himself. Their partisans assert his incapacity in reference to all
nations; if they can not command universal assent to the proposition, it
is then demanded to particular nations; and our pride and our
presumption too often make converts of us. I contend that it is to
arraign the disposition of Providence Himself to suppose that He has
created beings incapable of governing themselves, and to be trampled on
by kings. Self-government is the natural government of man.”
Clay was right. There are degrees of proficiency in the art of
self-government, but it is a reflection upon the Creator to say that He
denied to any people the capacity for self-government. Once admit that
some people are capable of self-government and that others are not and
that the capable people have a right to seize upon and govern the
incapable, and you make force—brute force—the only foundation of
government and invite the reign of a despot. I am not willing to believe
that an all-wise and an all-loving God created the Filipinos and then
left them thousands of years helpless until the islands attracted the
attention of European nations.
Republicans ask, “Shall we haul down the flag that floats over our dead
in the Philippines?” The same question might have been asked when the
American flag floated over Chapultepec and waved over the dead who fell
there; but the tourist who visits the City of Mexico finds there a
national cemetery owned by the United States and cared for by an
American citizen. Our flag still floats over our dead, but when the
treaty with Mexico was signed, American authority withdrew to the Rio
Grande, and I venture the opinion that during the last fifty years the
people of Mexico have made more progress under the stimulus of
independence and self-government than they would have made under a
carpet bag government held in place by bayonets. The United States and
Mexico, friendly republics, are each stronger and happier than they
would have been had the former been cursed and the latter crushed by an
imperialistic policy, disguised as “benevolent assimilation.”
“Can we not govern colonies?” we are asked. The question is not what we
can do, but what we ought to do. This nation can do whatever it desires
to do, but it must accept responsibility for what it does. If the
Constitution stands in the way, the people can amend the Constitution. I
repeat, the nation can do whatever it desires to do, but it can not
avoid the natural and legitimate results of its own conduct. The young
man upon reaching his majority can do what he pleases. He can disregard
the teachings of his parents; he can trample upon all that he has been
taught to consider sacred; he can disobey the laws of the state, the
laws of society, and the laws of God. He can stamp failure upon his life
and make his very existence a curse to his fellow men, and he can bring
his father and mother in sorrow to the grave; but he can not annul the
sentence, “The wages of sin is death.” And so with the nation. It is of
age, and it can do what it pleases; it can spurn the traditions of the
past; it can repudiate the principles upon which the nation rests; it
can employ force instead of reason; it can substitute might for right;
it can conquer weaker people; it can exploit their lands, appropriate
their property, and kill their people; but it can not repeal the moral
law or escape the punishment decreed for the violation of human rights.
“Would we tread in the paths of tyranny,
Nor reckon the tyrant’s cost?
Who taketh another’s liberty
His freedom is also lost.
Would we win as the strong have ever won,
Make ready to pay the debt,
For the God who reigned over Babylon
Is the God who is reigning yet.”
Some argue that American rule in the Philippine Islands will result in
the better education of the Filipinos. Be not deceived. If we expect to
maintain a colonial policy, we shall not find it to our advantage to
educate the people. The educated Filipinos are now in revolt against us,
and the most ignorant ones have made the least resistance to our
domination. If we are to govern them without their consent and give them
no voice in determining the taxes which they must pay, we dare not
educate them, lest they learn to read the Declaration of Independence
and the Constitution of the United States and mock us for our
inconsistency.
The principal arguments, however, advanced by those who enter upon a
defense of imperialism, are:
First—That we must improve the present opportunity to become a world
power and enter into international politics.
Second—That our commercial interests in the Philippine Islands and in
the orient make it necessary for us to hold the islands permanently.
Third—That the spread of the Christian religion will be facilitated by a
colonial policy.
Fourth—That there is no honorable retreat from the position which the
nation has taken.
The first argument is addressed to the nation’s pride and the second to
the nation’s pocket-book. The third is intended for the church member
and the fourth for the partisan.
It is a sufficient answer to the first argument to say that for more
than a century this nation has been a world power. For ten decades it
has been the most potent influence in the world. Not only has it been a
world power, but it has done more to affect the politics of the human
race than all the other nations of the world combined. Because our
Declaration of Independence was promulgated, others have been
promulgated. Because the patriots of 1776 fought for liberty, others
have fought for it; because our constitution was adopted, other
constitutions have been adopted. The growth of the principle of self
government, planted on American soil, has been the overshadowing
political fact of the nineteenth century. It has made this nation
conspicuous among the nations and given it a place in history such as no
other nation has ever enjoyed. Nothing has been able to check the onward
march of this idea. I am not willing that this nation shall cast aside
the omnipotent weapon of truth to seize again the weapons of physical
warfare. I would not exchange the glory of this republic for the glory
of all the empires that have risen and fallen since time began.
