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 pre-
sented the pecuniary argument in all its baldness when he said: o
“We make no hypocritical pretense of being interested in the Philip-
pines solely on account of others. While we regard the welfare of those peo-
ple as a sacred trust, we regard the welfare of American people first. We
see our duty to ourselves as well as to others. We believe in trade expansion.
Bv every legitimate means within the province of government and Constitu-
tion 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 pur-
chase 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 for-
eign channels, Franklin replied:
"I'o0 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 DOC-
TRINE OF THOSE WHO WOULD PUT A PRICE UPON THE HEAD OF AN AMERI-
CAN 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 HU
MAN ELOOD,
3ut a war of conquest is as unwise as it 1s unrighteous. A harbor and
coaling station in the Philippines would answer every trade and military neces-
sity, and such a concession could have been secured at any time without diffi-
culty.
It 1s not necessary to own people in order to trade with them. We car-
ry on trade today 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 anv political connection with Canada
or the nations of Europe in order to trade with them. Trade cannot be per-
manently 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.
BURDEN UPON THE MASSES.
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 FRAN-
CHISES, AND IT WOULD BE PROFITABLE TO THE OFFICIAL WHOSE SALAR-
JES 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
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