Part 7

It may well be that our opponents have no real intention of putting their promise into effect. If this is the case, if, in other words, they are insincere in the promise they make, it is only necessary to say again that it is unwise to trust men who are false in one thing to deal with anything. The mere consciousness of broken faith would hamper them in continuing our policy in the islands; and only by continuing unchanged this policy can the honor of the country be maintained, or the interests of the islands subserved. If, on the other hand, our opponents came into power and attempted to carry out their promises to the Filipinos by giving them independence, and withdrawing American control from the islands, the result would be a frightful calamity to the Filipinos themselves, and in its larger aspect would amount to an international crime. Anarchy would follow; and the most violent anarchic forces would be directed partly against the civil government, partly against all forms of religious and educational civilization. Bloody conflicts would inevitably ensue in the archipelago, and just as inevitably the islands would become the prey of the first Power which in its own selfish interest took up the task we had cravenly abandoned. Of course, the practical difficulty in adopting any such course of action—such a “policy of scuttle,” as President McKinley called it—would be found wellnigh insuperable. If it is morally indefensible to hold the archipelago as a whole under our tutelage in the interest of its own people, then it is morally indefensible to hold any part of it. In such case, what right have we to keep a coaling station? What right to keep control over the Moro peoples? What right to protect the Igorrotes from their oppressors? What right to protect the law-abiding friends of America in the islands from treachery, robbery, and murder? Yet, to abandon the islands completely, without even retaining a coaling station, would mean to abandon the position in the competition for the trade of the Orient which we have acquired during the last six years; and what is far more important, it would mean irreparable damage to those who have become the wards of the Nation. To abandon all control over the Moros would amount to releasing these Moros to prey upon the Christian Filipinos, civilized or semi-civilized, as well as upon the commerce of other peoples. The Moros are in large part still in the stage of culture where the occupations of the bandit and the pirate are those most highly regarded; and it has not been found practical to give them self-government in the sense that we have been giving it to the Christian inhabitants. To abandon the Moro country as our opponents propose in their platform, would be precisely as if twenty-five years ago we had withdrawn the Army and the civil agents from within and around the Indian reservations in the West, at a time when the Sioux and the Apache were still the terror of our settlers. It would be a criminal absurdity; and yet our opponents have pledged themselves thereto. If successful in the coming election they would either have to break faith, or else to do an act which would leave an indelible stain upon our national reputation for courage, and for good sense. During the last five years more has been done for the material and moral well-being of the Filipinos than ever before since the islands first came within the ken of civilized man. We have opened before them a vista of orderly development in their own interest, and not a policy of exploitation. Every effort is being made to fit the islanders for self-government, and they have already in large measure received it, while for the first time in their history their personal rights and civil liberties have been guaranteed. They are being educated; they have been given schools; they have been given libraries; roads are being built for their use; their health is being cared for; they have been given courts in which they receive justice as absolute as it is in our power to guarantee. Their individual rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are now by act of Congress jealously safeguarded under the American flag; and if the protection of the flag were withdrawn their rights would be lost, and the islands would be plunged back under some form of vicious tyranny. We have given them more self-government than they have ever before had; we are taking steps to increase it still further by providing them with an elected legislative assembly; and surely we had better await the results of this experiment—for it is a wholly new experiment in Asia—before we make promises which as a Nation we might be forced to break, or which they might interpret one way and we another. It may be asserted without fear of successful contradiction that nowhere else in recent years has there been as fine an example of constructive statesmanship and wise and upright Administration as has been given by the civil authorities, aided by the Army, in the Philippine Islands. We have administered them in the interest of their own people; and the Filipinos themselves have profited most by our presence in the islands; but they have also been of very great advantage to us as a nation.

So far from having “sapped the foundations” of free popular government at home by the course taken in the Philippines, we have been spreading its knowledge, and teaching its practice, among peoples to whom it had never before been more than an empty name. Our action represents a great stride forward in spreading the principles of orderly liberty throughout the world. “Our flag has not lost its gift of benediction in its world-wide journey to their shores.” We have treated the power we have gained as a solemn obligation, and have used it in the interest of mankind; and the peoples of the world, and especially the weaker peoples of the world, are better off because of the position we have assumed. To retrace our steps would be to give proof of an infirm and unstable national purpose.

