Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History
Benson Lossing, Ed.

President Milburn, Director-General Buchanan, Commissioners, Ladies and Gentlemen,—I am glad to be again in the city of Buffalo and exchange greetings with her people, to whose generous hospitality I am not a stranger and with whose goodwill I have been repeatedly and signally honored. To-day I have additional satisfaction in meeting and giving welcome to the foreign representatives assembled here, whose presence and participation in this exposition have contributed in so marked a degree to its interest and success. To the commissioners of the dominion of Canada and the British colonies, the French colonies, the republics of Mexico and of Central and South America, and the commissioners of Cuba and Porto Rico, who share with us in this undertaking, we give the hand of fellowship and felicitate with them upon the triumphs of art, science, education, and manufactures which the old has bequeathed to the new century.

Expositions are time-keepers of progress. They record the world's advancement. They stimulate the energy, enterprise, and intellect of the people, and quicken human genius. They go into the home. They broaden and brighten the daily life of the people. They open mighty storehouses of information to the student. Every exposition, great or small, has helped to some onward step. Comparison of ideas is always educational, and as such instructs the brain and hand of man. Friendly rivalry follows, which is the spur to industrial improvement, the inspiration to useful invention and to high endeavor in all departments of human activity. It exacts a study of the wants, comforts, and even the whims of the people, and recognizes the efficacy of high quality and new prices to win their favor. The quest for trade is an incentive to men of business to devise, invent, improve, and economize in the cost of production. Business life, whether among ourselves or with other people, is ever a sharp struggle for success. It will be none the less so in the future. Without competition we would be clinging to the clumsy and antiquated processes of farming and manufacture and the methods of business of long ago, and the twentieth would be no further advanced than the eighteenth century. But though commercial competitors we are, commercial enemies we must not be.

International assets.

The Pan-American Exposition has done its work thoroughly, presenting in its exhibits evidences of the highest skill, and illustrating the progress of the human family in the Western Hemisphere. This portion of the earth has no cause for humiliation for the part it has performed in the march of civilization. It has not accomplished everything; far from it. It has simply done its best, and without vanity or boastfulness, and recognizing the manifold achievements of others, it invites the friendly rivalry of all the powers in the peaceful pursuits of trade and commerce, and will co-operate with all in advancing the highest and best interests of humanity. The wisdom and energy of all the nations are none too great for the world's work. The success of art, science, industry, and invention is an international asset and a common glory.

After all, how near one to the other is every part of the world! Modern inventors have brought into close relation widely separated peoples and made them better acquainted. Geographic and [34] political divisions will continue to exist, but distances have been effaced. Swift ships and fast trains are becoming cosmopolitan. They invade fields which a few years ago were impenetrable. The world's products are exchanged as never before, and with increasing transportation facilities come increasing knowledge and larger trade. Prices are fixed with mathematical precision by supply and demand. The world's selling prices are regulated by market and crop reports. We travel greater distances in a shorter space of time and with more ease than was ever dreamed of by the fathers. Isolation is no longer possible or desirable. The same important news is read, though in different languages, the same day in all Christendom. The telegraph keeps us advised of what is occurring everywhere, and the press foreshadows, with more or less accuracy, the plans and purposes of the nations. Market prices of products and of securities are hourly known in every commercial mart, and the investments of the people extend beyond their own national boundaries into the remotest parts of the earth. Vast transactions are conducted and international exchanges are made by the tick of the cable. Every event of interest is immediately bulletined. The quick gathering and transmission of news, like rapid transit, are of recent origin, and are only made possible by the genius of the inventor and the courage of the investor. It took a special messenger of the government, with every facility known at the time for rapid travel, nineteen days to go from the city of Washington to New Orleans with a message to General Jackson that the war with England had ceased and a treaty of peace had been signed. How different now!

Annihilation of distance.

We reached General Miles in Porto Rico by cable, and he was able through the military telegraph to stop his army on the firing-line with the message that the United States and Spain had signed a protocol suspending hostilities. We knew almost instantly of the first shot fired at Santiago, and the subsequent surrender of the Spanish forces was known at Washington within less than an hour of its consummation. The first ship of Cervera's fleet had hardly emerged from that historic harbor when the fact was flashed to our capital, and the swift destruction that followed was announced immediately through the wonderful medium of telegraphy. So accustomed are we to safe and easy communication with distant lands that its temporary interruption even in ordinary times results in loss and inconvenience. We shall never forget the days of anxious waiting and awful suspense when no information was permitted to be sent from Peking. and the diplomatic representatives of the nations in China, cut off from all communication inside and outside of the walled capital, were surrounded by an angry and misguided mob that threatened their lives; nor the joy that thrilled the world when a single message from the government of the United States brought through our minister the first news of the safety of the besieged diplomats.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century there was not a mile of steam railroad on the globe. Now there are enough miles to make its circuit many times. Then there was not a line of electric telegraph; now we have a vast mileage traversing all lands and all seas. God and man have linked the nations together. No nation can longer be indifferent to any other. And as we are brought more and more in touch with each other the less occasion is there for misunderstanding, and the stronger the disposition, when we have differences, to adjust them in the court of arbitration, which is the noblest forum for the settlement of international disputes.

The nation's Great prosperity.

My fellow-citizens, trade statistics indicate that this country is in a state of unexampled prosperity. The figures are almost appalling. They show that we are utilizing our fields and forests and mines. and that we are furnishing profitable employment to the millions of working-men throughout the United States, bringing comfort and happiness to their homes and making it possible to lay by savings for old age and disability. That all the people are participating in this great prosperity is seen in every American community and shown by the enormous and unprecedented deposits in our savingsbanks. Our duty is the care and security of these deposits, and their safe investment [35] demands the highest integrity and the best business capacity of those in charge of these depositories of the people's earnings.

We have a vast and intricate business, built up through years of toil and struggle, in which every part of the country has its stake, which will not permit of either neglect or of undue selfishness. No narrow, sordid policy will subserve it. The greatest skill and wisdom on the part of manufacturers and producers will be required to hold and increase it. Our industrial enterprises, which have grown to such great proportions, affect the homes and occupations of the people and the welfare of the country. Our capacity to produce has developed so enormously and our products have so multiplied that the problem of more markets requires our urgent and immediate attention. Only a broad and enlightened policy will keep what we have. No other policy will get more. In these times of marvellous business energy and gain, we ought to be looking to the future, strengthening the weak places in our industrial and commercial systems, that we may be ready for any storm or strain.

Reciprocity favored.

By sensible trade arrangements which will not interrupt our home production, we shall extend the outlets for our increasing surplus. A system which provides a mutual exchange of commodities is manifestly essential to the continued and healthful growth of our export trade. We must not repose in fancied security that we can forever sell everything and buy little or nothing. If such a thing were possible it would not be best for us or for those with whom we deal. We should take from our customers such of their products as we can use without harm to our industries and labor. Reciprocity is the natural outgrowth of our wonderful industrial development under the domestic policy now firmly established. What we produce beyond our domestic consumption must have a vent abroad. The excess must be relieved through a foreign outlet, and we should sell everywhere we can buy and wherever the buying will enlarge our sales and productions, and thereby make a greater demand for home labor.

The period of exclusiveness is past. The expansion of our trade and commerce is the pressing problem. Commercial wars are unprofitable. A policy of good — will and friendly trade relations will prevent reprisals. Reciprocity treaties are in harmony with the spirit of the times; measures of retaliation are not.

If, perchance, some of our tariffs are no longer needed for revenue or to encourage and protect our industries at home, why should they not be employed to extend and promote our markets abroad? Then, too, we have inadequate steamship service. New lines of steamers have already been put in commission between the Pacific coast ports of the United States and those on the western coasts of Mexico and Central and South America. These should be followed up with direct steamship lines between the eastern coast of the United States and South American ports. One of the needs of the times is direct commercial lines from our vast fields of production to the fields of consumption that we have but barely touched. Next in advantage to having the thing to sell is to have the convenience to carry it to the buyer. We must encourage our merchant marine. We must have more ships. They must be under the American flag, built and manned and owned by Americans. These will not only be profitable in a commercial sense; they will be messengers of peace and amity wherever they go.

Isthmian Canal and Pacific cable.

We must build the isthmian canal, which will unite the two oceans, and give a straight line of water communication with the western coasts of Central and South America and Mexico. The construction of a Pacific cable cannot be longer postponed.

In the furtherance of these objects of national interest and concern you are performing an important part. This exposition would have touched the heart of that American statesman whose mind was ever alert and thought ever constant for a larger commerce and a truer fraternity of the republics of the New World. His broad American spirit is felt and manifested here. He needs no identification to an assemblage of Americans anywhere, for the name of Blaine is inseparately associated with the Pan-American movement which finds this practical and substantial [36] expression, and which we all hope will be firmly advanced by the Pan-American Congress that assembles this autumn in the capital of Mexico. The good work will go on. It cannot be stopped. These buildings will disappear; this creation of art and beauty and industry will perish from sight, but their influence will remain to

Make it live beyond its too short living
With praises and thanksgiving.

