INTRODUCTION. HIS information is compiled in an abridged form for busy me the which every voter in these United States ought to know. Many of our citizens who live in the rural districts do not have access to the great public educators, the daily newspapers; others of us in our busy, American, business life, are not given the time and still a third class read, but not carefully, and thus fail to grasp the main points at issue. Realizing the need of a hand-book which will easily put in reach of busy men the current issues in a concise, clear and attractive manner, we have endeavored to compile the recent important acts of Congress so that in a few hours of reading voters may become familiar with American politics. We are much indebted to Hon. Thomas C. Platt, senior senator from New York, and to the Republican leader of the House, Hon. Sereno E. Payne, and Hon. E. J. Burkett, of Nebraska, for valuable information herein contained, and many others of our great statesmen ; and justly do we have a right to call America's statesmen great, for we are citizens of the greatest nation on earth, made so by our statesmen and diplomats. Since the Spanish war, Congress and the national officials have given fully one-half of their time to the consideration of the welfare of our new possessions. Our President and statesmen have studied geography, Sociology and anthropology that they might intelligently govern these new and strange peoples. An accurate and concise history of these island possessions is included in this volume. The data has been obtained from authentic sources-from public reports of the Philippine Commissioners, from reports of army officers, etc., etc. Ours has become a great nation, starting as it did from the thirteen original colonies, by the keen foresight of our noble ancestors it has been built up, first of adjacent territory-to make the foundation staunch and strong, then in recent times, reaching out into the far East for commercial possibilities. She has ever kept the watchword before her, "education-freedom." Let every American now know his countrymen, let him study the people and the land! The description you will find here will introduce you to the new and unknown part of the American Republic. HOW THE UNITED STATES HAS BECOME A GREAT NATION ΤΗ HE expansion of the United States has never been so deeply interesting to the people of our country as now. The results of the war with Spain made us wards of savages unknown to Americans, and law makers for Asiatic races whose customs and characteristics are totally unlike our own. To many of this generation it may appear that acquisition of territory by this republic is a new departure; by no means is this true. Whether the immortal instruments on which our government is founded give the right to annex territory as this last addition was annexed, let the reader judge as soon as he knows when and how other Presidents of the United States have enlarged our boundaries. Before giving this history of how America has grown in extent from the thirteen original colonies, let us consider that the judgment of the American people has been passed. By their votes last November they declared the acquisition of territory, as the victorious party in a just war, was legal and right and it might be farther stated that every American resident in the far East rejoices that this country has become a permanent occupant of Asiatic territory. Expansion is by no means a new question in America. In fact, in one form and another it has been considered by the voters of every generation and generally favorably. But at present it takes a new form because the expansion is no longer to take in simply adjacent territory, but reaches across the seas into other lands. It also opens up the vital question of how these newlyacquired islands are to be governed; whether as territories, which are sometimes to be states, with equal representation with the present states; or, as colonies having a local self-government carried on under certain officers, such as Governors, representing and appointed by the central government at Washington.' |