Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 October 1900 — ROOSEVELT’S RIGING LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE. [ARTICLE]

ROOSEVELT’S RIGING LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE.

A Document Breathing with the Life of Patriotism and National Duty.

VITAL ISSUE DECLARED TO BE PROSPERITY ' ~T >, * Government in tue Philippines by Tagalogs Would Be Equivalent to Government in America by Indian Tribes— New Duties and Problems for the Nation.

Gov. Theodore Roosevelt has completed the formal acceptance of the Republican nomination for Vice-President. His letter bears an Oyster Bay date and is directed to Senator Edward O. Wolcott of the notification committee. It reads: To Edward O. Wolcott, Chairman Committee on Notification of Vice-Presi-dent —Sir: r accept the nomination as .Vice-President of the United States, tendered me by the Republican national convention, With a very deep sense of the honor conferred upon me and with an infinitely deeper sense of the vital importance to .the whole country of securing the re-election of President McKinley. The nation’s welfare is at stake. We must continue the work which has been so well begun during the present administration. We must show in fashion incapable of being misunderstood that the American people, at the beginning of the twentieth century, faee-their duties in a calm and serious spirit; that they have no intention of permitting folly or lawlessness to mar the extraordinary material well-being which they have attained at home, nor yet of permitting their flag to be dishonored abroad. Fears Disaster if Democrats Win. I feel that this Contest is by no means one merely between Republicans and Democrats. We have a right to appeal to all good citizens who are far-sighted enough to see what the honor and the interest of the nation demand. To put into practice the principles embodied in the Kansas City platform would mean grave disaster to the nation; for that platform stands for reaction and disorder; for an upsetting of our financial system which would mean not only great suffering but the abandonment of the nation’s good faith; and for a policy abroad which would imply the dishonor of the flag and an unworthy surrender of our national rights. Its success would mean unspeakable humiliation to men proud of their country, jealous of their country’s good name, and desirous of securing the welfare of their fellow-citi-zens. Therefore, we have a right to appeal to all good men, North and South, East and West, whatever their politick may have been in the past, to stand with us, because we stand for the prosperity of the country and for the renown of the American flag. Prosperity the Great Issue. The most important of all problems is, of course, that of securing good government and moral and material well-being within our own borders. ‘Great though the need is that the nation should do its work well abroad, even this comes second to the thorough performance of duty at home. Under the administration of President McKinley this country has been blessed with - a degree of prosperity absolutely unparalleled, even in its previous prosperous history. While it is. of course, true that no legislation and no administration can bring success to those who are not stout of heart, cool of head and ready of hand, yet it is no less true that the individual capacity of each man to gpt good result*, for himself can be absolutely destroyed by bad legislation or bad administration, while under the reverse conditions the power of the individual to do good work is assured and stimulated. This is what has been done under the administration of President McKinley. Thanks to his actions and to the wise legislation of Congress on the tariff and finnnoe. the conditions of our industrial life have been rendejed more favorable than ever before, and they have been taken advantage of to the full by American thrift, industry and enterprise. Order has been observed, the courts upheld and the fullest liberty' secured to all citizens. The merchant and manufacturer, but above all the farmer and the wage-worker have profited by this state of things. Dependent on Financial Question. Fundamentally and primarily the present contest is a contest for the continuance of the conditions which have told in favor of our material welfare and of our civil and political integrity. If this nation is to retain either its well-being or its self-refcpect it cannot afford to plunge into financial and economic chaos; it cannot afford to indorse governmental theories which would unsettle the standard of national honesty and deatroy the integrity of our system of justice. The policy of the free coinage of ailver at a ratio of 16 to 1 is a policy fraught with deatruction to every home in the land. It means untold misery to the head of every household, and, above all, to the women and children of every home. As to Democratic View on Silver. When our opponents champion free silver at 16 to 1 they are either insincere or sincere in their nttitude. If insincere in their championship they, of course, forfeit all right to belief or support on any ground. If sincere. then they are a menace to the welfare of the country. Whether they shout their sinister purpose or merely whisper it’ makes but little difference, save aa it reflects their own honesty. No issue can be paramount to the issue they thus make, for the par l amountcy of such an issue is to be determined not by the dictum of any man or body of men, but by the fact that it vitally affects the well-being of every home in the land. The financial question is always of such far-reaching and tremendoua importance to the national welfare that it can never be raised in good faith unless this tre-

