of the 
 
26 
 
 misrepresentation and calumny which had painted us to the 
 ignorant and credulous Filipinos as monsters of cruelty, and 
 yield oui" sovereignty because they did not know what it meant 
 to them ? 
 
 Among the captured insurgent documents we find original 
 telegraphic dispatches, most of them bearing memoranda or 
 endorsements in Aguinaldo's handwriting, which show that 
 the people of Northern Luzon did not consent to iVguinaldo's 
 government, and that it was imposed upon them by foice of 
 arms. 
 
 I read extracts from some of the dispatches : From General Pio 
 del Pilar, San Pedro Mascati. to Aguinaldo, December 4, 1S98. 
 " Urgent. Reliable reports from Pangasinan state there is 
 party con)posed of 4,000 individuals opposed to our govern- 
 ment. Treason on the part of our troops and civilians." 
 
 From the Director of Diplomacy, Manila, to Aguinaldo, 
 December 27, 1S9S, 5 A. M. : " Most urgent. The discon- 
 tent in the provinces of Pangasinan, Tarlac and Yloco(Ilocos) 
 is increasing. The tov>'n of Bangbang rose in revolt the 25th 
 and 26th of this month, and killed all of the civil officials. It 
 is impossible to describe the abuses committed by the military 
 and civil authority of said province." 
 
 From the Secretary of Interior, Malolos, to Aguinaldo, De- 
 cember 28, 189S: "According to my information the excite- 
 ment in Tarlac increases. I do not think that the people of 
 the province would have committed such barbarities by them- 
 selves. For this reason the silence of General Alacabulos is 
 suspicious. To speak frankly, it encourages the rebels. 
 Some 700 of them with 150 rifles entered Panique, seized the 
 arms of the police, the town funds, and attacked the houses of 
 the people." 
 
 From the Director of Diplomacy, Manila, to Aguinaldo, De- 
 cember 29, 189S: " The question of Tarlac and Pangasinan 
 is a serious one. Malolos government calls me to restore it 
 in said provinces. I await your opinion and order." 
 
 Where under the rule of force to which we aided Aguinaldo 
 in Northern Luzon was the consent of the government to be 
 ascertained ? 
 
27 
 
 The great Visayan island of Negroes has never from tlie 
 beginning wavered in its cheerful acceptance of our sov- 
 ereignty and its rejection of Tagalog rule. 
 
 The difference between that and the other islands of the 
 Visayan group is that in the others the Tagalogs arrived first 
 and secured control by force of arms, which, with those 
 accustomed for centuries to follow blindly the men in author- 
 .ity over them, made consent a necessary sequence. 
 
 When the natives began to know us and to learn what our 
 sovereignty really meant they did manifest their acceptance of it 
 by the thousands, and what happened to them then ? I read from 
 reports received in response to a circular letter to our officers 
 sent at the instance of Governor Taft, to ascertain what was done 
 by the bands of assassins who were supporting the power of 
 Aguinaldo to the Filipinos who dared to give the consent 
 of the governed to American sovereignty. The reports show 
 in the first district of Southern Luzon natives assassinated for 
 sympathizing with i\mericans, 14 ; natives assaulted for sympa- 
 thizing with Ameiicans, 104. In the second districtof Southern, 
 Luzon natives assassinated for sympathizing with Americans, 
 17; natives assaulted for sympathizing with Americans, 106. In 
 the first district of Northern Luzon natives assassinated. 100 ; 
 natives assaulted, 40. In the third district of Northern Luz(jn, 
 natives assassinated, 106; natives assaulted, 131. And so on 
 throughout the islands, showing before the end of 1900, 350 
 natives assassinated and 442 assaulted and mutilated ; 67 muni- 
 cipal officers assassinated and 40 assaulted and mutilated for 
 daring to give the consent of the governed to American sov- 
 ereignty. Many of them were put to death with irightful bar- 
 barity. Some of them were buried alive ; some hacked to 
 pieces; some burned. While there were hundreds slain that 
 we knew, there were thousands slain that we did not know. 
 Where there were thousands put to death, how many were 
 deterred by fear of death.'' The reign of terror established 
 throughout the islands to prevent by secret and wholesale as- 
 sassination, the consent of the governed to American rule 
 makes the Mafia seem harmless and beneficent. Are we to 
 
28 
 
 suri'ender our sovereignty because the consent was withheld 
 b)' these means? 
 