Four years ago, in his speech of acceptance, President McKinley said:

“We have been moving in untried paths, but our steps have been guided by honor and duty. There will be no turning aside, no wavering, no retreat. No blow has been struck except for liberty and humanity, and none will be. We will perform without fear every national and international obligation. The Republican party was dedicated to freedom forty-four years ago. It has been the party of liberty and emancipation from that hour; not of profession, but of performance. It broke the shackles of four million slaves, and made them free, and to the party of Lincoln has come another supreme opportunity which it has bravely met in the liberation of ten millions of the human family from the yoke of imperialism. In its solution of great problems, in its performance of high duties, it has had the support of members of all parties in the past, and it confidently invokes their co-operation in the future.”

This is as true now as four years ago. We did not take the Philippines at will, and we can not put them aside at will. Any abandonment of the policy which we have steadily pursued in the islands would be fraught with dishonor and disaster; and to such dishonor and disaster I do not believe that the American people will consent.

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Alarm has been professed lest the Filipinos should not receive all the benefits guaranteed to our people at home by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. As a matter of fact, the Filipinos have already secured the substance of these benefits. This Government has been true to the spirit of the Fourteenth Amendment in the Philippines. Can our opponents deny that here at home the principles of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments have been in effect nullified? In this, as in many other matters, we at home can well profit by the example of those responsible for the actual management of affairs in the Philippines. In our several commonwealths here in the United States we, as a people, now face the complex problem of securing fair treatment to each man regardless of his race or color. We can do so only if we approach the problem in the spirit of courage, common-sense, and high-minded devotion to the right, which has enabled Governor Taft, Governor Wright, and their associates, to do so noble a work in giving to the Philippine people the benefit of the true principles of American liberty.

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Our appeal is made to all good citizens who hold the honor and the interest of the Nation close to their hearts. The great issues which are at stake, and upon which I have touched, are more than mere partisan issues, for they involve much that comes home to the individual pride and individual well-being of our people. Under conditions as they actually are, good Americans should refuse, for the sake of the welfare of the Nation, to change the national policy. We, who are responsible for the administration and legislation under which this country, during the last seven years, has grown so greatly in well-being at home and in honorable repute among the nations of the earth abroad, do not stand inertly upon this record, do not use this record as an excuse for failure of effort to meet new conditions. On the contrary, we treat the record of what we have done in the past as incitement to do even better in the future. We believe that the progress that we have made may be taken as a measure of the progress we shall continue to make if the people again intrust the Government of the Nation to our hands. We do not stand still. We press steadily forward toward the goal of moral and material well-being for our own people, of just and fearless dealing toward all other peoples, in the interest not merely of this country, but of mankind. There is not a policy, foreign or domestic, which we are now carrying out, which it would not be disastrous to reverse or abandon. If our opponents should come in and should not reverse our policies, then they would be branded with the brand of broken faith, of false promise, of insincerity in word and deed; and no man can work to the advantage of the Nation with such a brand clinging to him. If, on the other hand, they should come in and reverse any or all of our policies, by just so much would the Nation as a whole be damaged. Alike as lawmakers and as administrators of the law we have endeavored to do our duty in the interest of the people as a whole. We make our appeal to no class and to no section, but to all good citizens, in whatever part of the land they dwell, and whatever may be their occupation or worldly condition. We have striven both for civic righteousness and for national greatness; and we have faith to believe that our hands will be upheld by all who feel love of country and trust in the uplifting of mankind. We stand for enforcement of the law and for obedience to the law; our Government is a government of orderly liberty equally alien to tyranny and to anarchy; and its foundation-stone is the observance of the law, alike by the people and by the public servants. We hold ever before us as the all-important end of policy and administration the reign of peace at home and throughout the world; of peace, which comes only by doing justice.

