CONGRESS. (THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS.) 



with complete success during their last tenure 

 of power. Few, if any, Americans at that time 

 made money. But these exploiters, these syndi- 

 cates, these carpetbaggers, who march back and 

 forth through the speeches of Democratic Sena- 

 tors like the scene-shifters' army, have as little 

 reality as the air-drawn dagger of Macbeth. It 

 i> continually reiterated that they are to be 

 brought into the Philippines by this bill; and 

 while Senators in opposition are declaiming 

 against this bill as throwing the islands open to 

 improper exploitation and speculation I have 

 had many gentlemen come to me who desire to 

 invot money in the Philippine Islands who say 

 that the bill' is so drawn that it is impossible for 

 capital to go in there to any large amount. 

 When gentlemen who desire to invest take that 

 view and the Democratic party takes the view 

 that the bill is simply for purposes of exploita- 

 tion my own conclusion is that we have got a 

 pretty good bill. 



" We are also told that the Chinese are to be 

 poured in there. Mr. President, as we have ex- 

 cluded the Chinese from the Philippines by legis- 

 lation already passed, how absurd that proposi- 

 tion is. Passing lightly from the proposition 

 that the Chinese are to be poured into the Phil- 

 ippines, from which our laws expressly exclude 

 them, the dismal picture is then drawn of what 

 will happen to the islands if we do not let the 

 Chinese in. The testimony is very clear to my 

 mind that the Filipino people, if they have an 

 opportunity to earn good wages and to have 

 them regularly paid something which has never 

 happened to them under Spanish rule will be 

 found quite capable of doing all the work that is 

 needed in the islands. They are skilful workers 

 in the factories they have there, such as the 

 cigarette factories; they are noted as good ma- 

 chinists; they are deft and ingenious with their 

 hands; they work in the rice-fields under a sun 

 which is too much even for Chinamen, and they 

 cany on all the cultivation of the islands. If 

 we once give them an opportunity to perform 

 this new work and receive regular wages and be 



Eroperly paid, I am sure we shall find that the 

 ibor is there, so that the Filipino people can 

 develop their own territory. It may be a slower 

 process than if we should throw the islands open 

 now to sudden exploitation in large masses of 

 territory, with great bodies of capital and with 

 Chinese labor; but that it is simple justice to 

 the people of those islands, and that it is infi- 

 nitely better to give them the arrangement that 

 we have given them is, to my mind, too clear 

 for argument." 



The great part of Mr. Lodge's speech, however, 

 was devoted to an argument in vindication of 

 the conduct of the army rather than a discussion 

 of the policy of the bill. In conclusion he said, 

 after the presentation of 'much evidence on the 

 subject: 



" Now, Mr. President, I do not seek to defend 

 any cruelty, but I do want to have justice done 

 to the American army. I want the people of 

 the country to know when they read of cruel- 

 ties to the hostile Filipino what the provocation 

 has been ; I want them to think of what our men 

 have suffered and endured; I want, and we can 

 afford to give, absolute justice to the American 

 army. I do not wish to be put in a position of 

 being the defender of cruelties; but if I must 

 take my choice between men, then I am for the 

 friendly native, the friend of America, against 

 the men in arms against the United States. I 

 am for the American army against the insur- 

 gents. I do not like to hear that army assailed 



as it has been assailed. It is our army; its glory 

 is our glory. We can not tarnish that glory 

 without tarnishing the glory and the fame of 

 the country abroad. When we heap obloquy 

 upon them on account of these cruelties, I say 

 again, remember the provocation, remember the 

 faces of the dead boys under the sands of Luzon 

 not dead by battle, but dead by murder; re- 

 member the dead and the treatment of captured 

 prisoners, and let us show some little under- 

 standing of the trials which those officers and 

 those soldiers have had to undergo." 



Preliminary to the final vote on the passage of 

 the bill in the Senate several important amend- 

 ments were proposed and rejected. 



Mr. Patterson, of Colorado, proposed to amend 

 the measure by inserting the provision : " The 

 trial of all crimes except in cases of impeachment 

 shall be by jury; and such trial shall be held in 

 the province where the said crime shall have been 

 committed." The amendment was defeated by a 

 vote of 47 to 28. 



Mr. Teller, of Colorado, proposed the following 

 amendment : 



" It is not the intention of the Government of 

 the United States to harass or oppress the in- 

 habitants of the Philippine Islands, or to deprive 

 them of their liberty, but, on the contrary, to 

 assist them to establish a government of "their 

 own that shall secure to them all privileges, ad- 

 vantages, and blessings enjoyed by a free people, 

 and ultimate independence under the protection 

 of the United States against foreign powers and 

 domestic violence. And to secure these ends as 

 speedily as possible, the Government of the 

 United States invites and urges the people of 

 said islands to aid the United States authorities 

 now exercising power in the islands to secure 

 peace and order." 



This was defeated by a vote of 47 to 30. 



Mr. Carmack, of Tennessee, proposed the fol- 

 lowing amendment: 



" That the United States regard with extreme 

 disfavor any movement having for its object the 

 early or ultimate admission of the Philippine Is- 

 lands as a State or States of the Union: and any 

 action on the part of persons holding office under 

 the authority of the United States that gives 

 sanction or encouragement to such movement is 

 hereby condemned. 



" That to confer the rights and privileges of 

 citizens upon the inhabitants of the Philippine 

 Islands would tend to destroy the integrity ol 

 the citizenship and to degrade the character of 

 the Government of the United States. 



" That to maintain the relation of sovereign 

 and subject between the Government of the 

 United States and a people under its dominion 

 would be repugnant to the principles of the Con- 

 stitution." 



The first clause alone was defeated by a vot<; 

 of 46 to 28, and the second and third clauses by 

 a vote of 49 to 23. 



Mr. Culberson, of Texas, proposed as an 

 amendment in the way of a substitute to strike 

 put all after the enacting clause of the bill and 

 insert the following: 



" That subject to the provisions hereinafter set 

 forth the United States of America hereby relin- 

 quish all claim of sovereignty over and title t<t 

 the archipelago known as the Philippine Islands. 



" SEC. 2. That the United States shall continue 

 to occupy and govern said archipelago until the 

 people thereof have established a government in 

 accordance with the provisions of this act, with 

 sufficient guaranties for the performance of our 

 treaty obligations with Spain and for the safety 