 Not content with denying our right to succeed, the Demo- 
 crats of Congress came to the aid of the men who were prevent- 
 ing Philippine acceptance of American authority by misrepre- 
 sentation and slander, and furnished them with fresh material 
 and new authority for their aspersions upon the character and 
 purposes of the American people. 
 
 " Our dealings with the American Indians," said the 
 junior Senator from Tennessee in the Senate on the first 
 of May, " have been fitly characterized as a century of 
 dishonor ; our treaties with them have been shamefully 
 violated ; we have delivered them over to the tender 
 mercies of thieving Indian agents ; we have inflamed them 
 with injustice and mean whiskey; and when in sheer 
 desperation they have risen in revolt we have made them 
 ' good Indians' with powder and ball." 
 
 ****** 
 
 "Alaska was ceded to us by despotic Russia, and came 
 under the benign rule of this great Republic. For thirty- 
 iive years our continuous misgovernment of that country 
 has been a shame and disgrace to the nation. 
 
 ****** 
 
 "When the gloss is worn ofl', when the syndicated 
 boomers have appropriated the cream of the spoils, when 
 the Government sinks into the dull routine of administra- 
 tion, it will be in the Philippines precisely as it has been 
 in Alaska. We know what kind of men as a rule will be 
 sent to serve in the Philippine Islands. Needy and 
 desperate adventurers, broken-down politicians looking 
 for a job, the sons, nephews, and cousins of American 
 politicians, the Rathbones and Neelys ; men who have 
 qualified themselves for service abroad by the dirty and 
 villainous work they have done at home. These are the 
 men who as a rule will find service in the Philippine 
 Islands as they did in Cuba, as my friend from Mississippi 
 
 suggests. 
 
 * * * * * * 
 
 " The entire archipelago is swarming with needy and 
 desperate adventurers seeking to reap their inhuman har- 
 vests from the calamities of the people. American Con- 
 
29 
 
 gressmen and American officials have been forming 
 syndicates and prowling over that country seeking to make 
 off with something that could be turned into a dollar. 
 The whole pack of lean and famished carpet-baggers that 
 once feasted upon the South seem to be howling upon the 
 scent of another victim." 
 
 " I infer,'' said the Senator from Utah, '• that this is the 
 inauguration of a scheme of loot and plunder and of 
 exploitation — another plowing of a ruined Carthage. 
 You have garnered the harvest of death, and now propose 
 to rake the stubblefield of a slaughtered people. 
 
 ****** 
 
 " Mr. President, we have accomplished nothing for the 
 benefit of the islands there. The condition there is so 
 intolerable that language is inadequate to describe it, and 
 what has taken place, if you continue the same policy, is 
 likely to be augmented, and midtiplied in its distress and 
 disaster in the future." 
 
 Congressman Selby, of Illinois, said : 
 
 '••This 'new policy' business has given birth to the 
 biggest crop of liars at Washington and Luzon known 
 outside the realms of hades. It has turned out that no 
 Republican can visit Manila and return to Washington 
 a truthful man. Even the Commission headed by Gov- 
 ernor Taft is laigely under suspicion of prevarication, if 
 not of fraud, wdiile Generals Otis and Chaffee have always 
 been under suspicion. Is it possible that large salaries 
 and the hope of great perquisites influence these gentlemen 
 and their retainers in distorting the situation at Luzon.? 
 Who knows, for the almighty dollar is a great magnet in 
 all colonial schemes, and its cobra head isvisible in all the 
 Philippines." 
 