The permanent chairman of the last Republican National convention
presented the pecuniary argument in all its baldness, when he said:
“We make no hypocritical pretense of being interested in the Philippines
solely on account of others. While we regard the welfare of those people
as a sacred trust, we regard the welfare of the American people first.
We see our duty to ourselves as well as to others. We believe in trade
expansion. By every legitimate means within the province of government
and constitution, we mean to stimulate the expansion of our trade and
open new markets.”
This is the commercial argument. It is based upon the theory that war
can be rightly waged for pecuniary advantage, and that it is profitable
to purchase trade by force and violence. Franklin denied both of these
propositions. When Lord Howe asserted that the acts of parliament, which
brought on the Revolution, were necessary to prevent American trade from
passing into foreign channels, Franklin replied:
“To me it seems that neither the obtaining nor retaining of any trade,
how valuable soever, is an object for which men may justly spill each
other’s blood; that the true and sure means of extending and securing
commerce are the goodness and cheapness of commodities, and that the
profits of no trade can ever be equal to the expense of compelling it
and holding it by fleets and armies. I consider this war against us,
therefore, as both unjust and unwise.”
I place the philosophy of Franklin against the sordid doctrine of those
who would put a price upon the head of an American soldier and justify a
war of conquest upon the ground that it will pay. The Democratic party
is in favor of the expansion of trade. It would extend our trade by
every legitimate and peaceful means; but it is not willing to make
merchandise of human blood.
But a war of conquest is as unwise as it is unrighteous. A harbor and
coaling station in the Philippines would answer every trade and military
necessity, and such a concession could have been secured at any time
without difficulty.
It is not necessary to own people in order to trade with them. We carry
on trade to-day with every part of the world, and our commerce has
expanded more rapidly than the commerce of any European empire. We do
not own Japan or China, but we trade with their people. We have not
absorbed the republics of Central and South America, but we trade with
them. It has not been necessary to have any political connection with
Canada or the nations of Europe, in order to trade with them. Trade can
not be permanently profitable unless it is voluntary. When trade is
secured by force, the cost of securing it and retaining it must be taken
out of the profits, and the profits are never large enough to cover the
expense. Such a system would never be defended but for the fact that the
expense is borne by all the people, while the profits are enjoyed by a
few.
Imperialism would be profitable to the army contractors; it would be
profitable to the ship owners, who would carry live soldiers to the
Philippines and bring dead soldiers back; it-would be profitable to
those who would seize upon the franchises, and it would be profitable to
the officials whose salaries would be fixed here and paid over there;
but to the farmer, to the laboring man, and to the vast majority of
those engaged in other occupations, it would bring expenditure without
return and risk without reward.
Farmers and laboring men have, as a rule, small incomes, and, under
systems which place the tax upon consumption, pay more than their fair
share of the expenses of government. Thus the very people who receive
least benefit from imperialism will be injured most by the military
burdens which accompany it.
[Illustration: THE BRYAN FARM]
In addition to the evils which he and the farmer share in common, the
laboring man will be the first to suffer if oriental subjects seek work
in the United States; the first to suffer if American capital leaves our
shores to employ oriental labor in the Philippines to supply the trade
of China and Japan; the first to suffer from the violence which the
military spirit arouses, and the first to suffer when the methods of
imperialism are applied to our own government.
It is not strange, therefore, that the labor organizations have been
quick to note the approach of these dangers and prompt to protest
against both militarism and imperialism.
The pecuniary argument, though more effective with certain classes, is
not likely to be used so often or presented with so much emphasis as the
religious argument. If what has been termed the “gun-powder gospel” were
urged against the Filipinos only, it would be a sufficient answer to say
that a majority of the Filipinos are now members of one branch of the
Christian church; but the principle involved is one of much wider
application and challenges serious consideration.
The religious argument varies in positiveness from a passive belief that
Providence delivered the Filipinos into our hands for their good and our
glory, to the exultation of the minister who said that we ought to
“thrash the natives (Filipinos) until they understand who we are,” and
that “every bullet sent, every cannon shot, and every flag waved means
righteousness.”
