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CHAPTER X.

PRIVATE SMITH INTRODUCES A COMPARISON BETWEEN PRESIDENT MC KINLEY'S MESSAGE TO THE FILIPINOS AND THAT OF AN ANCIENT ASSYRIAN KING TO THE PEOPLE OF ELAM.

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APTAIN BEVANS -- "Every word from the administration has breathed friendship and good will for the Filipino people."

Colonel Handy--"And every action, so far, has given its words the lie. We shall do well not to confuse the issue with what Mr. McKinley says; the truth is not in him."

Captain Bevans--"You do a great and good man injustice. In his instructions to Governor General Otis, Mr. McKinley said:

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Finally, it should be the earnest and paramount aim of the administration to win the confidence, respect and affection of the inhabitants of the Philippines by insuring to them in every possible way the full measure of individual rights and liberty which is the heritage of a free people, and by proving to

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them that the mission of the United States is one of benevolent assimilation, which will substitute the mild sway of justice and right for arbitrary rule. In the fulfillment of this high mission, while upholding the temporary administration of affairs for the greatest good of the governed, there will be sedulously maintained the strong arm of authority to repress disturbance, and to overcome all obstacles to the bestowal of the blessings of good and stable government upon the people of the Philippine Islands.""

When Captain Bevans had finished reading from the instructions of the President to General Otis, Private Smith was laughing immoderately. When asked what had so excited his levity, he said he could not keep from laughing because of the similarity of McKinley's words to those of an old Assyrian King to the people of Elam.

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Private Smith--“ Asshurbanipal, the McKinley of Assyria, lived about 850 years before Christ. He decided to 'expand,' and therefore invaded the land of Elam. thing in his favor was that the Elamites had not been his allies. He did not resort to treachery but he did have a large fund of

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Asshurbanipal sent Belibni to be governor-general over Elam, and issued a proclamation to the people.

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Like McKinley, he carried on his expansion' for the glory of God and the good of the people he was subjugating. In Ragozin's history of Assyria we find that after Asshurbanipal had invaded Elam and had laid waste the country, killed the men who bore arms and filled up the wells of drinking water so that the women and children perished in the fields, and caused the death of Nabubelzikri, the Elamite King, he sent Belibni to be governor-general over Elam and issued the following proclamation:

"The will of the king to the men of the coast, the sea, the sons of my servants.-My peace to your hearts; may you be well.-I am watching over you, and from the sin of your king, Nabubelzikri, I have separated you. Now I send to you my servant Belibni to be my deputy over you, I have joined with you, keeping your good and your benefit in my sight.'

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Compare the proclamation of Asshurbanipal with that of McKinley and see how much alike they are! The glory of God and the good of the people are the excuses for the ancient and the modern oppressor alike. In the name of self-governing America, the

blessings of 'good and stable government' are to be 'bestowed upon the people of the Philippine Islands.' In order to bestow good government we are to destroy something far better, self-government."

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