had agreed to treat Chiba, mely, to enable
the people to for a government of their owm;
the lite lan's burden' was a burden self-
assumed, and the altruistic motives professed
by those who advocated the acquisition, were
a pretence. Moreover, the success of the pol-
icy would involve the country in enormous ex-
penditures; itould demand a great increase
in military and naval forces; it rould lead to
'entangling alliances' with other powers, which
the people, warned by Washington, had avoided
for more than a contury

"In rejoinder those who supported the Iresident and the commissioners made the point that the alternative policy of the anti-imperialists, the organization of a native government in the Fhilippines Tas grotesquely impracticable, as the natives were incapable of covering themselves." 13.

13. Stanwood, II, p. 25.

CHAPTER IV

The Canvass

The Ele ction of the 56th Congress

"The election of the Fifty-sixth Congress took place in November, 1898. It was entirely unaffected by any question of imperialism, since there was practically no opposition, certainly no partisan opposition to the acquisition of Porto Rico, and the intention to demand a cession of the Philippines had hardly taken definite shape in the mind of the President, and was wholly unknown by the people. The issue in the election was chiefly on the silver question. Although the Republican majority in the House of Representatives was reduced, the actual majority against the free coinage of silver was increased. The House of Representatives of the Fiftyfifth Congress would have passed an act establishing the gold standard, but there was a majority in favor of silver free coinage in the Senate a majority probably of eight or ten. But the election of Senators by the State legislatures in the winter of 1898-99 changed the complexion of the Senate completely. No less than eight silver men were replaced by advocates of the gold standard, and there was no change in the opposite direction. "1.

1. Stanwood, II, p. 28.