The victories of peace.

Who can tell the new thoughts that have been awakened, the ambitions fired, and the high achievements that will be wrought through this exposition? Gentlemen: Let us ever remember that our interest is in concord, not conflict, and that our real eminence rests in the victories of peace, not those of war. We hope that all who are represented here may be moved to higher and nobler effort for their own and the world's good, and that out of this city may come, not only greater commerce and trade for us all, but, more essential than these, relations of mutual respect, confidence, and friendship, which will deepen and endure.

Our earnest prayer is that God will graciously vouchsafe prosperity, happiness, and peace to all our neighbors, and like blessings to all the peoples and powers of earth.

In conclusion, I congratulate the country upon the fraternal spirit of the people and the manifestations of good — will everywhere so apparent. The recent election not only most fortunately demonstrated the obliteration of sectional or geographical lines, but to some extent also the prejudices which for years have distracted our councils and marred our true greatness as a

Home of William McKinley, Canton, O.

[37] nation. The triumph of the people, whose verdict is carried into effect to-day, is not the triumph of one section, nor wholly of one party, but of all sections and all the people. The North and the South no longer divide on the old lines, but upon principles and policies, and in this fact surely every lover of the country can find cause for true felicitation. Let us rejoice in and cultivate this spirit; it is ennobling, and will be both a gain and blessing to our beloved country. It will be my constant aim to do nothing, and permit nothing to be done, that will arrest or disturb this growing sentiment of unity and co-operation, this revival of esteem and affiliation which now animates so many thousands in both the old antagonistic sections, but I shall cheerfully do everything possible to promote and increase it.

To keep the obligations which I have reverently taken before the Lord Most High will be my single purpose—my constant prayer; and I shall confidently rely upon the forbearance and assistance of all the people in the discharge of my solemn responsibilities.

My dear Sir,—The nomination of the Republican National Convention of June 19, 1900, for the office of the President of the United States, which, as the official representative of the convention, you have conveyed to me, is accepted. I have carefully examined the platform adopted and give to it my hearty approval. Upon the great issue of the last national election it is clear. It upholds the gold standard, and indorses the legislation of the present Congress by which that standard has been effectively strengthened.

The stability of our national currency is therefore secure so long as those who adhere to this platform are kept in control of the government. In the first battle—that of 1896—the friends of the gold standard and of sound currency were triumphant, and the country is enjoying the fruits of that victory. Our antagonists, however, are not satisfied. They compel us to a second battle upon the same lines on which the first was fought and won. While regretting the reopening of this question, which can only disturb the present satisfactory financial condition of the government and visit uncertainty upon our great business enterprises, we accept the issue and again invite the sound-money forces to join in winning another, and we hope a permanent, triumph for an honest financial system which will continue inviolable the public faith.

Policy of the silver parties.

As in 1896, the three silver parties are united under the same leader who, immediately after the election of that year, in an address to the bimetallists, said:

The friends of bimetallism have not been vanquished; they have simply been overcome. They believe that the gold standard is a conspiracy of the moneychangers against the welfare of the human race, and they will continue the warfare against it.

The policy thus proclaimed has been accepted and confirmed by these parties. The Silver Democratic platform of 1900 continues the warfare against the socalled gold conspiracy when it expressly says:

We reiterate the demand of that (the Chicago) platform of 1896 for an American financial system made by the American people for themselves, which shall restore and maintain a bimetallic price level, and as part of such system the immediate restoration of the free and unlimited coinage of silver and gold at the present ratio of 16 to 1, without waiting for the aid or consent of any other nation.

So the issue is presented. It will be [38] noted that the demand is for the immediate restoration of the free coinage of silver at 16 to 1. If another issue is paramount, this is immediate. It will admit of no delay and will suffer no postponement.

Turning to the other associated parties we find in the Populist national platform, adopted at Sioux Falls, S. D., May 10, 1900, the following declaration:

We pledge anew the People's party never to cease the agitation until this financial conspiracy is blotted from the statute book, the Lincoln greenback restored, the bonds all paid, and all corporation money forever retired. We reaffirm the demand for the reopening of the mints of the United States for the free and unlimited coinage of silver and gold at the present legal ratio of 16 to 1, the immediate increase in the volume of silver coins and certificates thus created to be substituted, dollar for dollar, for the bank-notes issued by private corporations under special privilege granted by law of March 14, 1900, and prior national banking laws.

The platform of the Silver party, adopted at Kansas City, July 6, 1900, makes the following announcement:

We declare it to be our intention to lend our efforts to the repeal of this currency law, which not only repudiates the ancient and time-honored principles of the American people before the Constitution was adopted, but is violative of the principles of the Constitution itself; and we shall not cease our efforts until there has been established in its place a monetary system based upon the free and unlimited coinage of silver and gold into money at the present legal ratio of 16 to 1 by the independent action of the United States, under which system all paper money shall be issued by the government, and all such money coined or issued shall be a full legal tender in payment of all debts, public and private, without exception.

In all three platforms these parties announce that their efforts shall be unceasing until the gold act shall be blotted from the statute books and the free and unlimited coinage of silver at 16 to 1 shall take its place.

All the issues important.

The relative importance of the issues I do not stop to discuss. All of them are important. Whichever party is successful will be bound in conscience to carry into administration and legislation its several declarations and doctrines. One declaration will be as obligatory as another, but all are not immediate. It is not possible that these parties would treat the doctrine of 16 to 1, the immediate realization of which is demanded by their several platforms, as void and inoperative in the event that they shall be clothed with power. Otherwise their profession of faith is insincere. It is therefore the imperative business of those opposed to this financial heresy to prevent the triumph of the parties whose union is only assured by adherence to the silver issue. Will the American people, through indifference or fancied security, hazard the overthrow of the wise financial legislation of the past year and revive the danger of the silver standard with all of the inevitable evils of shattered confidence and general disaster which justly alarmed and aroused them in 1896?

The Chicago platform of 1896 is reaffirmed in its entirety by the Kansas City convention. Nothing has been omitted or recalled; so that all the perils then threatened are presented anew with the added force of a deliberate reaffirmation. Four years ago the people refused to place the seal of their approval upon these dangerous and revolutionary policies. and this year they will not fail to record again their earnest dissent.

The work of Congress.

The Republican party remains faithful to its principles of a tariff which supplies sufficient revenues for the government and adequate protection to our enterprises and producers, and of reciprocity which opens foreign markets to the fruits of American labor, and furnishes new channels through which to market the surplus of American farms. The time-honored principles of protection and reciprocity were the first pledges of Republican victory to be written into public law.

The present Congress has given to Alaska a territorial government for which it had waited more than a quarter of a century; has established a representative government in Hawaii; has enacted bills for the most liberal treatment of the [39] pensioners and their widows; has revived the free homestead policy. In its great financial law it provided for the establishment of banks of issue with a capital of $25,000 for the benefit of villages and rural communities, and bringing the opportunity for profitable business in banking within the reach of moderate capital. Many are already availing themselves of this privilege.

Prosperity of the country.

During the past year more than $19,000,000 United States bonds have been paid from the surplus revenues of the treasury, and in addition $25,000,000 2 per cents. matured, called by the government, are in process of payment. Pacific Railroad bonds issued by the government in aid of the roads in the sum of nearly $44,000,000 have been paid since Dec. 31, 1897. The treasury balance is in satisfactory condition, showing on Sept. 1 $135,419,000, in addition to the $150,000,000 gold reserve held in the treasury. The government's relations with the Pacific railroads have been substantially closed, $124,421,000 being received from these roads, the greater part in cash, and the remainder with ample securities for payments deferred.

Instead of diminishing, as was predicted four years ago, the volume of our currency is greater per capita than it has ever been. It was $21.10 in 1896. It had increased to $26.25 on July 1, 1900, and $26.85 on Sept. 1, 1900. Our total money on July 1, 1896, was $1,506,434,966; on July 1, 1900, it was $2,062,425,490, and $2,096,683,042 on Sept. 1, 1900.

Our industrial and agricultural conditions are more promising than they have been for many years; probably more so than they have ever been. Prosperity abounds everywhere throughout the republic. I rejoice that the Southern as well as the Northern States are enjoying a full share of these improved national conditions, and that all are contributing so largely to our remarkable industrial development. The money-lender receives lower rewards for his capital than if it were invested in active business. The rates of interest are lower than they have ever been in this country, while those things which are produced on the farm and in the workshop, and the labor producing them, have advanced in value.

Growth of foreign trade.

Our foreign trade shows a satisfactory and increasing growth. The amount of our exports for the year 1900 over those of the exceptionally prosperous year of 1899 was about $500,000 for every day of the year, and these sums have gone into the homes and enterprises of the people. There has been an increase of over $50,000,000 in the exports of agricultural products; $92,692,220 in manufactures, and in the products of the mines of over $10,000,000 Our trade balances cannot fail to give satisfaction to the people of the country. In 1898 we sold abroad $615,432,676 of products more than we bought abroad; in 1899, $529,874,813, and in 1900, $544,471,701, making during the three years a total balance in our favor of $1,689,779,190—nearly five times the balance of trade in our favor for the whole period of 108 years, from 1790 to June 30, 1897, inclusive.