mendous importance is not merely conceded but insisted on. Men who are not willing to make such an issue paramount have no possible justification for raising it at all, for under such circumstances their act cannot under any conceivable circumstances do aught but grave harm. Gold Basis Must Stand. Thejsuccess of the party representing the principles embodied in the Kansas City platform would bring about the destruction of all the conditions necessary to the continuance of our prosperity, l’t would also unsettle our whole governmental system, and would therefore disarrange all the vast and delicate machinery of our complex industrial life. Above all, the effect would be ruinous to our finances. If we are to prosper, the currency of this country must be based upon the gold dollar worth 100 cents. The stability of our currency has been greatly increased by the excellent financial act passed by the last Congress. But no law can secure our finances against the effect of unwise and disastrous management in the hands of unfriendly administrators. No party can safely be intrusted with the management of our national affairs unless it accepts as axiomatic the truths recognized in all progressive countries as essential to a sound and proper system of finance. In their essence these must be the same for all great civilized peoples. Vital Question for Waste'Garner*. In different stages of development different countries- face varying economic conditions, but at every stage and under all circumstances the most important element in securing their economic well-be-ing is sound finance, honest money. So intimate is the connection between industrial prosperity and a sound currency that the former is jeopardized not merely by unsound finance, but by the very threat of unsound finance. The business man and the farmer are vitally interested in this question; but no man’s interest is so great as that of the wage-worker. A depreciated currency means loss and disaster to the business man; but it means grim suffering to the wage-worker. The capitalist will lose much of his capital and will suffer wearing anxiety and the loss of many comforts; but the wage-worker who loses his wages must suffer and see his wife aud children suffer for the actual necessities of life. The one absolutely vital need of our whole industrial system is sound money. * One of the serious problems with which we are confronted under the conditions of our modern industrial civilization is that presented by the great business combinations which are generally known under the name of trusts. The problem is an exceedingly difficult one and the difficulty is immensely aggravated both by honest but wrongheaded attacks on our whole industrial system in the effort to remove some of the evils connected with it, and by the mischievous advice of men who either think crookedly, or who advance Remedies knowing them to be ineffective, but deeming that they may, by darkening counsel, achieve for themselves a spurious reputation for wisdom. No good whatever is subserved by 'indiscriminate denunciation of corporations generally and of all forms of industrial combination in particular; and when this public denunciation is accompanied by private membership in the great corporations denounced, the effect is, of course, to give an air of insincerity to the whole movement. Nevertheless, there are real abuses, and there is ample reason for striving to remedy these abuses, A crude or ill-considered effort to remedy them would either be absolutely without effect or else would simply do damage. Plan for Federal Interference. The first thing to do is to find out the facts; and for this purpose publicity as to capitalization, profits and all else of importance to the public, is the most useful measure. The mere fact of this publicity would in itself remedy certain evils, and, as to the others, it would in some cases point out the remedies, and would as least epable us to tell whether or not certain, proposed remedies would be useful. The State acting in its collective capacity would thus first find out the facts and then be able to take such measures as wisdom dictated. Muofe can be done by taxation. Even more can be done by regulation, by close supervision and the unsparing exefsion of all unhealthy, destructive and anti-social elements. The separate State governments can do a great deal; and where they decline to co-operate the national government mast step in.. How Ho Deals with Kxpansion. While paying heed to the necessity of keeping our house in order at home, the American people cannot, if they wish to retain their self-respect, refrain from doing their duty as a great nation in the world. The history of the nation is In large part the history of the nation’s expansion. When the first continental congress met in Liberty Hall and the thirteen original States declared themselves a nation, the westward limit of the country was marked by the Alleghany mountains. Even during the revolntionsry war the work of expanson went on. Kentucky, Tennessee and the great Northwest, then known as the Illinois country, were conquered from our white and Indian foes daring the revolutionary strug-