We can not approve of this doctrine in one place unless we are willing
to apply it everywhere. If there is poison in the blood of the hand it
will ultimately reach the heart. It is equally true that forcible
Christianity, if planted under the American flag in the faraway orient,
will sooner or later be transplanted upon American soil. If true
Christianity consists in carrying out in our daily lives the teachings
of Christ, who will say that we are commanded to civilize with dynamite
and proselyte with the sword? He who would declare the divine will must
prove his authority either by Holy Writ or by evidence of a special
dispensation. Imperialism finds no warrant in the Bible. The command “go
ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” has no
gatling gun attachment. When Jesus visited a village of Samaria and the
people refused to receive Him, some of the disciples suggested that fire
should be called down from Heaven to avenge the insult, but the Master
rebuked them and said: “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of; for
the Son of Man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”
Suppose He had said: “We will thrash them until they understand who we
are,” how different would have been the history of Christianity!
Compare, if you will, the swaggering, bullying, brutal doctrine of
imperialism with the golden rule and the commandment “Thou shalt love
thy neighbor as thyself.”
Love, not force, was the weapon of the Nazarene; sacrifice for others,
not the exploitation of them, was His method of reaching the human
heart. A missionary recently told me that the stars and stripes once
saved his life because his assailant recognized our flag as a flag that
had no blood upon it. Let it be known that our missionaries are seeking
souls instead of sovereignty; let it be known that instead of being the
advance guard of conquering armies, they are going forth to help and to
uplift, having their loins girt about with truth and their feet shod
with the preparation of the gospel of peace, wearing the breastplate of
righteousness and carrying the sword of the spirit; let it be known that
they are citizens of a nation which respects the rights of the citizens
of other nations as carefully as it protects the rights of its own
citizens, and the welcome given to our missionaries will be more cordial
than the welcome extended to the missionaries of any other nation.
The argument made, by some, that it was unfortunate for the nation that
it had anything to do with the Philippine islands, but that the naval
victory at Manila made the permanent acquisition of those islands
necessary is also unsound. We won a naval victory at Santiago, but that
did not compel us to hold Cuba. The shedding of American blood in the
Philippine Islands does not make it imperative that we should retain
possession forever; American blood was shed at San Juan hill and El
Caney, and yet the President has promised the Cubans independence. The
fact that the American flag floats over Manila does not compel us to
exercise perpetual sovereignty over the islands; the American flag waves
over Havana to-day, but the President has promised to haul it down when
the flag of the Cuban republic is ready to rise in its place. Better a
thousand times that our flag in the orient give way to a flag
representing the idea of self government than that the flag of this
republic should become the flag of an empire.
There is an easy, honest, honorable solution of the Philippine question.
It is set forth in the Democratic platform and it is submitted with
confidence to the American people. This plan I unreservedly endorse. If
elected, I will convene Congress in extraordinary session as soon as
inaugurated and recommend an immediate declaration of the nation’s
purpose, first, to establish a stable form of government in the
Philippine Islands, just as we are now establishing a stable form of
government in Cuba; second, to give independence to the Filipinos just
as we have promised to give independence to the Cubans; third, to
protect the Filipinos from outside interference while they work out
their destiny, just as we have protected the republics of Central and
South America and are, by the Monroe Doctrine, pledged to protect Cuba.
A European protectorate often results in the plundering of the ward by
the guardian. An American protectorate gives to the nation protected the
advantage of our strength, without making it the victim of our greed.
For three-quarters of a century the Monroe Doctrine has been a shield to
neighboring republics, and yet it has imposed no pecuniary burden upon
us. After the Filipinos had aided us in the war against Spain, we could
not honorably turn them over to their former masters; we could not leave
them to be the victims of the ambitions designs of European nations, and
since we do not desire to make them a part of us or to hold them as
subjects, we propose the only alternative, namely, to give them
independence and guard them against molestation from without.
When our opponents are unable to defend their position by argument they
fall back upon the assertion that it is destiny, and insist that we must
submit to it, no matter how much it violates moral precepts and our
principles of government. This is a complacent philosophy. It
obliterates the distinction between right and wrong and makes
individuals and nations the helpless victims of circumstance.
Destiny is the subterfuge of the invertebrate, who, lacking the courage
to oppose error, seeks some plausible excuse for supporting it.
Washington said that the destiny of the Republican form of government
was deeply, if not finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the
American people. How different Washington’s definition of destiny from
the Republican definition! The Republicans say that this nation is in
the hands of destiny; Washington believed that not only the destiny of
our own nation but the destiny of the Republican form of government
throughout the world was entrusted to American hands. Immeasurable
responsibility! The destiny of this Republic is in the hands of its own
people, and upon the success of the experiment here rests the hope of
humanity. No exterior force can disturb this Republic, and no foreign
influence should be permitted to change its course. What the future has
in store for this nation no one has authority to declare, but each
individual has his own idea of the nation’s mission, and he owes it to
his country as well as to himself to contribute as best he may to the
fulfilment of that mission.