Four hundred and thirty-six million dollars of gold have been added to the gold stock of the United States since July 1, 1896. The law of March 14, 1900, authorized the refunding into 2 per cent. bonds of that part of the public debt represented by the 3 per cents. due in 1908, the 4 per cents. due in 1907, and the 5 per cents. due in 1904, aggregating $840,000,000. More than one-third of the sum of these bonds was refunded in the first three months after the passage of the act, and on Sept. 1 the sum had been increased more than $33,000,000, making in all $330,578,050, resulting in a net saving of over $8,379,520. The ordinary receipts of the government for the fiscal year 1900 were $79,527,060 in excess of its expenditures.

Decreased expenditures.

While our receipts, both from customs and internal revenue, have been greatly increased, our expenditures have been decreasing. Civil and miscellaneous expenses for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1900, were nearly $14,000,000 less than in 1899, while on the war account there is a decrease of more than $95,000,000. There were required $8,000,000 less to support the navy this year than last, and the expenditures on account of Indians were nearly $2,750,000 less than in 1899. The only two items of increase in the public expenses of 1900 over 1899 are for pensions and [40] interest on the public debt. For 1890 we expended for pensions $139,394,929, and for the fiscal year 1900 our payments on this account amounted to $140,877,316. The net increase of interest on the public debt of 1900 over 1899 required by the war loan was $263,408.25. While Congress authorized the government to make a war loan of $400,000,000 at the beginning of the war with Spain, only $200,000,000 of bonds were issued, bearing 3 per cent. interest, which were promptly and patriotically taken by our citizens.

Unless something unforeseen occurs to reduce our revenues or increase our expenditures, the Congress at its next session should reduce taxation very materially.

Five years ago we were selling government bonds bearing as high as 5 per cent. interest. Now we are redeeming them with a bond at par bearing 2 per cent. interest. We are selling our surplus products and lending our surplus money to Europe. One result of our selling to other nations so much more than we have bought from them during the past three years is a radical improvement of our financial relations. The great amounts of capital which have been borrowed of Europe for our rapid material development have remained a constant drain upon our resources for interest and dividends, and made our money markets liable to constant disturbances by calls for payment or heavy sales of our securities whenever moneyed stringency or panic occurred abroad. We have now been paying these debts and bringing home many of our securities and establishing countervailing credits abroad by our loans and placing ourselves upon a sure foundation of financial independence.

Action in the Boer War.

In the unfortunate contest between Great Britain and the Boer states of South Africa, the United States has maintained an attitude of neutrality in accordance with its wellknown traditional policy. It did not hesitate, however, when requested by the governments of the South African republics, to exercise its good offices for a cessation of hostilities. It is to be observed that while the South African republics made like request of other powers, the United States was the only one which complied. The British government declined to accept the intervention of any power.

Need of American shipping.

Ninety-one per cent. of our exports and imports are now carried by foreign ships. For ocean transportation we pay annually to foreign ship-owners over $165,000,000. We ought to own the ships for our carrying-trade with the world, and we ought to build them in American ship-yards and man them with American sailors. Our own citizens should receive the transportation charges now paid to foreigners. I have called the attention of Congress to this subject in my several annual messages. In that of Dec. 6, 1897, I said:

Most desirable from every stand-pointof national interest and patriotism is the effort to extend our foreign commerce. To this end our merchant marine should be improved and enlarged. We should do our full share of the carrying-trade of the world. We do not do it now. We should be the laggard no longer.

In my message of Dec. 5, 1899, I said:

Our national development will be onesided and unsatisfactory so long as the remarkable growth of our inland industries remains unaccompanied by progress on the seas. There is no lack of constitutional authority for legislation which shall give to the country maritime strength commensurate with its industrial achievements and with its rank among the nations of the earth.

The past year has recorded exceptional activity in our ship-yards, and the promises of continual prosperity in ship-building are abundant. Advanced legislation for the protection of our seamen has been enacted. Our coast-trade under regulations wisely framed at the beginning of the government and since shows results for the past fiscal year unequalled in our records or those of any other power. We shall fail to realize our opportunities, however, if we complacently regard only matters at home and blind ourselves to the necessity of securing our share in the valuable carrying-trade of the world.

I now reiterate these views.

The inter-oceanic Canal.

A subject of immediate importance to our country is the completion of a great waterway of commerce between the Atlantic and Pacific. The construction of a maritime [41] canal is now more than ever indispensable to that intimate and ready communication between our Eastern and Western seaports demanded by the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands and the expansion of our influence and trade in the Pacific.

Our national policy more imperatively than ever calls for its completion and control by this government, and it is believed that the next session of Congress, after receiving the full report of the commission appointed under the act approved March 3, 1899, will make provisions for the sure accomplishment of this great work.

Trusts and labor.

Combinations of capital which control the market in commodities necessary to the general use of the people, by suppressing natural and ordinary competition, thus enhancing prices to the general consumer, are obnoxious to the common law and the public welfare. They are dangerous conspiracies against the public good and should be made the subject of prohibitory or penal legislation. Publicity will be a helpful influence to check the evil. Uniformity of legislation in the several States should be secured. Discrimination between what is injurious and what is useful and necessary in business operations is essential to the wise and effective treatment of this subject. Honest co-operation of capital is necessary to meet new business conditions and extend our rapidly increasing foreign trade, but conspiracies and combinations intended to restrict business, create monopolies, and control prices should be effectively restrained.

The best service which can be rendered to labor is to afford it an opportunity for steady and remunerative employment, and give it every encouragement for advancement. The policy that subserves this end is the true American policy. The past three years have been more satisfactory to American workingmen than many preceding years. Any change of the present industrial or financial policy of the government would be disastrous to their highest interests. With prosperity at home and an increasing foreign market for American products, employment should continue to wait upon labor, and with the present gold standard the workingman is secured against payment for his labor in a depreciated currency. For labor, a short day is better than a short dollar; one will lighten the burdens; the other lessens the rewards of toil. Theone will promote contentment and independence; the other penury and want. The wages of labor should be adequate to keep the home in comfort, educate the children, and, with thrift and economy, lay something by for the days of infirmity and old age.

Civil service reform.

Practical civil service reform has always had the support or encouragement of the Republican party. The future of the merit system is safe in its hands. During the present administration, as occasions have arisen for modification or amendment in the existing civil service law and rules, they have been made. Important amendments were promulgated by executive order under date of May 29, 1899, having for their principal purpose the exception from competitive examination of certain places involving fiduciary responsibilities or duties of a strictly confidential, scientific, or executive character, which it was thought might better be filled either by non-competitive examination or by other tests of fitness in the discretion of the appointing officer. It is gratifying that the experience of more than a year has vindicated these changes, in the marked improvement of the public service. The merit system, as far as practicable, is made the basis for appointments to office in our new territory.

Pensions should be liberal.

The American people are profoundly grateful to, the soldiers, sailors, and marines who have in every time of conflict fought their country's battles and defended its. honor. The survivors and the widowsand orphans of those who have fallen are justly entitled to receive the generous and considerate care of the nation. Few are now left of those who fought in the Mexican War, and while many of the veterans of the Civil War are still spared to us, their numbers are rapidly diminishing and age and infirmity are increasing their dependence. These, with the soldiers of the Spanish War, will not be neglected by their grateful countrymen. The pension laws have been liberal. They should be justly administered and will be- [42] Preference should be given to the soldiers, sailors, and marines, their widows and orphans, with respect to employment in the public service.

Cuba and Porto Rico.

We have been in possession of Cuba since Jan. 1, 1899. We have restored order and established domestic tranquillity. We have fed the starving, clothed the naked, and ministered to the sick. We have improved the sanitary condition of the island. We have stimulated industry, introduced public education, and taken a full and comprehensive enumeration of the inhabitants. The qualification of electors has been settled, and under it officers have been chosen for all the municipalities of Cuba. These local governments are now in operation, administered by the people. Our military establishment has been reduced from 43,000 men to less than 6,000. An election has been ordered to be held on Sept. 15, under a fair election law already tried in the municipal elections, to choose members of a constitutional convention, and the convention by the same order is to assemble on the first Monday of November to frame a constitution upon which an independent government for the island will rest. All this is a long step in the fulfilment of our sacred guarantees to the people of Cuba.

We hold Porto Rico by the same title as the Philippines. The treaty of peace which ceded us the one conveyed to us the other. Congress has given to this island a government in which the inhabitants participate, elect their own legislature, enact their own local laws, provide their own system of taxation, and in these respects have the same power and privileges enjoyed by other territories belonging to the United States, and a much larger measure of self-government than was given to the inhabitants of Louisiana under Jefferson. A district court of the United States for Porto Rico has been established and local courts have been inaugurated, all of which are in operation.