gle. and were confirmed tb us by the treaty of peace in 1783. Yet the land thus confirmed was not then given to us. It was held by an alien foe until the army under Gen. Anthony Wayne freed Ohio from the red man, while the treaties of Jay and Pinckney secured from the Spanish and British Natchez and Detroit. Loniaiana Purchase and Philippines. Tn 1803, under President Jefferson, the greatest single stride in expansion that we ever took was taken by the purchase of the Louisiana territory., This so-called Louisiana, which Included what are now the States of Arkansas, Missouri, Louisiana, lowa, Minnesota. Kansas, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, Idaho, Montana and a large part of Colorado and Utah, was acquired by treaty and purchase under President Jefferson exactly and precisely as the Philippines have been acquired by treaty and purchase under President McKinley. The doctrine of “the' consent of the governed,” the doctrine previously enunciated by Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence, was not held by him or by any other sane man to apply to the Indian tribes in the Louisiana territory which he thus acquired, and there was no vote taken even of the white inhabitants, not to speak of the negroes and Indians, as to whethei they were willing that their territory should be annexed. The great majority of the inhabitants, white and colored alike, were bitterly opposed to the transfer. Jefferson Forced Consent. An armed force of United States soldiers had to be hastily sent into the territory to prevent insurrection, President Jefferson sending these troops to Louisiana for exactly the same reasons add with exactly the same purpose that President McKinley has sent troops to the Philippines. Jefferson distinctly stated that the Louisianians were “not fit or ready for self-government.” and years elapsed before they were given self-government, Jefferson appointing the governor and other officials without any consultation with the inhabitants of the newly acquired territory. The doctrine that the “constitution follows the flag” was not then even considered either by Jefferson or by any other serious party leader, for it never entered their heads that a new territory should be governed other than in the way in which the territories of Ohio and Illinois had already been governed under Washington 'and the elder Adams: the theory known by this utterly false and misleading phrase was only struck out in political controversy at a

much later date Cor the sole purpose of justifying the extension of slavery into the territories. » Not Necessary. The parallel between what Jefferson did with Louisiana and what is now being done in the Philippines is exact. Jefferson, the author of the declaration of independence, and of the “consent of the governed” doctrine, saw no incongruity between this and the establishment of a government on common-sense grounds in the new territory; and he railed at the sticklers for an impossible application of his principle, saying in language which at the present day applies to the situation in the Philippines without the change of a word, “though it is acknowledged that our new fellow-citizens are as yet as incapable of self-government children, yet some cannot bring themselves to suspend its principles for a single moment." He intended that ultimately self-government should be introduced throughout the territory, but only as the different parts became fit for it and no sooner. This is just the policy that has been pursued. Filipinos on Baals of Indians. In no part of the Louisiana purchase was complete self-government introduced for a number of years; in one part of it, the Indian Territory, it has not yet been introduced, although nearly a century has elapsed. Over enormous tracts of it, including the various Indian reservations, with a territory in the aggregate' as large as that of the Philippines, the constitution has never yet “followed the flag;” the army officer and the civilian agent still exercise authority, without asking the “consent of the governed.” We must proceed in the Philippines with the same wise caution, taking each successive step as it becomes desirable, and accommodating the details of our policy to the peculiar needs of the situation. But as soon as the present revolt is put down and order established,. it will undoubtedly be possible to give to the islands a larger measure of self-govem-mnt than Jefferson originally gave Louisiana. Florida Got Like Philippine*. The next great step in expansion was the acquisition of Florida. This was partly acquired by conquest and partly by purchase, Andrew Jackson being the most prominent figure in the acquisition. It was taken under President Monroe, the aftertime President John Quincy Adams being active in securing the par-

