CHAPTER XIV. QUESTION: SINCE THERE HAS BEEN FIGHT ING, MUST THE ADMINISTRATION PROSE- SUBMIT, IN ORDER TO PRESERVE "NA- EVERAL days had passed during the dis SEV cussion of the moral side of the administration's Philippine policy. The chairman called the "meeting" to order and said: "We have discussed all the questions relating to ourselves and the Philippine islands jointly, except as to how we shall get out of the predicament we are in. I have paid careful attention to the arguments pro and con, and have read all the speeches, pamphlets, and newspaper editorials I could find aboard the ship, and the supply of that kind of literature has been extensive. I have been greatly astonished at the lack of information displayed by the expansion speakers and newspapers. They base their argument upon alleged facts which have never existed and venerable senators make the most glaring mistatements to their constituents. I am fully convinced that we have no moral right to occupy the Philippines, and that our at tempted justifications are all based upon ignorance, falsehood and hypocracy. More humiliating still, we have attempted to steal a pig in a poke, and find that all we could get is the poke while Great Britain and her colonies get the pig." Colonel Handy-" Do you think you will take the stump for your party and imperialism next year?" Chairman-"I am not in criminal prac tice." Captain Bevans-"Do you mean that you are going off with Hoar and Hale and Reed and turn the country over to Bryan or some other Democrat?" Chairman-"This is a case where I cannot 'rise above principle for the sake of party.' The question is too vital to tie me to a name or a prejudice. I am against imperialism because it is immoral and destructive of liberty at home as well as in the Philippines. But there may be a question of preserving national dignity in the minds of some people, so let us see how we are to get out honorably. You have the floor." Captain Bevans-" While I do not concede that the war in the Philippines is wrong, or that the policy of annexation is a bad one, still, if the war was wickedly waged at the beginning, and if our policy is unwise as to annexation, the only thing we can do now is to force the Filipinos to submit to the will of our government. If we ended the war now, it would be admitting to the world that we are not able to cope with a few thousand Malays; we would become the laughing stock of the world and our efforts at expansion would be about as ridiculous as were the ambitions of the frog that undertook to become an ox. McKinley defined the only policy left for us when he said 'Peace first, then, with charity for all, establish a government of law and order, protecting life and property and occupation for the well-being of the people who will participate in it under the stars and stripes.' Private Smith-"If you are a big strong man, a regular John L. Sullivan in his prime, and are engaged in licking a little boy unjustly and the boy shows his manhood by scratching and kicking to the best of his ability, I suppose you would have to preserve your dignity' and maintain your 'honor' by continuing to pound the boy until he got down on his knees and begged! "The United States-rather the administration-is making just that kind of a spectacle of 'dignity' and 'honor' before the civilized world. "Great Britain decided to annex the Transvaal-entirely for the good of the Boers, of course-and their forces were defeated in every engagement and were forced to surrender at Majuba Hill. Gladstone stopped the war, even in the face of defeat, on the ground that it had been commenced unjustly by Great Britain and that his government was great enough to do justice at all times. It was the truest way to preserve the dignity and honor of Great Britain." "Justin McCarthy's 'Life of Gladstone,' (pages 351-3): 'The war with the Boers broke out. The English government seems to have been |