The generous treatment of the Porto Ricans accords with the most liberal thought of our own country and encourages the best aspirations of the people of the island. While they do not have instant free commercial intercourse with the United States, Congress complied with my recommendation by removing, on May 1 last, 85 per cent. of the duties and providing for the removal of the remaining 15 per cent. on March 1. 1902, or earlier, if the legislature of Porto Rico shall provide local revenues for the expenses of conducting the government.

During this intermediate period Porto Rican products coming into the United States pay a tariff of 15 per cent. of the rates under the Dingley act, and our goods going to Porto Rico pay a like rate. The duties thus paid and collected, both in Porto Rico and the United States, are paid to the government of Porto Rico; and no part thereof is taken by the national government. All of the duties from Nov. 1, 1898, to June 30, 1900, aggregating the sum of $2,250,523.21, paid at the custom houses in the United States upon Porto Rican products under the laws existing prior to the above-mentioned act of Congress, have gone into the treasury of Porto Rico to relieve the destitute and for schools and other public purposes.

In addition to this, we have expended for relief, education, and improvement of loads the sum of $1,513,084.95. The United States military force on the island has been reduced from 11,000 to 1,500, and native Porto Ricans constitute for the most part the local constabulary.

Under the new law and the inauguration of civil government there has been a gratifying revival of business. The manufactures of Porto Rico are developing; her imports are increasing, her tariff is yielding increased returns, her fields are being cultivated, free schools are being established. Notwithstanding the many embarrassments incident to a change of national conditions, she is rapidly showing the good effects of her new relations to this nation.

The Philippine problem.

For the sake of full and intelligent understanding of the Philippine question, and to give to the people authentic information of the acts and aims of the administration, I present at some length the events of importance leading up to the present situation. The purposes of the executive are best revealed and can best be judged by what he has done and is doing. It [43] will be seen that the power of the government has been used for the liberty, the peace, and the prosperity of the Philippine peoples, and that force has been employed only against force which stood in the way of the realization of these ends.

On April 25, 1898, Congress declared that a state of war existed between Spain and the United States. On May 1, 1898, Admiral Dewey destroyed the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay. On May 19, 1898, Major-General Merritt, United States army, was placed in command of the military expedition to Manila, and directed among other things to immediately “publish a proclamation declaring that we come not to make war upon the people of the Philippines, nor upon any part or faction among them, but to protect them in their homes, in their employments, and in their personal and religious rights. All persons who, either by active aid or by honest submission, co-operate with the United States in its efforts to give effect to this beneficent purpose will receive the reward of its support and protection.”

On July 3, 1898, the Spanish fleet, in attempting to escape from Santiago Harbor, was destroyed by the American fleet, and on July 17, 1898, the Spanish garrison in the city of Santiago surrendered to the commander of the American forces.

Peace envoys' instructions.

Following these brilliant victories, on Aug. 12, 1898, upon the initiative of Spain, hostilities were suspended and a protocol was signed with a view to arranging terms of peace between the two governments. In pursuance thereof I appointed as commissioners the following distinguished citizens to conduct the negotiations on the part of the United States: William R. Day, of Ohio; William P. Frye, of Maine; Cushman K. Davis, of Minnesota; George Gray, of Delaware, and Whitelaw Reid, of New York. In addressing the peace commission before its departure for Paris, I said:

It is my wish that throughout the negotiations intrusted to the commission the purpose and spirit with which the United States accepted the unwelcome necessity of war should be kept constantly in view. We took up arms only in obedience to the dictates of humanity and in the fulfilment of high public and moral obligations. We had no design of aggrandizement, and no ambition of conquest. Through the long course of repeated representations which preceded and aimed to avert the struggle and in the final arbitrament of force, this country was impelled solely by the purpose of relieving grievous wrongs and removing long-existing conditions which disturbed its tranquillity, which shocked the moral sense of mankind, and which could no longer be endured.

It is my earnest wish that the United States, in making peace, should follow the same high rule of conduct which guided it in facing war. It should be as scrupulous and magnanimous in the concluding settlement as it was just and humane in its original action. . . . Our aim in the adjustment of peace should be directed to lasting results, and to the achievement of the common good under the demands of civilization, rather than to ambitious designs. . . .

Without any original thought of complete or even partial acquisition, the presence and success of our arms in Manila imposes upon us obligations which we cannot disregard. The march of events rules and overrules human action. Avowing unreservedly the purpose which has animated all our effort, and still solicitous to adhere to it, we cannot be unmindful that without any desire or design on our part the war has brought us new duties and responsibilities which we must meet and discharge as becomes a great nation on whose growth and career from the beginning the Ruler of Nations has plainly written the high command and pledge of civilization.

On Oct. 28, 1898, while the peace commission was continuing its negotiations in Paris, the following additional instruction was sent:

It is imperative upon us that as victors we should be governed only by motives which will exalt our nation. Territorial expansion should be our least concern, that we shall not shirk the moral obligations of our victory is of the greatest.

It is undisputed that Spain's authority is permanently destroyed in every part of the Philippines. To leave any part in [44] her feeble control now would increase our difficulties and be opposed to the interests of humanity. . . . Nor can we permit Spain to transfer any of the islands to another power. Nor can we invite another power or powers to join the United States in sovereignty over them. We must either hold them or turn them back to Spain.

Consequently, grave as are the responsibilities and unforeseen as are the difficulties which are before us, the President can see but one plain path of duty, the acceptance of the archipelago. Greater difficulties and more serious complications —administrative and international—would follow any other course. The President has given to the views of the commissioners the fullest consideration, and in reaching the conclusion above announced in the light of information communicated to the commission and to the President since your departure, he has been influenced by the single consideration of duty and humanity. The President is not unmindful of the distressed financial condition of Spain, and whatever consideration the United States may show must come from its sense of generosity and benevolence rather than from any real or technical obligation.

Again, on Nov. 13, I instructed the commission:

From the stand-point of indemnity both the archipelagoes (Porto Rico and the Philippines) are insufficient to pay our war expenses, but aside from this do we not owe an obligation to the people of the Philippines which will not permit us to return them to the sovereignty of Spain? Could we justify ourselves in such a course or could we permit their barter to some other power? Willing or not, we have the responsibility of duty which we cannot escape. . . . The President cannot believe any division of the archipelago can bring us anything but embarrassment in the future. The trade and commercial side, as well as the indemnity for the cost of the war, are questions we might yield. They might be waived or compromised, but the questions of duty and humanity appeal to the President so strongly that he can find no appropriate answer but the one he has here marked out.

Orders to military commander.

The treaty of peace was concluded on Dec. 10, 1898. By its terms the archipelago known as the Philippine Islands was ceded by Spain to the United States. It was also provided that “the civil rights and political status of the native inhabitants of the territories hereby ceded to the United States shall be determined by the Congress.” Eleven days thereafter, on Dec. 21, the following direction was given to the commander of our forces in the Philippines:

The military commander of the United States is enjoined to make known to the inhabitants of the Philippine Islands that in succeeding to the sovereignty of Spain, in severing the former political relations of the inhabitants and in establishing a new political power, the authority of the United States is to be exerted for the securing of the persons and property of the people of the islands, and for the confirmation of all their private rights and relations. It will be the duty of the commander of the forces of occupation to announce and proclaim in the most public manner that we come not as invaders or conquerors, but as friends, to protect the natives in their homes, in their employments, and in their personal and religious rights.

First Philippine commission.

In order to facilitate the most humane, pacific, and effective extension of authority throughout these islands, and to secure, with the least possible delay, the benefits of a wise and generous protection of life and property to the inhabitants, I appointed, in January, 1899, a commission consisting of Jacob Gould Schurman, of New York; Admiral George Dewey, United States navy; Charles Denby, of Indiana; Prof. Dean C. Worcester, of Michigan, and Maj.-Gen. Elwell S. Otis, United States army. Their instructions contained the following:

In the performance of this duty the commissioners are enjoined to meet at the earliest possible day in the city of Manila and to announce by public proclamation their presence and the mission intrusted to them, carefully setting forth that, while the military government already proclaimed is to be maintained and continued so long as necessity may [45] require, efforts will be made to alleviate the burden of taxation, to establish industrial and commercial prosperity, and to provide for the safety of persons and of property by such means as may be found conducive to these ends.

The commissioners will endeavor, without interference with the military authorities of the United States now in control of the Philippines, to ascertain what amelioration in the condition of the inhabitants and what improvements in public order may be practicable, and for this purpose they will study attentively the existing social and political state of the various populations, particularly as regards the forms of local government, the administration of justice, the collection of customs and other taxes, the means of transportation, and the need of public improvements. They will report . . . the results of their observations and reflections, and will recommend such executive action as may from time to time seem to them wise and useful.

The commissioners are hereby authorized to confer authoritatively with any persons resident in the islands from whom they may believe themselves able to derive information or suggestions valuable for the purposes of their commission, or whom they may choose to employ as agents, as may be necessary for this purpose. . .