 I do not wonder that with such declarations as these in the 
 Congress of the United States the Filipinos distrust our assur- 
 ances and wait for pioof that our rule will really mean liberty 
 and prosperity. If .Senators of the United States have no faith 
 in the justice or intcgrit}' or virtue of the American people, 
 how can we expect the people of the Philippines to have 
 faith. 
 
30 
 
 The most violent of all attacks was made upon the Army, 
 which belongs to no party and is but the instrument of a policy 
 in which it has no part. It happened that in the long course 
 of guerrilla warfare against savage and treacherous foes who 
 observed none of the rules of civilized warfare there were in- 
 stances of cruel and inhuman treatment of the natives by our 
 men. The " water-cure," so called, was administered to 
 extort information. These acts were not justified, and they 
 could not be justified, but spread over years of conflict, over 
 a vast extent of territory, over tiiousands of engagements and 
 skirmishes and expeditions, in which, first and last, i30,oooof 
 our troops were engaged, they were few and far between — 
 exceptions in a uniform course of self-restraint, humanity, and 
 kindness. Rumor magnified them many fold. Each new 
 witness to the same case seemed to be producing a new case ; 
 published in thousands of newspapers da}' after day and week 
 after week, they seemed to be multiplied. Many of the stories 
 told were false, many were grossly exaggerated. All were 
 published without the background of provocation, often dread- 
 ful provocation, of exigency often desperate exigency, which 
 existed to palliate, though they could not justify the acts. All 
 of these stories, false as well as true, were paraded in Congress 
 and discussed, and the officers and men charged were de- 
 nounced, the innocent as well as the guilty, without an oppor- 
 tunity for hearing while they were away on the other side of 
 the world fighting the battles of their country. 
 
 The whole Army and its generals were involved in common 
 denunciation. The gallant and fearless Funston was stigma- 
 tized by the Senator from Tennessee as a '* blatherskite briga- 
 dier." " I do not know who General Wheatou is, particu- 
 larly," said the vSenator from Idaho, "but I imagine he was a 
 charity boy who was appointed to West Point b}' some Rep- 
 resentative or Senator and was educated by the Government." 
 
 This was of Loyd Wheaton, who enlisted from this very 
 town as a private in the Sth Ohio Volunteers on the 20th of 
 April, iS6i,the day after Lincoln's first call, who won his 
 way up through every grade in that regiment until he was 
 
31 
 
 lionorabl}^ discharged as its lieutenant-colonel at the close of 
 the civil war ; who was wounded at Shiloh ; was brevetted for 
 faithful and meritorious services in the Mobile campaign ; was 
 brevetted again for gallantry at the vSiege of Vicksburg ; was 
 brevetted again and received a medal of honor from Congress 
 for most distinguished gallantry at Fort Blakely, Alabama ; 
 received his appointment in the regular army for those deede- 
 and passed through every grade until after more than forty 
 years of exceptional and conspicuous service, he was about 
 retiring as major-general, full of years and of honor. 
 
 When the worst charge of all, subsequently shown to be 
 utterly false, was under discussion in the Senate, the Senator 
 from Tennessee declared : 
 
 "Of course the soldier, whatever he may have said, will 
 promptly repudiate it as every soldier in the Philippine 
 Islands has been required and compelled to do." 
 
 Said the Senator from Utah : 
 
 "• Did Chatlee alone, unaided, in coldness, and in bru- 
 tality and in savage and unrelenting disregard of every hu- 
 man sentiment or possibility of human sutiering, conceive 
 this iniquitous scheme? Whence, from what diabolical 
 source was it derived.? The American people ought to 
 know. Is there any penalty beneath the sun adequate to 
 be meted out to the merciless wretch who has thus brought 
 such dishonor upon the American name and the American 
 people.'' 
 
