the war at once, without prolonged nego- "So far then, what the Administration deemed necessary and has done is precisely what Ir. Bryan logically justifies and finds it necessary to ratify. He also clears away objection to the annexation of Porto Rico, if the inhabitants desire that. But as to Cuba and the Philippines, he would propose to establish a stable government and then turn them over to their people. The man is not shrewd enough to see what this forces the United States to determine what is a stable government and to hold the property until in its judgment such a government is possible and has been established. But this is precisely that the President has stated with regard to Cuba in his annual message, and again the utterance of lir. Bryan is a confession that there can be no reasonable opposition to the President on that score. "The Philippines only remain, and the Administration has yet proposed nothing about them. But Mr. Bryan proceeds to affront public opinion by arguing that if the people of the United States are entitled to self-goverment, the savages of the Philippines are as much entitled, and that the United States is not capable of ruling a dependency which is not as yet qualified for self-rule. He will find that the American Nation thinks better of itself. It believes that its capacity for self-government gives it a right to govern itself which ignorant savages have not, and that it is not the less able to give good government to people, who have yet to be educated before they can Covern themselves.. I 10. The Filipinos under the leadership of Aguinaldo rose in armed rebellion against the authority of the United States 10. New York Tribune, December 15, 1898. in the Islands when it was reasonably certain that it was the intention of the United States to demand the cession of the entire group of islands from Spain and annex them. The rebellion was disagreeable and bloody, but its outbreak assured the ratification of the treaty in the Senate. The Senate came to a vote on the 6th, and the treaty was ratified by a vote of yeas 57, nays 27. The influence of Kr. The influence of Kr. ryan in favor of annexation Lade it possible to ratify the treaty by pushing some of the doubtful members into line for ratification. |