It is my desire that in all their relations with the inhabitants of the islands, the commissioners exercise due respect for the ideals, customs, and institutions of the tribes which compose the population, emphasizing upon all occasions the just and beneficent intentions of the government of the United States. It is also my wish and expectation that the commissioners may be received in a manner due to the honored and authorized representatives of the American Republic, duly commissioned on account of their knowledge, skill, and integrity as bearers of the good-will, the protection, and the richest blessings of a liberating rather than a conquering nation.

Offer to the Filipinos.

On Feb. 6, 1899, the treaty was ratified by the Senate of the United States and the Congress immediately appropriated $20,000,000 to carry out its provisions. The ratifications were exchanged by the United States and Spain on Aug. 11, 1899.

As early as April, 1899, the Philippine commission, of which Dr. Schurman was president, endeavored to bring about peace in the islands by repeated conferences with leading Tagalogs representing the so-called insurgent government, to the end that some general plan of government might be offered them which they would accept. So great was the satisfaction of the insurgent commissioners with the form of government proposed by the American commissioners that the latter submitted the proposed scheme to me for approval, and my action thereon is shown by the cable message following:

Report of the commission.

In the latter part of May another group of representatives came from the insurgent leader. The whole matter was fully discussed with them and promise of acceptance seemed near at hand. They assured our commissioners they would return after consulting with their leader, but they never did.

As a result of the views expressed by the first Tagalog representative favorable to the plan of the commission, it appears that he was, by military order of the insurgent leader, stripped of his shoulderstraps, dismissed from the army, and sentenced to twelve years imprisonment. [46]

The views of the commission are best set forth in their own 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 Filipinos and to ourselves and our flag demanded that force should be met with 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.

After the most thorough study of the peoples of the archipelago, the commission reported, among other things:

Their lack of education and political experience, combined with their racial and linguistic diversities, disqualify them, in spite of their mental gifts and domestic virtues, to undertake the task of governing the archipelago at the present time. The most that can be expected of them is to co-operate with the Americans in the administration of general affairs from Manila as a centre, and to undertake, subject to American control or guidance (as may be found necessary), the administration of provincial and municipal affairs . . .

Should our power by any fatality be withdrawn, the commission believes that the government of the Philippines would speedily lapse into anarchy, which would excuse, if it did not necessitate, the intervention of other powers, and the eventual division of the islands among them. Only through American occupation, therefore, is the idea of a free, self-governing, and united Philippine commonwealth at all conceivable . . .

Thus the welfare of the Filipinos coincides with the dictates of national honor in forbidding our abandonment of the archipelago. We cannot from any point of view escape the responsibilities of government which our sovereignty entails; and the commission is strongly persuaded that the performance of our national duty will prove the greatest blessing to the people of the Philippine Islands.

Satisfied that nothing further could be accomplished in pursuance of their mission until the rebellion was suppressed, and desiring to place before the Congress the result of their observations, I requested the commission to return to the United States. Their most intelligent and comprehensive report was submitted to Congress.

Civil commission appointed.

In March, 1900, believing that the insurrection was practically ended and earnestly desiring to promote the establishment of a stable government in the archipelago, I appointed the following civil commission: William H. Taft, of Ohio; Prof. Dean C. Worcester, of Michigan; Luke 1. Wright, of Tennessee; Henry C. Ide, of Vermont; and Bernard Moses, of California. My instructions to them contained the following:

You (the Secretary of War) will instruct the commission to devote their attention in the first instance to the establishment of municipal governments, in which the natives of the islands, both in the cities and in the rural communities, shall be afforded the opportunity to manage their own local affairs to the fullest extent of which they are capable, and subject to the least degree of supervision and control which a careful study of their capacities and observation of the workings of native control show to be consistent with the maintenance of law, order, and loyalty. Whenever the commission is of the opinion that the condition of affairs in the islands is such that the administration may safely be transferred from military to civil control they will report that conclusion to you (the Secretary of War), with their recommendations as to the form of central government to be established for the purpose of taking over the control.

Beginning with Sept. 1, 1900, the authority to exercise, subject to my approval, through the Secretary of War, that part of the power of government in [47] the Philippine Islands which is of a legislative nature is to be transferred from the military governor of the islands to this commission, to be thereafter exercised by them in the place and stead of the military governor, under such rules and regulations as you (the Secretary of War) shall prescribe, until the establishment of the civil central government for the islands contemplated in the last foregoing paragraph, or until Congress shall otherwise provide. Exercise of this legislative authority will include the making of rules and orders having the effect of law for the raising of revenue by taxes, customs duties and imposts, the appropriation and expenditure of the public funds of the islands, the establishment of an educational system throughout the islands, the establishment of a system to secure an efficient civil service, the organization and establishment of courts, the organization and establishment of municipal and departmental governments, and all other matters of a civil nature for which the military governor is now competent to provide by rules or orders of a legislative character. The commission will also have power during the same period to appoint to office such officers under the judicial, educational, and civil service systems and in the municipal and departmental governments as shall be provided.

Commission's instructions.

Until Congress shall take action I directed that:

Upon every division and branch of the government of the Philippines must be imposed these inviolable rules:

That no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; that private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation; that in all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation, to be confronted with the witnesses against him, to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defence; that excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted; that no person shall be put twice in jeopardy for the same offence, or be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself; that the right to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated; that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist except as a punishment for crime; that no bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed; that no law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, or the rights of the people to peaceably assemble and petition the government for a redress of grievances; that no law shall be made respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, and that the free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship without discrimination or preference shall forever be allowed. . . .

It will be the duty of the commission to promote and extend, and, as they find occasion, to improve, the system of education already inaugurated by the military authorities. In doing this they should regard as of first importance the extension of a system of primary education which shall be free to all, and which shall tend to fit the people for the duties of citizenship, and for the ordinary avocations of a civilized community . . . . Especial attention should be at once given to affording full opportunity to all the people of the islands to acquire the use of the English language . . . .

Upon all officers and employes of the United States, both civil and military, should be impressed a sense of the duty to observe not merely the material but the personal and social rights of the people of the islands, and to treat them with the same courtesy and respect for their personal dignity which the people of the United States are accustomed to require from each other.

The articles of capitulation of the city of Manila on Aug. 13, 1898, concluded with these words:

“This city, its inhabitants, its churches and religious worship, its educational establishments and its private property of all descriptions, are placed under the special safeguard of the faith and honor of the American army.”

I believe that this pledge has been faithfully kept. As high and sacred an obligation rests upon the government of the United States to give protection for [48] property and life, civil and religious freedom, and wise, firm, and unselfish guidance in the paths of peace and prosperity to all the people of the Philippine Islands. I charge this commission to labor for the full performance of this obligation, which concerns the honor and conscience of their country, in the firm hope that through their labors all the inhabitants of the Philippine Islands may come to look back with gratitude to the day when God gave victory to the American army at Manila, and set their land under the sovereignty and the protection of the people of the United States.

That all might share in the regeneration of the islands and participate in their government, I directed General MacArthur, the military governor of the Philippines, to issue a proclamation of amnesty, which contained among other statements the following:

In order to mitigate as much as possible consequences resulting from the various disturbances which since 1896 have succeeded each other so rapidly, and to provide in some measure for destitute Filipino soldiers during the transitory period which must inevitably succeed a general peace, the military authorities of the United States will pay 30 pesos to each man who presents a rifle in good condition.

Civil commission's report.

Under their instructions the commission, composed of representative Americans of different sections of the country and from different political parties, whose character and ability guarantee the most faithful intelligence and patriotic service, are now laboring to establish stable government under civil control, in which the inhabitants shall participate, giving them opportunity to demonstrate how far they are prepared for self-government. This commission, under date of Aug. 21, 1900, makes an interesting report, from which I quote the following extracts:

Hostility against Americans originally aroused by absurd falsehoods of unscrupulous leaders. The distribution of troops in 300 posts has by contact largely dispelled hostility, and steadily improved the temper of the people. This improvement is furthered by abuses of insurgents. Large numbers of people long for peace, and are willing to accept government under the United States. Insurgents not surrendering after defeat divided into small guerilla bands under general officers or become robbers. Nearly all of the prominent generals and politicians of the insurrection, except Aguinaldo, have since been captured or have surrendered and taken the oath of allegiance. . . .

All northern Luzon, except two provinces, is substantially free from insurgents. People are busy planting, and asking for municipal organization. Railway and telegraph line from Manila to Dagupan, 122 miles, not molested for five months. . . .Tagalogs alone active in leading guerilla warfare. In Negros, Cebu, Romblon, Masbate, Sibuyan, Tablas, Bohol, and other Philippine Islands little disturbance exists and civil government eagerly awaited . . . .