 ****** 
 
 " Mr. President, I do not believe that Bell himself ever 
 conceived this iniquity ; this outline of policy. Perhaps 
 it may have been Chaffee, who received his education in 
 savagerv and in cruelty and in barbarity over in China, 
 where we are informed the allied forces took little children 
 and brained them upon posts, threw them into rivers, and 
 slaughtered and persecuted without mercy and without 
 limit helpless women. After he had received that train- 
 ing, he superseded the more humane officer. General Mac- 
 Arthur. Then it was that this diabolical programme 
 seems to have been adopted and carried out in all its hide- 
 ousness and rigfor." 
 
32 
 
 This was of Atlna R. Chafl'ee. As a boy of nineteen, on 
 the 23(1 of July, iS6i, he enlisted as a private in the 6th Cav- 
 alry. He served through all the Civil War ; was brevetted for 
 gallantry at Gettysburg ; again for gallantry at Dinwiddie 
 Court-house ; twice brevetted for gallant service in engage- 
 ments with the Indians ; wounded in the Gettysburg campaign ; 
 wounded again at the battle of Brandy Station ; highly com- 
 mended for his seivices as general officer at El Caney and 
 Santiago; chief of staf?' in Cuba; commander of the American 
 troops in China ; commanding general in the Philippines ; 
 second ranking major-general of the United States Army. It 
 was he who, when officers of other nations hesitated to make the 
 march to Pekin, when other generals wished to wait for re- 
 enforcements that would have come too late ; it was he who 
 declared that whatever they might do, he proposed to march at 
 once, and he did march, and the}' all marched with him, and 
 the legations were saved. Great credit came to the American 
 Army, because in that march and after Pekin was captured, 
 American soldiers under Chaffee did not loot and were not 
 cruel, but protected the property and the lives of the Chinese. 
 
 The quarter of Pekin over which the American flag floated 
 was crowded by the poor people when other parts were de- 
 serted, because under that flag they found protection and kind- 
 ness, and upon General Chaflee's departure he was accom- 
 panied by many most touching and gratifying expressions of 
 gratitude and affection from the people who had received the 
 benefits of his humanity. I did not think an American could 
 be found who was not proud of that record. 
 
 Against these contemptuous and injurious aspersions upon 
 the soldiers of the United States I will call four witnesses: 
 
 The first is William McKinley : 
 
 " If anv orders of mine were required to insure the mer- 
 ciful conduct of military and naval operations, they would 
 not be lacking, but every step in the progress of our troops 
 has been marked by a humanity which has surprised even 
 the misguided insurgents." 
 
33 
 
 The second is President Schurman, and joining with him 
 Admiral George Dewey and the other members of the first 
 Philippine Commission : 
 
 " To those who derive satisfaction from seizing on iso- 
 lated occurrences — regrettable, indeed, but incident to 
 every war — and making them the basis of sweeping accusa- 
 tions, this Commission has nothing to say. Still less do 
 we feel called upon to answer idle tales without founda- 
 tion in fact. But for the satisfaction of those who have 
 found it difficult to understand whv the transporting of 
 American citizens across the Pacific Ocean should change 
 their nature, we are glad to express the belief that a war 
 was never more humanel}' conducted. Insurgents wounded 
 were repeatedly succored on the field by our men at the 
 risk of their lives. Those who had a chance for life were 
 taken to Manila and tenderly cared for in our hospitals. 
 If churches were occupied, it was only as a military neces- 
 sity, and frequently after their use as forts by the insurgents 
 had made it necessary to train our artillery upon tliem. 
 Prisoners were taken whenever opportunity oftered, often 
 only to be set at liberty after being disarmed and fed. 
 Up to the time of oiu" departure, although numerous spies 
 had been captured, not a single Filipino had been executed. 
 Such wrongs as were actually committed against the 
 natives were likely to be brought to our attention, and in 
 every case that we investigate*.! we found a willingness 
 on the part of those in authority to administer prompt 
 justice." 
 