Faithfully yours,

THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

REMARKS AT THE WHITE HOUSE, SEPT. 24, 1904, ON THE OCCASION OF THE RECEPTION OF THE INTERPARLIAMENTARY UNION

_Gentlemen of the Interparliamentary Union_:

I greet you with profound pleasure as representatives in a special sense of the great international movement for peace and goodwill among the nations of the earth. It is a matter of gratification to all Americans that we have had the honor of receiving you here as the Nation’s guests. You are men skilled in the practical work of government in your several countries; and this fact adds weight to your championship of the cause of international justice. I thank you for your kind allusions to what the Government of the United States has accomplished for the policies you have at heart, and I assure you that this Government’s attitude will continue unchanged in reference thereto. We are even now taking steps to secure arbitration treaties with all other Governments which are willing to enter into them with us.

In response to your resolutions I shall at an early date ask the other nations to join in a second Congress at The Hague. I feel, as I am sure you do, that our efforts should take the shape of pushing forward toward completion the work already begun at The Hague, and that whatever is now done should appear not as something divergent therefrom, but as a continuance thereof. At the first conference at The Hague several questions were left unsettled, and it was expressly provided that there should be a second conference. A reasonable time has elapsed, and I feel that your body has shown sound judgment in concluding that a second conference should now be called to carry some steps further toward completion the work of the first. It would be visionary to expect too immediate success for the great cause you are championing; but very substantial progress can be made if we strive with resolution and good sense toward the goal of securing among the nations of the earth, as among the individuals of each nation, a just sense of responsibility in each toward others, and a just recognition in each of the rights of others. The right and the responsibility must go hand in hand. Our effort must be unceasing both to secure in each nation full acknowledgment of the rights of others, and to bring about in each nation an ever growing sense of its own responsibilities.

At an early date I shall issue the call for the conference you request.

I again greet you and bid you welcome in the name of the American people, and wish you Godspeed in your efforts for the common good of mankind.

WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON

_November 4, 1904_

Certain slanderous accusations as to Mr. Cortelyou and myself have been repeated time and again by Judge Parker, the candidate of his party for the office of President. He neither has produced nor can produce any proof of their truth; yet he has not withdrawn them; and as his position gives them wide currency, I speak now lest the silence of self-respect be misunderstood. Mr. Parker’s charges are in effect that the President of the United States and Mr. Cortelyou, formerly Mr. Cleveland’s executive clerk, then Mr. McKinley’s and my secretary, then Secretary of Commerce and Labor, and now Chairman of the Republican National Committee, have been in a conspiracy to blackmail corporations, Mr. Cortelyou using his knowledge gained while he was Secretary of the Department of Commerce and Labor to extort money from the corporations, and I, the President, having appointed him for this especial purpose. The gravamen of these charges lies in the assertion that the corporations have been blackmailed into contributing, and in the implication, which in one or two of Mr. Parker’s speeches has taken the form practically of an assertion, that they have been promised certain immunities or favors, or have been assured that they would receive some kind of improper consideration in view of their contributions. That contributions have been made to the Republican Committee, as contributions have been made to the Democratic Committee, is not the question at issue. Mr. Parker’s assertion is in effect that such contributions have been made for improper motives, either in consequence of threats or in consequence of improper promises, direct or indirect, on the part of the recipients. Mr. Parker knows best whether this is true of the contributions to his campaign fund which have come through his trusted friends and advisers who represent the great corporate interests that stand behind him. But there is not one particle of truth in the statement as regards anything that has gone on in the management of the Republican campaign. Mr. Parker’s accusations against Mr. Cortelyou and me are monstrous. If true they would brand both of us forever with infamy; and inasmuch as they are false, heavy must be the condemnation of the man making them. I chose Mr. Cortelyou as Chairman of the National Committee after having failed successively to persuade Mr. Elihu Root, Mr. W. Murray Crane, and Mr. Cornelius N. Bliss to accept the position. I chose him with extreme reluctance, because I could ill spare him from the Cabinet. But I felt that he possessed the high integrity which I demanded in the man who was to manage my campaign. I am content that Mr. Parker and I should be judged by the public on the characters of the two men whom we chose to manage our campaigns; he by the character of his nominee, Mr. Thomas Taggart, and I by the character of Mr. Cortelyou. The assertion that Mr. Cortelyou had any knowledge, gained while in an official position, whereby he was enabled to secure and did secure any contributions from any corporation is a falsehood. The assertion that there has been any blackmail, direct or indirect, by Mr. Cortelyou or by me is a falsehood. The assertion that there has been made in my behalf and by my authority, by Mr. Cortelyou or by any one else, any pledge or promise, or that there has been any understanding as to future immunities or benefits, in recognition of any contributions from any source, is a wicked falsehood.