Four years of war and lawlessness in parts of islands have created unsettled conditions . . . . Native constabulary and militia, which should be organized at once, will end this, and the terrorism to which defenceless people are subjected. The natives desire to enlist in these organizations. If judiciously selected and officered, will be efficient forces for maintenance of order, and will permit early material reduction of United States troops . . . . Turning islands over to coterie of Tagalog politicians will blight fair prospects of enormous improvement, [49] drive out capital, make life and property, secular and religious, most insecure; banish by fear of cruel proscription considerable body of conservative Filipinos who have aided Americans in well-founded belief that their people are not now fit for self-government, and reintroduce same oppression and corruption which existed in all provinces under Malolos insurgent government during the eight months of its control. The result will be factional strife between jealous leaders, chaos and anarchy, and will require and justify active intervention of our government or some other . . . .

Business, interrupted by war, much improved as peace extends. . . .In Negros more sugar in cultivation than ever before. New forestry regulations give impetus to timber trade, and reduce high price of lumber. The customs collections for the last quarter 50 per cent. greater than ever in Spanish history, and August collections show further increase. The total revenue for same period one-third greater than in any quarter under Spain, though cedula tax, chief source of Spanish revenue, practically abolished. Economy and efficiency of military government have created surplus fund of $6,000,000, which should be expended in much-needed public works, notably improvement of Manila Harbor. . . . With proper tariff and facilities, Manila will become great port of Orient.

Philippines' bright outlook.

The commission is confident that “by a judicious customs law, reasonable land tax, and proper corporation franchise tax, imposition of no greater rate than that in an average American State will give less annoyance, and with peace will produce revenues sufficient to pay expenses of efficient government, including militia and constabulary.” They “are preparing a stringent civil service law, giving equal opportunity to Filipinos and Americans, with preference for the former where qualifications are equal, to enter at lowest rank, and by promotion reach head of department. . . . Forty-five miles of railroad extension under negotiation will give access to a large province rich in valuable minerals, a mile high, with strictly temperate climate. . . . Railroad construction will give employment to many, the communication will furnish market to vast stretches of rich agricultural lands.” They report that there are “calls from all parts of the islands for public schools, school supplies, and English teachers greater than the commission can provide until a comprehensive school system is organized. Night schools for teaching English to adults are being established in response to popular demand. Native children show aptitude in learning English. Spanish is spoken by a small fraction of people, and in a few years the medium of communication in the courts, public offices, and between different tribes will be English; creation of central government within eighteen months, under which substantially all rights described in the bill of rights in the federal Constitution are to be secured to the people of the Philippines, will bring to them contentment, prosperity, education, and political enlightenment.”

No Alliance with natives.

This shows to my countrymen what has been and is being done to bring the benefits of liberty and good government to these wards of the nation. Every effort has been directed to their peace and prosperity, their advancement and well-being, not for our aggrandizement nor for pride of might, not for trade or commerce, not for exploitation, but for humanity and civilization, and for the protection of the vast majority of the population who welcome our sovereignty against the designing minority whose first demand after the surrender of Manila by the Spanish army was to enter the city that they might loot it and destroy those not in sympathy with their selfish and treacherous designs.

Nobody who will avail himself of the facts will longer hold that there was any alliance between our soldiers and the insurgents, or that any promise of independence was made to them. Long before their leader had reached Manila they had resolved if the commander of the American army would give them arms with which to fight the Spanish army they would later turn upon us, which they did murderously and without the shadow of cause or justification. There may be those without the means of full information who believe that we were in alliance with the insurgents and that we assured them that they [50] should have independence. To such let me repeat the facts: On May 26, 1898, Admiral Dewey was instructed by me to make no alliance with any party or faction in the Philippines that would incur liability to maintain their cause in the future, and he replied, under date of June 6, 1898:

Have acted according to spirit of department's instructions from the beginning, and I have entered into no alliance with the insurgents or with any faction. This squadron can reduce the defences of Manila at any moment, but it is considered useless until the arrival of sufficient United States forces to retain possession.

In the report of the first Philippine commission, submitted on Nov. 2, 1899, Admiral Dewey, one of its members, said:

No alliance of any kind was entered into with Aguinaldo, nor was any promise of independence made to him at any time.

General Merritt arrived in the Philippines on July 25, 1898, and a despatch from Admiral Dewey to the government at Washington said:

Merritt arrived yesterday. Situation is most critical at Manila. The Spanish may surrender at any moment. Merritt's most difficult problem will be how to deal with the insurgents under Aguinaldo, who have become aggressive and even threatening towards our army.

Here is revealed the spirit of the insurgents as early as July, 1898, before the protocol was signed, while we were still engaged in active war with Spain. Even then the insurgents were threatening our army.

The capture of Manila.

On Aug. 13 Manila was captured, and of this and subsequent events the Philippine commission says:

When the city of Manila was taken, Aug. 13, the Filipinos took no part in the attack, but came following in with a view to looting the city, and were only prevented from doing so by our forces preventing them from entering. Aguinaldo claimed that he had the right to occupy the city; he demanded of General Merritt the palace of Malacanan for himself and the cession of all the churches of Manila, also that a part of the money taken from the Spaniards as spoils of war should be given up, and, above all, that he should be given the arms of the Spanish prisoners. All these demands were refused.

Generals Merritt, Greene, and Anderson, who were in command at the beginning of our occupation and until the surrender of Manila, state that there was nor alliance with the insurgents and no promise to them of independence. On Aug. 17, 1898, General Merritt was instructed that there must be no joint occupation of Manila with the insurgents. General Anderson, under date of Feb. 10, 1900, says that he was present at the interview between Admiral Dewey and the insurgent leader, and that in this interview Admiral Dewey made no promises whatever. He adds:

He [Aguinaldo] asked me if my government was going to recognize his government. I answered that I was there simply in a military capacity; that I could not acknowledge his government because I had no authority to do so.

The duty of holding the Philippines.

Would not our adversaries have sent Dewey's fleet to Manila to capture and destroy the Spanish sea-power there, or, despatching it there, would they have withdrawn it after the destruction of the Spanish fleet; and if the latter, whither would they have directed it to sail? Where could it have gone? What port in the Orient was opened to it? Do our adversaries condemn the expedition under the command of General Merritt to strengthen Dewey in the distant ocean and assist in our triumph over Spain, with which nation we were at war? Was it not our highest duty to strike Spain at every vulnerable point, that the war might be successfully concluded at the earliest practicable moment?

And was it not our duty to protect the lives and property of those who came within our control by the fortunes of war? Could we have come away at any time between May 1, 1898, and the conclusion of peace without a stain upon our good name? Could we have come away without dishonor at any time after the ratification of the peace treaty by the Senate of the United States?

There has been no time since the destruction of the enemy's fleet when we could or should have left the Philippine [51] Archipelago. After the treaty of peace| was ratified no power but Congress could surrender our sovereignty or alienate a foot of the territory thus acquired. The Congress has not seen fit to do the one or the other, and the President had no authority to do either, if he had been so incined, which he was not. So long as the sovereignty remains in us it is the duty of the executive, whoever he may be, to uphold that sovereignty, and if it be attacked to suppress its assailants. Would our political adversaries do less?

Tagals took the offensive.

It has been asserted that there would have been no fighting in the Philippines if Congress had declared its purpose to give independence to the Tagal insurgents. The insurgents did not wait for the action of Congress. They assumed the offensive; they opened fire on our army. Those who assert our responsibility for the beginning of the conflict have forgotten that before the treaty was ratified in the Senate, and while it was being debated in that body, and while the Bacon resolution was under discussion, on Feb. 4, 1899, the insurgents attacked the American army, after being previously advised that the American forces were under orders not to fire upon them except in defence. The papers found in the recently captured archives of the insurgents demonstrate that this attack had been carefully planned for weeks before it occurred. Their unproevoked assault upon our soldiers at a time when the Senate was deliberating upon the treaty shows that no action on our part except surrender and abandonment would have prevented the fighting, and leaves no doubt in any fair mind of where the responsibility rests for the shedding of American blood.

With all the exaggerated phrase-making of this electoral contest we are in danger of being diverted from the real contention. We are in agreement with all of those who supported the war with Spain, and also with those who counseled the ratification of the treaty of peace. Upon these two great essential steps there can be no issue, and out of these came all of our responsibilities. If others would shirk the obligations imposed by the war and the treaty, we must decline to act further with them, and here the issue was made. It is our purpose to establish in the Philippines a government suitable to the wants and conditions of the inhabitants, and to prepare them for selfgovernment, and to give them self-goverment when they are ready for it and as rapidly as they are ready for it. That I am aiming to do under my constitutional authority, and will continue to do until Congress shall determine the political status of the inhabitants of the archipelago.

Democrats are responsible.

Are our opponents against the treaty? If so, they must be reminded that it could not have been ratified in the Senate but for their assistance. The Senate which ratified the treaty and the Congress which added its sanction by a large appropriation comprised Senators and Representatives of the people of all parties.

Would our opponents surrender to the insurgents, abandon our sovereignty, or cede it to them? If that be not their purpose then it should be promptly disclaimed, for only evil can result from the hopes raised by our opponents in the minds of the Filipinos that, with their success at the polls in November, there will be a withdrawal of our army and of American sovereignty over the archipelago, the complete independence of the Tagalog people recognized, and the powers of government over all the other peoples of the archipelago conferred upon the Tagalog leaders.