chase. As in the case of the Philippines, Florida was acquired by purchase from Spain, had in Florida the Seminoles. who had not been consulted in the sale, rebailed and waged war exactly aS some of the Tagals have rebelled and waged war in the Philippines. The Seminole war lasted for many years, but Presidents Monroe, Adams and Jackson declined for a- moment to consider the question of abandoning Florida to the Seminoles, or to treat their non-consent to the government of the U n 't ed States as valid reason for turning over the territory to them. Texas and Alaska Were Accessions. Our next acquisition of territory was that of Texas, secured by treaty after it had been wrested from the Mexicans by the Texans themselves. Then came the acquisition of California. New Mexico, Arizona. Nevada and parts of Colorado and Utah as the result of the Mexican war, supplemented five years later by the Gadsden purchase. The next acquisition was that of Alaska, secured from Russia by treaty and purchase. Alaska was full of natives, some of them had advanced well beyond the stage of savagery and were Christians. They were not consulted about the purchase nor was their acquiescence required. The purchase was made by the men who had just put through a triumphant war to restore the union and free the slave; but none of them deemed it necessary to push the doctrine of the “consent of the governed” to a conclusion so fantastic as to necessitate the turning over of Alaska to its original owners, the Indian and the Aleut. For thirty years the United" States authorities. military and civil, exercised the supreme authority in a tract of land many times larger than the Philippines, in which it did not seem likely that there would ever be any considerable body of white inhabitants. Hawaii Disproves Danger Idea. Nearly thirty years passed before the next instance of expansion occurred, which was over the island of Hawaii. An effort was made at the end of President Harrison’s administration to secure the annexation of Hawaii. The effort was unsuccessful. In a debate in Congress on Feb. 2, 1894, one of the leaders in opposing the annexation of the islands stated: “These islands are more than 2.000 miles distant from our extreme western boundary. We have a serious race problem now in our country and I am not in favor of adding to our domestic fabric a mongrel population (of this character). Our constitution makes no provision for a colonial

establishment. Any territorial government we might establish would necessarily, because of the population, be an oligarchy, which would have to be supported by armed soldiers. Yet Hawaii has now been annexed and her delegates have sat in the national conventions of the two great parties. The fears then expressed in relation to an “oligarchy'” and “armed soldiers" are not now seriously entertained by any human being; yet they are precisely the objections urged against the acquisition of the Philippines at this very moment. Militarism Is Not Involved. We are making no new departure. We are not taking a single step which in any way affects our institutions or our traditional policies. From the beginning we have given widely varying degrees of self-government to the different territories, according to their needs. The simple truth is that there is nothing even remotely resembling "imperialism” or “militarism” involved in the present development of that poltcy of expansion which has been part of the history of America from the day when she became a nation. The words mean absolutely nothing as applied to our present policy in the Philippines; for this policy is only imperialistic in the sense that Jefferson’s policy in Louisiana was imperialistic; only military in the sense that Jackson's policy toward the Seminole* or Custer’s toward the Sioux embodied militarism; and there is no more danger of its producing evil results at home now than there was of its interfering with freedom under Jefferson or Jackson, or in the days of the Indian wars on the plains.' Our army is relatively not as large aa it was in the days of Wayne; we have not one regular for every 1,000 inhabtanta. There is no more danger of a draft than there is of the re-introduc-tion of slavery. Right to Suppress Rebels. When we expanded over New Mexico and California we secured free government to these territories and prevented their falling under the “militarism" of a dictatorship like that of Santa Ana, or the “imperialism” of a real empire In the daya of Bfaxitnilinn. We put a stop to imperialism in Mexico aa soon as the Civil War closed. We made a great anti-imperialistic stride when we drove the Spaniards from Porto Rico and the Philippines and thereby made ready the ground in theae islands for that gradnally increasing measure of self-govern-