That Mr. Parker should desire to avoid the discussion of principles I can well understand; for it is but the bare truth to say that he has not attacked us on any matter of principle or upon any action of the Government save after first misstating that principle or that action. But I can not understand how any honorable man, a candidate for the highest office in the gift of the people, can take refuge not merely in personalities, but in such base and unworthy personalities. If I deemed it necessary to support my flat denial by any evidence, I would ask all men of common-sense to ponder well what has been done in this campaign by Mr. Cortelyou, and to compare it with what Mr. Parker himself did when he was managing Mr. Hill’s campaign for Governor; and to compare what has been done as regards the great corporations and moneyed interests under this Administration with what was done under the last Democratic Administration while Mr. Olney was Attorney-General; I would ask all honest men whether they seriously deem it possible that the course this Administration has taken in every matter, from the Northern Securities suit to the settlement of the anthracite coal strike, is compatible with any theory of public behavior save the theory of doing exact justice to all men without fear and without favoritism; I would ask all honest and fair-minded men to remember that the agents through whom I have worked are Mr. Knox and Mr. Moody in the Department of Justice, Mr. Cortelyou in the Department of Commerce and Labor, and Mr. Garfield in the Bureau of Corporations, and that no such act of infamy as Mr. Parker charges could have been done without all these men being parties to it.

The statements made by Mr. Parker are unqualifiedly and atrociously false. As Mr. Cortelyou has said to me more than once during the campaign, if elected I shall go into the Presidency unhampered by any pledge, promise, or understanding of any kind, sort or description, save my promise, made openly to the American people, that so far as in my power lies I shall see to it that every man has a square deal, no less and no more.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

ADDRESS AT THE UNVEILING OF THE STATUE OF FREDERICK THE GREAT, AT WASHINGTON, NOV. 19, 1904

_Mr. Ambassador_:

Through you I wish on behalf of the people of the United States to thank his Majesty, the German Emperor, and the people of Germany for the gift to the Nation which you have just formally delivered to me. I accept it with deep appreciation of the friendly regard which it typifies for the people of this Republic both on the part of the Emperor and on the part of the German people. I accept it not merely as the statue of one of the half-dozen greatest soldiers of all time, and therefore peculiarly appropriate for placing in this War College, but I accept it as the statue of a great man, whose life was devoted to the service of a great people, and whose deeds hastened the approach of the day when a united Germany should spring into being.

As a soldier Frederick the Great ranks in that very, very small group which includes Alexander, Cæsar, and Hannibal in antiquity, and Napoleon, and possibly Gustavus Adolphus, in modern times. He belonged to the ancient and illustrious house of Hohenzollern, which, after playing a strong and virile part in the Middle Ages, and after producing some men, like the great Elector, who were among the most famous princes of their time, founded the royal house of Prussia two centuries ago, and at last in our own day established the mighty German Empire as among the foremost of world powers. We receive this gift now at the hands of the present Emperor, himself a man who has markedly added to the lustre of his great house and his great nation, a man who has devoted his life to the welfare of his people, and who, while keeping ever ready to defend the rights of that people, has also made it evident in emphatic fashion that he and they desire peace and friendship with the other nations of the earth.