The effect of a belief in the minds of the insurgents that this will be done has already prolonged the rebellion, and increases the necessity for the continuance of a large army. It is now delaying full peace in the archipelago and the establishment of civil governments, and has influenced many of the insurgents against accepting the liberal terms of amnesty offered by General MacArthur under my direction. But for these false hopes a considerable reduction could have been had in our military establishment in the Philippines, and the realization of a stable government would be already at hand.

The American people are asked by our opponents to yield the sovereignty of the United States in the Philippines to a small fraction of the population, a single tribe out of eighty or more inhabiting [52] the archipelago, a fraction which wantonly attacked the American troops in Manila while in rightful possession under the protocol with Spain, awaiting the ratification of the treaty of peace by the Senate, and which has since been in active, open rebellion against the United States. We are asked to transfer our sovereignty to a small minority in the islands without consulting the majority, and to abandon the largest portion of the population, which has been loyal to us, to the cruelties of the guerilla insurgent bands. More than this, we are asked to protect this minority in establishing a government, and to this end repress all opposition of the majority. We are required to set up a stable government in the interest of those who have assailed our sovereignty and fired upon our soldiers, and then maintain it at any cost or sacrifice against its enemies within and against those having ambitious designs from without.

Democrats want militarism.

This would require an army and navy far larger than is now maintained in the Philippines, and still more in excess of what will be necessary with the full recognition of our sovereignty. A military support of authority not our own, as thus proposed, is the very essence of militarism, which our opponents in their platform oppose, but which by their policy would of necessity be established in its most offensive form.

The American people will not make the murderers of our soldiers the agents of the republic to convey the blessing of liberty and order to the Philippines. They will not make them the builders of the new commonwealth. Such a course would be a betrayal of our sacred obligations to the peaceful Filipinos, and would place at the mercy of dangerous adventurers the lives and property of the natives and the foreigners. It would make possible and easy the commission of such atrocities as were secretly planned, to be executed on Feb. 22, 1899, in the city of Manila, when only the vigilance of our army prevented the attempt to assassinate our soldiers and all foreigners and pillage and destroy the city and its surroundings.

In short, the proposition of those opposed to us is to continue all the obligations in the Philippines which now rest upon the government, only changing the relation from principal, which now exists, to that of surety. Our responsibility is to remain, but our power is to be diminished. Our obligation is to be no less, but our title is to be surrendered to another power, which is without experience or training or the ability to maintain a stable government at home, and absolutely helpless to perform its international obligations with the rest of the world. To this we are opposed. We should not yield our title while our obligations last. In the language of our platform, “Our authority should not be less than our responsibility,” and our present responsibility is to establish our authority in every part of the islands.

Sovereignty is essential.

No government can so certainly preserve the peace, restore public order, establish law, justice, and stable conditions as ours. Neither Congress nor the executive can establish a stable government in these islands except under our right of sovereignty, our authority, and our flag. And this we are doing. We could not do it as a protectorate power so completely or so successfully as we are doing it now. As the sovereign power we can initiate action and shape means to ends, and guide the Filipinos to self-development and self-government. As a protectorate power we could not initiate action, but would be compelled to follow and uphold a people with no capacity yet to go alone. In the one case, we can protect both ourselves and the Filipinos from being involved in dangercus complications; in the other, we could not protect even the Filipinos until after their trouble had come.

Besides, if we cannot establish any government of our own without the consent of the governed, as our opponents contend. then we could not establish a stable government for them or make ours a protectorate without the like consent, and neither the majority of the people nor a minority of the people have invited us to assume it. We could not maintain a protectorate even with the consent of the governed without giving provocation for conflicts and possibly costly wars. Our rights in the Philippines are now free from outside interference, and will continue so in our present relation. They would not [53] be thus free in any other relation. We will not give up our own to guarantee another sovereignty.

American title is good.

Our title is good. Our peace commissioners believed they were receiving a good title when they concluded the treaty. The executive believed it was a good title when he submitted it to the Senate of the United States for its ratification. The Senate believed it was a good title when they gave it their constitutional assent, and the Congress seem not to have doubted its completeness when they appropriated $20,000,000 provided by the treaty. If any who favored its ratification believed it gave us a bad title, they were not sincere. Our title is practically identical with that under which we hold our territory acquired since the beginning of the government, and under which we have exercised full sovereignty and established government for the inhabitants.

It is worthy of note that no one outside of the United States disputes the fulness and integrity of the cession. What, then, is the real issue on this subject? Whether it is paramount to any other or not, it is whether we shall be responsible for the government of the Philippines with the sovereignty and authority which enable us to guide them to regulated liberty, law, safety, and progress, or whether we shall be responsible for the forcible and arbitrary government of a minority without sovereignty and authority on our part, and with only the embarrassment of a protectorate which draws us into their troubles without the power of preventing them.

There were those who two years ago were rushing us up to war with Spain who are unwilling now to accept its clear consequence, as there are those among us who advocated the ratification of the treaty of peace, but now protest against its obligations. Nations which go to war must be prepared to accept its resultant obligations, and when they make treaties must keep them.

The administration's purpose.

Those who profess to distrust the liberal and honorable purposes of the administration in its treatment of the Philippines are not justified. Imperialism has no place in its creed or conduct. Freedom is a rock upon which the Republican party was builded and now rests. Liberty is the great Republican doctrine, for which the people went to war, and for which a million lives were offered and billions of dollars were expended to make it a lawful legacy of all without the consent of master or slave. There is a strain of ill-concealed hypocrisy in the anxiety to extend the constitutional guarantees to the people of the Philippines, while their nullification is openly advocated at home.

Our opponents may distrust themselves, but they have no right to discredit the good faith and patriotism of the majority of the people, who are opposed to them; they may fear the worst form of imperialism with the helpless Filipinos in their hands, but if they do, it is because they have parted with the spirit and faith of the fathers and have lost the virility of the founders of the party which they profess to represent.

The Republican party doesn't have to assert its devotion to the Declaration of Independence. That immortal instrument of the fathers remained unexecuted until the people, under the lead of the Republican party in the awful clash of battle, turned its promises into fulfilment. It wrote into the Constitution the amendments guaranteeing political equality to American citizenship, and it has never broken them or counselled others in breaking them. It will not be guided in its conduct by one set of principles at home and another set in the new territory belonging to the United States.

If our opponents would only practise as well as preach the doctrines of Abraham Lincoln, there would be no fear for the safety of our institutions at home or their rightful influence in any territory over which our flag floats. Empire has been expelled from Porto Rico and the Philippines by American freemen. The flag of the republic now floats over these islands as an emblem of rightful sovereignty. Will the republic stay and dispense to their inhabitants the blessings of liberty, education, and free institutions, or steal away, leaving them to anarchy or imperialism?

The American question is between duty and desertion—the American verdict will [54] be for duty and against desertion, for the republic is against both anarchy and imperialism.

The Chinese situation.

The country has been fully advised of the purposes of the United States in China, and they will be faithfully adhered to as already defined. The nation is filled with gratitude that the little band, among them many of our own blood, who for two months have been subjected to privations and peril by the attacks of pitiless hordes at the Chinese capital, exhibiting supreme courage in the face of despair, have been enabled by God's favor to greet their rescuers and find shelter under their own flag.

The people, not alone of this land, but of all lands, have watched and prayed through the terrible stress and protracted agony of the helpless sufferers in Peking, and while at times the dark tidings seemed to make all hope vain, the rescuers never faltered in the heroic fulfilment of their noble task. We are grateful to our own soldiers and sailors and marines, and to all the brave men, who, though assembled under many standards representing peoples and races strangers in country and speech, were yet united in the sacred mission of carrying succor to the besieged with a success that is now the cause of a world's rejoicing.

Reunion of the North and South in feeling.

Not only have we reason for thanksgiving for our material blessings, but we should rejoice in the complete unification of the people of all sections of our country that has so happily developed in the last few years and made for us a more perfect union.

The obliteration of old differences, the common devotion to the flag and the common sacrifices for its honor, so conspicuously shown by the men of the North and South in the Spanish War, have so strengthened the ties of friendship and mutual respect that nothing can ever again divide us. The nation faces the new century gratefully and hopefully, with increasing love of country, with firm faith in its free institutions, and with high resolve that they “shall not perish from the earth.”

Very respectfully yours,

William McKINLEY.

Second inaugural address, March 4, 1901:

My fellow-citizens, — When we assembled here on March 4, 1897, there was great anxiety with regard to our currency and credit. None exists now. Then our treasury receipts were inadequate to meet the current obligations of the government. Now they are sufficient for all public needs, and we have a surplus instead of a deficit. Then I felt constrained to convene the Congress in extraordinary session to devise revenues to pay the ordinary expenses of the government. Now I have the satisfaction to announce that the Congress just closed has reduced taxation in the sum of $41,000,000. Then there was deep solicitude because of the long depression and the consequent distress of our laboring population. Now every avenue of production is crowded with activity, labor is well employed, and American products find good markets at home and abroad.