Mr. Chairman, and Gentlemen of the Committee: I can never fully
discharge the debt of gratitude which I owe to my countrymen for the
honors which they have so generously bestowed upon me; but, sirs,
whether it be my lot to occupy the high office for which the convention
has named me, or to spend the remainder of my days in private life, it
shall be my constant ambition and my controlling purpose to aid in
realizing the high ideals of those whose wisdom and courage and
sacrifices brought this Republic into existence.
I can conceive of a national destiny surpassing the glories of the
present and the past—a destiny which meets the responsibilities of
to-day and measures up to the possibilities of the future. Behold a
republic, resting securely upon the foundation stones quarried by
Revolutionary patriots from the mountain of eternal truth—a republic
applying in practice and proclaiming to the world the self-evident
proposition, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed with
inalienable rights; that governments are instituted among men to secure
these rights; and that governments derive their just powers from the
consent of the governed. Behold a republic in which civil and religious
liberty stimulate all to earnest endeavor, and in which the law
restrains every hand uplifted for a neighbor’s injury—a republic in
which every citizen is a sovereign but in which no one cares to wear a
crown. Behold a republic standing erect while empires all around are
bowed beneath the weight of their own armaments—a republic whose flag is
loved while other flags are only feared. Behold a republic increasing in
population, in wealth, in strength and in influence, solving the
problems of civilization and hastening the coming of an universal
brotherhood—a republic which shakes thrones and dissolves aristocracies
by its silent example and gives light and inspiration to those who sit
in darkness. Behold a republic gradually but surely becoming the supreme
moral factor in the world’s progress and the accepted arbiter of the
world’s disputes—a republic whose history, like the path of the just,
“is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect
day.”
BRYAN: THE MAN
The firm hold which Mr. Bryan has over the confidence, esteem, and love
of his followers was strikingly proven in the dark days that followed
November, 1896. It is certain that no other public man of his time could
have been the candidate of the Democratic party on the Chicago platform,
suffered that severe reversal, and yet retained, undisputed and
undisturbed, the acknowledged leadership of the party. Whoso learns why
it was that Mr. Bryan stood stronger in defeat then he was before has
found the key to the man’s greatness. Certainly it was not that he was a
great and eloquent orator. For the orator, while always assured a
hearing and a place under the lime-light, is still far from the actual
leadership of his party. It was not because of the views which he
entertained on public questions, for they were those of scores of other
well known and able men. It was not because of his honesty and sincerity
alone, any more than of his undoubted courage or his clean and upright
personality and blameless home life. These, while all real
qualifications, were not essentials. Each and all of them were marked
characteristics of other notable public men, although it is doubtful if
any possessed them all alike in the same degree as Bryan. But there were
other and rarer qualities, the most important, his cheerful and
contagious optimism and his intensity of character, which spoke in his
every act and utterance. His optimism is an unwavering faith in the ways
and ends of the Creator; a firm and abiding belief that “He doeth all
things well.” The verse from Ella Wheeler Wilcox with which Mr. Bryan
closes his “First Battle” well illustrates this phase of his character:
“Let those who have failed take courage;
Tho’ the enemy seems to have won,
Tho’ his ranks are strong, if he be in the wrong
The battle is not yet done;
For sure as the morning follows
The darkest hour of the night,
No question is ever settled
Until it is settled right.”
It is this inspiring belief, planted on a foundation so deep and so
secure that no storm can shake it, that leaves Mr. Bryan as hopeful,
confident, and serene in the darkest hour of defeat as his opponent can
possibly be with the paeans of victory ringing in his ears. It is a rare
trait, this superb optimism. It wins, instinctively, the hearts and
affections of men, only to inspire them to heroic effort under the most
adverse surroundings. But its strongest feature is its effect on the
possessor. For when that discouragement which comes from failure, and
the inertia which discouragement brings in its train, is eliminated from
a strong man’s composition he becomes a god, with the power and
greatness of the immortals. The scope of his vision is broadened, his
mental horizon enlarges, fear and weakness are banished from his heart,
and his might becomes irresistible as he battles for the right as he
sees the right. So Mr. Bryan’s optimism has made him a strong,
self-poised, cheerful, happy man, whose confidence and good spirits are
contagious and whose following increases as his reverses multiply.
His second marked characteristic, his intensity, is one even rarer than
the first. The extent to which it is his it is most difficult to make
clear. It may, perhaps, be best done by illustration drawn from the
writer’s personal experience.