 The third is Governor William H. Taft, of Ohio, who said 
 in his testimony under oath before the Philippine Committee 
 of the Senate : 
 
 " I desire to say that it is my deliberate judgment that 
 there never was a war conducted, whether against inferior 
 races or others, in which there was more compassion and 
 more restraint and more generosity, assuming that there 
 was war at all, than there have been in the Philippine 
 Islands." 
 
 The fourth is Vice-Governor Luke E. Wright, of Tennes- 
 see : 
 
34 
 
 '' General Chaffee, as a matter of course, had no i^atience 
 with any acts of oppression or cruelty, and whenever 
 his attention has been called to them has at once taken 
 proper steps. The howl against the army has been made 
 mainlv for political purposes and the cruelties practiced 
 have been largely exaggerated. Ot course, numerous 
 instances of this character have occurred. There never 
 was and never will be a war of which the same may not 
 be said ; but taken as a whole, and when the character of 
 the warfare here is considered, I think the officers and 
 men of the American army have been forliearing and 
 humane in their dealings with the natives, and the attempt 
 to create a contrary impression is not only unjust to them, 
 but it seems to me impatriotic as well." 
 
 No one of these positions, these arguments, these efforts, these 
 attacks, by the Democratic leaders during the critical and try- 
 ing time of our Philippine undertaking stands by itself. Men 
 may differ upon this point and upon that point, upon this ques- 
 tion and upon that question, and different environment and 
 disposition will produce different views ; but when we con- 
 sider the whole course of these Democratic leaders ; when we 
 find them attacking the administration upon the ground of 
 doing the very thing they themselves had authorized ; when 
 we find them denying our right of sovereignty, denying the 
 justice of our cause, assuming the truth of the insurgent's state- 
 ments upon every question, rejecting the truth of American 
 statements upon every question, elevating and lauding Filipino 
 insurgent character and insurgent competency, and ascribing 
 the most disgraceful motives and the most outrageous conduct 
 to the representatives of their own government, both civil and 
 military ; holding out to the insurgents the hope of success 
 through further resistance, and painting for them in the black- 
 est colors the dreadful consequences of failure, denying and 
 impugning before all the world from their high places the good 
 faith of the American Government, the integrity of the Ameri- 
 can people, and the beneficence of American rule ; arraying 
 argument and statistics, never to encourage, but always to dis- 
 hearten the American people ; insisting always upon the con- 
 
35 
 
 struction of powers :intl methods of procedure whicli would 
 mrdve success difficult or impossible ; accepting and adopting 
 with alacrity every aspersion upon American honor, and re- 
 jecting contemptuously every evidence of American efficiency 
 and noble purpose ; I think we must say that the Democratic 
 party which has allowed these things to be done in its name 
 has failed in one more opportunity to secure the respect and 
 confidence of the American people. I will not say that these 
 men wished their country to fail, but I will say that they wished 
 the Republican administration to fail, and that blinded l)y par- 
 tisan feeling and desire for power they forgot that the failure of 
 the administration in the Philippines would be the failure of 
 their country. 
 
 Throughoutall this storm of detraction and abuse the Repub- 
 lican majorities of the Senate and tlie House laboretl unceas- 
 ingly to frame and perfect legislation under which the peo])le 
 of the Philippine Islands might have peace and order antl in- 
 dividual freedom and prosperity. They studied the needs of 
 the islands, the character of the people, the existing laws and 
 system of government, and they produced and passed, against 
 Democratic opposition, a Philippine Government Bill which 
 exhibits a high degree of wise statesmanship and opens to the 
 Philippine people the pathway to that enlightenment and 
 capacity for self-government for which Rizal longed, and to 
 the blessings which the noble and gentle McKinley believed 
 would descend upon thein under the benediction of our Hag. 
 I think they and not the others were the ti ue friends of the Phil- 
 ippine people. I think they and not the others used well and 
 wisely the powers vested in them as representatives of the 
 people in the Congress of the United States ; and I submit to 
 you, my countrymen, that they and not the otheis are entitled 
 to the expression of your confidence in the coming election. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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