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more recently the nephew of the Dowager Empress, who lifted him from the throne as unceremoniously as she had previously placed him there."

Chairman-"I guess it will be some time before the public acts of an official become too sacred for criticism by the people who elect him and pay him to act as their agent. 'The state-I am the state' was very well for Louis XIV, but will not do for William McKinley."

Private Smith-" To show how absurd it is to expect to sell supplies of cloth or food produced in the United States to the Filipinos, I again call your attention to the following from Assistant Adjutant-General Belford in the same number of the Review of Reviews:

'The most northerly point of the Philippines is south of Santiago de Cuba, and American goods, to be salable, must be suitable for use in a peculiarly tropical clime. They must also be thrown upon the market at from 50 per cent. to 100 per cent. less than they bring in the United States. The clothes of men and women alike usually consist of plain garments of cotton and duck and are of Indian and Chinese manufacture. It is at

least doubtful whether we could successfully compete in the sale of such goods. The food of the natives consists of rice and fruit, grown at their doors, and fish, in which the waters of the islands abound. We have nothing to offer them in the way of foodstuffs. We cannot export sugar and rice to the Philippines, and must undersell the cotton goods of India and China to get into the market.'

"No one can doubt that Assistant AdjutantGeneral Belford has had ample opportunity to judge the situation correctly."

Colonel Handy-"A stronger illustration of the fact that the Philippines afford no market for American products is found in the fact that our army and navy there are fed on beef and pork from Australia, butter from Australia and Holland, and potatoes and beans from Australia and Japan. The clothes worn by officers and men are purchased in Hong Kong-all except the shoes, and they could be brought there cheaper than they can be made in the United States. "

Captain Bevans-"That is true as to army supplies, though it never struck me that way before. I think it a shame that the supplies

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are not bought at home, even if they do cost It would keep the money at home." Private Smith-"Yes; but it would be a great drain on the treasury, and that is what counts just now.

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Colonel Handy-"To emphasize the absurdity of the Philippines ever becoming a market for American products, we have but to consider the fleet of seventeen big transports now in the government service on the Pacific. For six of them the government paid about $1,000,000 apiece in purchase and repairs, while it pays from $750 to $1,000 a day for those hired, except one. It also pays for all the coal used, and that is a pretty item."

Chairman-"It is a little diversion, but what does the coal for a transport cost?"

The skipper who had come up, said: “I can answer that. Except this boat, which is the smallest in the service, the coal bill of the transports is pretty high. It costs about $1,300 a day to keep the Hancock sailing, while the Warren, Senator, Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, and the other big boats, cost from $900 to $1,100 a day. The expense of the

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"Our army and navy are fed on beef and pork from Australia, butter from Australia and Holland, and beans and potatoes from Australia and Japan.”

transports, from all sources, will average about $35,000 a day for the seventeen. The money for the coal goes to England, of course, for only Cardiff coal is suitable for this use. We shall coal at Nagasaki, taking on Cardiff coal, just as we did before leaving San Francisco and Honolulu. We have no coal on the Pacific coast that can be used for

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"What I was about to observe,” said Colonel Handy, "was that with such a fleet of transports to carry our army supplies, free of cost to the producer in the United States, we purchase nearly all the food and clothing abroad, because we can get them laid down in Manila cheaper than they can be put on board a transport at San Francisco."

Chairman-"So Great Britain's colonies furnish the clothes for our army and navy and most of the food they eat, and Wales supplies our transports and battleships with coal while we are carrying on war in the Philippines! It strikes me that Great Britain has cause for congratulation that we have taken up the white man's burden!"

Private Smith-" The humiliation of it is,

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