President McKinley made his famous Western journey. He was
greeted by enthusiastic throngs. The feeling in that part
of the country in favor of a permanent dominion over the Philippine
Islands was uttered by excited crowds, whom he addressed from
the platform and the railroad cars as he passed thorough the
country. But the sober, conservative feeling, which seldom
finds utterance in such assemblies, did not make itself heard.
The President returned to Washington, undoubtedly in the honest
belief that the country demanded that he acquire the Philippine
Islands, and that Congress should govern them.
I have never attributed publicly, or in my own heart, to
President McKinley any but the most conscientious desire
to do his duty in what, as the case seems to me, was an entire
change of purpose. Many military and naval officers, from
whose reports he had to get his facts almost wholly, insisted
that the Philippine people were unfit for self-government.
After the unhappy conflict of arms the solution of the problem
seemed to be to compel the Philippine people to unconditional
submission.
Pages:
1265
1266
1267
1268
1269
1270
1271
1272
1273
1274
1275
1276
1277
1278
1279
1280
1281
1282
1283
1284
1285
1286
1287
1288
1289