CONGRESS. (ACQUISITION OF TERRITORY.) 



195 



so. And, Mr. Speaker, no man is more opposed 

 than 1 am to a policy of imperialism, or to a 

 scheme of colonization, or to the retention of the 

 Philippine Islands. 



" But the approval of the treaty has never been 

 for this House to determine. The treaty has been 

 negotiated and been ratified. The Executive pos- 

 sesses this law-making function. Treaties made 

 by the United States are expressly declared to 

 be the supreme law of the land. This power is 

 given to the President, and it has but one limita- 

 tion, and that is the treaty negotiated by him 

 shall be ratified by two thirds of the Senate. The 

 Government is constitutionally bound to pay this 

 money. There is but one contingency, and that 

 the improbable one that the Spanish Cortes will 

 not ratify the treaty. In that event the money 

 would not be paid. 



" So that, Mr. Speaker, we find the supreme 

 law of the land requires the payment of this 

 money. The contract to pay it, the law to pay 

 it, have been made pursuant to constitutional 

 methods. And that law must be obeyed or de- 

 tied. If the law is bad, let those who made it 

 meet with the censure of the American people. 



'' It is to be regretted that the President has 

 not had some definite policy toward the Philip- 

 pines. What the President has not done in this 

 regard furnishes much ground for just criticism. 

 But he has correctly said in his speech at Boston 

 that what shall be done hereafter with the Philip- 

 pine Islands is now a legislative question, and 

 not an executive one. I believe it ought to be 

 made known that the United States does not in- 

 tend permanently to hold those islands, and I 

 believe it is the duty of Congress to tender assur- 

 ance to the inhabitants of the Philippines that 

 the United States will encourage such a govern- 

 ment there as the people of those islands desire. 

 I stand ready to aid in such declaration." 



The rules were suspended and the measure 

 passed by the requisite two-third vote yeas, 219; 

 nays, 33 ; not voting, 95 ; and answering " pres- 

 ent," 4. It passed the Senate without a division, 

 March 1, and was approved by the President. 



Jan. 7 Senator Mason, of Illinois, introduced 

 the following resolution: 



" Whereas all just powers of government are 

 derived from the consent of the governed, there- 

 fore be it 



"Resolved by the Senate of the United States, 

 That the Government of the United States of 

 America will not attempt to govern the people 

 of any other country in the world without the 

 consent of the people themselves, or subject them 

 by force to our dominion against their will." 



It was taken up for discussion, Jan. 10, and 

 Mr. Mason spoke in its favor. He said, among 

 other things: 



" I say respectfully that there is no more right 

 or necessity of our governing the Philippine 

 Islands than there is of governing Venezuela, 

 Brazil, Nicaragua, or any other South American 

 state without the consent of its people. Certainly 

 we have no more right to govern them than we 

 have to govern Cuba. Our Government is com- 

 mitted to the withdrawal of our troops from 

 Cuba as soon as peace is restored and a govern- 

 ment established. 



" Will some one tell me, Mr. President, will 

 some of the gentlemen who are to follow upon 

 the other side of the case, who are to belittle 

 the dangers of war with an innocent people, tell 

 me why it is that we should apply a different 

 rule to the Philippines from that we do to Cuba? 

 Will my distinguished friend to-morrow tell this 

 Chamber? I can not believe that he will take 



the position; but if he does, will he give the 

 rule in ethics and good morals that leads us to 

 take a different stand toward the people of the 

 Philippines, who are more enlightened and bet- 

 ter educated, have more newspapers and better 

 schools, from that we take toward Cuba? 



" Tell me why we should adopt one plan for 

 Cuba and another for the Philippines. Do you 

 say, with the explosionists I mean the expan- 

 sionists ' We promised we would not steal Cuba, 

 but we did not promise not to steal the Philip- 

 pines '? Do you say, with Shylock, 'Is it so 

 nominated in the bond ' ? You remember Jack 

 in the Two Orphans was charged with stealing 

 a coat. He said, ' You lie; it was a cloak.' Will 

 you tell me, please, how grand larceny and crimi- 

 nal aggression in Cuba become high Christian 

 civilization in the Philippines? Is there some 

 place in the Pacific Ocean where we change the 

 code of ethics and good morals as we change the 

 calendar and the ship's clock in crossing? 



" Mr. President, we can not teach them to gov- 

 ern themselves. There is only one road to self- 

 government. That is through the gate of re- 

 sponsibility, along the rough and rugged road of 

 experience. You can not teach liberty and self- 

 government with a Mauser gun. Spain has tried 

 it for centuries; at least, with guns similar if 

 not of the same pattern. For centuries she has 

 been for expansion, more land, more property, 

 more poor people she could ride over with some 

 cheap politician with a crown on his head. Are 

 we going to keep the crown room there that 

 Spain occupied? Is the throne room to be kept 

 intact for Tammany Hall or the Republican 

 party when we send our envoys there? 



" Spain is an expansionist, and has been for 

 centuries. And say, my friends, have you for- 

 gotten the first rule proved by all history, with- 

 out exception, that every square inch of territory 

 taken by force has to be held by force? Go to 

 your children, who are in the first year of the 

 high school, and they will tell you the rule, that 

 in all history every square foot of ground taken 

 by force from an alien nation has to be kept by 

 force. There is Alsace-Lorraine, between Ger- 

 many and France. A standing army is kept there 

 on both sides, and there is a continuing threat 

 of war. Are we to continue to imitate Spain? 

 She has believed in the expansion of territory, 

 expansion of commerce by force, without the con- 

 sent of the governed, and her ships are lying 

 at the bottom of the sea. Her men are rotting 

 in the ocean and upon the land all over the world. 

 Her flag has been dishonored, disgraced, defeated, 

 and sent back to her peninsula, and the golden 

 crown of imperialism that she has sought against 

 the will of the people has turned to ashes in her 

 palsied hands. 



" But distinguished gentlemen who claim a 

 monopoly of patriotism, who do not seem to ob- 

 serve the difference between expansion and ex- 

 plosion, say that we who believe in getting the 

 consent of the governed before we govern them 

 want to give back the Philippines to Spain. 

 Every one who makes the statement knows that 

 is not what we want. May I repeat the old story 

 of Lincoln? Driving in his carriage one day, he 

 alighted to turn a tumblebug to his legs. Reply- 

 ing to the Cabinet minister within the carriage, 

 he said, ' I merely wanted to give him a show 

 with all the other bugs of his class.' He did not 

 want to annex the bug or to tell him how to run 

 his business. He did not seek to tax him or to 

 tell him that he did not know how to govern 

 his bugship. He set him along the highroad, 

 along the line of the survival of the fittest. 