meat for which their popqlatiMM are severally fitted. Caba-is being helped along the path to independence aa rapidi ly as her own citizens are content that she ahonld go. Of course the presence of troops in the Philippines during the Tagal insurrection has no more to do with militarism or imperialism than had thpir presence in the Dakotas, Minnesota and Wyoming duri ing the many years which elapsed before the final outbreaks of the Sioux were definitely put down. There is no more militarism or imperialism in garrisoning Luzon until order is restored than there was imperialism in sending soldiers to South ' Dakota in 1890, during the Ogallalla outI break. The reasoning which justifies our | having made war against Sitting Bull also justifies our having checked the outbreaks of Aguinaldo and his followers, directed, as they were, against Filipino and American alike. No Abandonment. The only certain way of rendering it necessary for our republic to enter on a career of “militarism” would be to abandon the Philippines to their own tribes, and at the same time either to guarantee a stable government among these tribes or to guarantee them against outside interference. A far larger army would be required to carry out any such policy than will be required to secure order under the American flag: while the presence of this flag on the islands is really the only possible security against outside aggression. The whole argument against President McKinley’s policy in the ’Philippines becomes absurd when it is conceded that we should, to quote the language of the Kansas City platform, “give tb the Philippines first a stable form of government.” If they are now entitled to independence,they are also entitled to decide for themselves whether their government shall be stable or unstable, civilized or savage, or whether they shall have any government at all; while it is, of coarse, equally evident that under such conditions we have no right whatever to guarantee them against outside interference any more than we have to make such a guaranty in the case, of the Boxers (who are merely the Chinese analogues of Aguinaldo’s followers). If we have a right to establish‘a stable government in the islands it necessarily follows that it is not only our right but our duty to support that government until the natives gradually grow fit to sustain it themselves. How else will it be stable? The minute we leave it, it ceases to be stable. Now a Question of Contraction. Properly speaking, the question is now not whether we shall expand—for we have already expanded—but whether we shall contract. The Philippines are now part of American territory. To surrender them would be to surrender American territory. They must, of course, be governed primarily in the interests of their own citizens. Our first care must be for the people of the islands which have come under our guardianship as a result of the most righteous foreign war that has been waged within the memory of the present generation. They must be administered in the interests of their inhabitants, and that necessarily means that any question of personal or partisan politics in their administration must be entirely eliminated. We must continue to put at the heads of affairs in the different islands such men as Gen. Wood. Gov. Allen and Judge Taft; and it is a most fortunate thing that we are able to illustrate what ought to be done in the way of sending officers thither by pointing out what actually has been done. The minor places in their administration, where it is impossible to fill them by natives, must be filled by the strictest application of the merit system. It is very important that in our own home administration the merely ministerial and administrative offices, where the duties are entirely non-political, shall be filled absolutely without reference to partisan affiliations: but this is many times more important in the newly acquired islands. The merit system is in its essence as democratic as our common school system, for it simply means equal chances and fair play for all. Parallel with Indian Government. It jnnts be remembered always that governing these islands in the interest of the inhabitants may not necessarily be to govern them as the inhabitants at the moment prefer, to grant self-government to Luzon under Aguinaldo would be like granting self-government to an Apache reservation under some local chief; and this is no more altered by the fact that the Filipinos fought the Spaniards than it would be by the fact that Apaches have long been trained and employed in the United States army and have rendered signal service therein; just as the Pawnees did under the administration of President Grant; just as the Stockbridge Indians did in the days of Gen. Washington, and the friendly tribes of the six nations in the days of President Madison. There are now in the United States communities of Indians which have advanced so far that it has been possible to embody them as a whole in our political system. all the members of the tribe becoming United States citizens. There are other communities where the bulk of the tribe are still too wild for it to be possible to take such a step. There are individuals among the Apaches, Pawnees. Iroquois. Sioux and other tribes who are now United States citizens and who are entitled to stand, and do stand, on an absolute equality with all our citizens of pure white blood. Men of Indian blood are now serving in the army and navy and in Congress and occupy high position both in the business and the political world.

Filipinos’ Hope of Liberty. There is every reason why as rapidly as an Indian, or any body of Indians, becomes fit for self-government, he or it should be granted the fullest equality with the whites: but there would be no justification whatever in treating this fact as a reason for abandoning the wild tribes to work out their own destruction. Exactly the same reasoning applies in the case of the Philippines. To turn oxer the islands to Aguinaldo and his followers would not be to give self-government to the islanders! under no circumstances would the majority thus gain self-gov-ernment. They would simply be put at the mercy of a syndicate of Chinese halfbreeds, under whom corruption would flourish far more freely than ever it flourished under Tweed, while tyrannical oppreasiou would obtaiu to a degree only possible under such an oligarchy. Yours truly, > THEODORE ROOSEVELT.