Our diversified productions, however, are increasing in such unprecedented volume as to admonish us of the necessity of still further enlarging our foreign markets by broader commercial relations. For this purpose reciprocal trade arrangements with other nations should in liberal spirit be carefully cultivated and promoted.

The national verdict of 1896 has for the most part been executed. Whatever remains unfulfilled is a continuing obligation resting with undiminished force upon the executive and the Congress. But fortunate as our condition is, its permanence can only be assured by sound business methods and strict economy in national administration and legislation. We should not permit our great prosperity to lead us to reckless ventures in business or profligacy in public expenditures. While the Congress determines the objects and the sum of appropriations, the officials of the executive departments are responsible for honest and faithful disbursement, and it should be their constant care to avoid waste and extravagance.

Honesty, capacity, and industry are nowhere more indispensable than in public employment. There should be fundamental requisites to appointment and the surest guarantees against removal. [55]

Four years ago we stood on the brink of war without the people knowing it and without any preparation or effort at preparation for the impending peril. I did all that in honor could be done to avert the war, but without avail. It became inevitable, and the Congress at its first regular session, without party division, provided money in anticipation of the crisis and in preparation to meet it. It came. The result was signally favorable to American arms, and in the highest degree honorable to the government. It imposed upon us obligations from which we cannot escape and from which it would be dishonorable to seek to escape. We are now at peace with the world, and it is my fervent prayer that if differences arise between us and other powers they may be settled by peaceful arbitration and that hereafter we may be spared the horrors of war.

Entrusted by the people for a second time with the office of President, I enter upon its administration appreciating the great responsibilities which attach to this renewed honor and commission, promising unreserved devotion on my part to their faithful discharge and reverently invoking for my guidance the direction and favor of Almighty God. I should shrink from the duties this day assumed if I did not feel that in their performance I should have the co-operation of the wise and patriotic men of all parties. It encourages me for the great task which I now undertake to believe that those who voluntarily committed to me the trust imposed upon the chief executive of the republic will give to me generous support in my duties to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States” and to “care that the laws be faithfully executed.” The national purpose is indicated through a national election. It is the constitutional method of ascertaining the public will. When once it is registered it is a law to us all, and faithful observance should follow its decrees.

Strong hearts and helpful hands are needed, and, fortunately, we have them in every part of our beloved country. We are reunited. Sectionalism has disappeared. Division on public questions can no longer be traced by the war maps of 1861. These old differences less and less disturb the judgment. Existing problems demand the thought and quicken the conscience of the country, and the responsibility for their presence as well as for their righteous settlement rests upon us all—no more upon me than upon you. There are some national questions in the solution of which patriotism should exclude partisanship. Magnifying their difficulties will not take them off our hands nor facilitate their adjustment. Distrust of the capacity, integrity, and high purposes of the American people will not be an inspiring theme for future political contests. Dark pictures and gloomy forebodings are worse than useless. These only becloud, they do not help to point the way to safety and honor. “Hope maketh not ashamed.” The prophets of evil were not the builders of the republic. nor in its crises since have they saved or served it. The faith of the fathers was a mighty force in its creation, and the faith of their descendants has wrought its progress and furnished its defenders.

They are obstructionists who despair and who would destroy confidence in the ability of our people to solve wisely and for civilization the mighty problems resting upon them. The American people, intrenched in freedom at home, take their love for it wherever they go, and they reject as mistaken and unworthy the doctrine that we lose our own liberties by securing the enduring foundations of liberty to others. Our institutions will not deteriorate by extension, and our sense of justice will not abate under tropic suns in distant seas. As heretofore, so hereafter will the nation demonstrate its fitness to administer any new estate which events devolve upon it, and in the fear of God will “take occasion by the hand and make the bounds of freedom wider yet.” If there are those among us who would make our way more difficult, we must not be disheartened, but the more earnestly dedicate ourselves to the task upon which we have rightly entered. The path of progress is seldom smooth. New things are often found hard to do. Our fathers found them so. We find them so. They are inconvenient. They cost us something. But are we not made better for the effort and sacrifice, and are not those we serve lifted up and blessed? [56]

We will be consoled, too, with the fact that opposition has confronted every onward movement of the republic from its opening hour until now, but without success. The republic has marched on and on, and its every step has exalted freedom and humanity. We are undergoing the same ordeal as did our predecessors nearly a century ago. We are following the course they blazed. They triumphed. Will their successors falter and plead organic impotency in the nation? Surely after 125 years of achievement for mankind we will not now surrender our equality with other powers on matters fundamental and essential to nationality. With no such purpose was the nation created. In no such spirit has it developed its full and independent sovereignty. We adhere to the principle of equality among ourselves, and by no act of ours will we assign to ourselves a subordinate rank in the family of nations.

My fellow-citizens, the public events of the past four years have gone into history. They are too near to justify recital. Some of them were unforeseen; many of them momentous and far-reaching in their consequences to ourselves and our relations with the rest of the world. The part which the United States bore so honorably in the thrilling scenes in China, while new to American life, has been in harmony with its true spirit and best traditions, and in dealing with the results its policy will be that of moderation end fairness.

We face at this moment a most important question—that of the future relations of the United States and Cuba. With our near neighbors we must remain close friends. The declaration of the purposes of this government in the resolution of April 20, 1898, must be made good. Ever since the evacuation of the island by the army of Spain the executive with all practicable speed has been assisting its people in the successive steps necessary to the establishment of a free and independent government, prepared to assume and perform the obligations of international law which now rest upon the United States under the treaty of Paris. The convention elected by the people to frame a constitution is approaching the completion of its labors. The transfer of American control to the new government is of such great importance, involving an obligation resulting from our intervention and the treaty of peace, that I am glad to be advised by the recent act of Congress of the policy which the legislative branch of the government deems essential to the best interests of Cuba and the United States. The principles which led to our intervention require that the fundamental law upon which the new government rests should be adapted to secure a government capable of performing the duties and discharging the functions of a separate nation, of observing its international obligations, of protecting life and property, insuring order, safety, and liberty, and conforming to the established and historical policy of the United States in its relation to Cuba.

The peace which we are pledged to leave to the Cuban people must carry with it the guarantees of permanence. We became sponsors for the pacification of the island and we remain accountable to the Cubans, no less than to our own country and people, for the reconstruction of Cuba as a free commonwealth on abiding foundations of right, justice, liberty, and assured order. Our enfranchisement of the people will not be completed until free Cuba shall “be a reality, not a name; a perfect entity, not a hasty experiment, bearing within itself the elements of failure.”

While the treaty of peace with Spain was ratified on Feb. 6, 1899, and ratifications were exchanged nearly two years ago, the Congress has indicated no form of government for the Philippine Islands. It has, however, provided an army to enable the executive to suppress insurrection, restore peace, give security to the inhabitants, and establish the authority of the United States throughout the archipelago. It has authorized the organization of native troops as auxiliary to the regular force. It has been advised from time to time of the acts of the military and naval officers in the islands, of my action in appointing civil commissions, of the instructions with which they were charged, of their duties and powers, of their recommendations, and of their several acts under executive commission, together with the very complete general information they have submitted. These reports fully set forth the conditions, past [57] and present, in the islands, and the instructions clearly show the principles which will guide the executive until the Congress shall, as it is required to do by the treaty, determine “the civil rights and political status of the native inhabitants.”

The Congress having added the sanction of its authority to the powers already possessed and exercised by the executive under the Constitution, thereby leaving with the executive the responsibility for the government of the Philippines, I shall continue the efforts already begun until order shall be restored throughout the islands, and as fast as conditions permit will establish local governments, in the formation of which the full co-operation of the people has been already invited, and when established will encourage the people to administer them. The settled purpose, long ago proclaimed, to afford the inhabitants of the islands self-government as fast as they were ready for it will be pursued with earnestness and fidelity. Already something has been accomplished in this direction. The government's representatives, civil and military, are doing faithful and noble work in their mission of emancipation, and merit the approval and support of their countrymen.

The most liberal terms of amnesty have already been communicated to the insurgents; the way is still open for those who have raised their arms against the government for honorable submission to its authority. Our countrymen should not be deceived. We are not waging war against the inhabitants of the Philippine Islands. A portion of them are making war against the United States. By far the greater part of the inhabitants recognize American sovereignty and welcome it as a guarantee of order and of security for life, property, liberty, freedom of conscience, and the pursuit of happiness. To them full protection will be given. They shall not be abandoned. We will not leave the destiny of the loyal millions in the islands to the disloyal thousands who are in rebellion against the United States. Order under civil institutions will come as soon as those who now break the peace shall keep it. Force will not be needed or used when those who make war against us shall make it no more. May it end without further bloodshed, and there be ushered in the reign of peace to be made permanent by a government of liberty under law!