Shall the avoidance of the Amendment in States of this Union be tendered as a reason for a denial of equality and the right of self-government in the Philippine Islands? If the negroes in America are entitled to freedom from a state of subserviency, are not the colored races in the Philippines entitled to freedom, and that whether they are under the Constitution or beyond its jurisdiction?
You are called to a choice between the doctrines of Nathan Dane and Abraham Lincoln on one side and the doctrines and policy of President McKinley and his supporters on the other side. The point I make is this: The three propositions cannot stand together. Dane and Lincoln are in harmony. They guaranteed equality and self-government to all. President McKinley and his supporters demand subserviency of all who are not within the lines of the American seas.
They assert supreme authority over their fellow-men for an indefinite period of time, and they promise therewith good government. Here are the assertion of power and the promise of goodness that have attended the origin and movement of every despotism that has risen to curse mankind.
That you may see, as in one view, the doctrines of Dane, Lincoln and
McKinley, I read again the records that they have made.
"There shall be neither slavery "The Philippines are ours and nor involuntary servitude in the American authority must be su- said territory otherwise than in the preme throughout the Archipelago. punishment of crimes whereof the There will be amnesty, broad and party shall have been duly liberal, but no abatement of our convicted."—NATHAN DANE. rights, no abandonment of our duty. There must be no scuttle "Neither slavery nor involuntary policy."—WILLIAM McKINLEY. servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall "The flag of the Republic now have been duly convicted, shall floats over these islands as an exist within the United States, or emblem of rightful sovereignty. any place subject to their Will the Republic stay and jurisdiction."—ABRAHAM LINCOLN. dispense to their inhabitants the blessings of liberty, education and free institutions, or steal away leaving them to anarchy or imperialism?"—WILLIAM McKINLEY.
"Any slave in the Archipelago of Jolo shall have the right to pur- chase freedom by paying to the master the usual market price.— Article 10, of the McKinley treaty with the Sultan of the Sulu Isles.
I leave three questions with you.
Is a vote for President McKinley and his policy in the Philippine
Islands a vote in harmony with the teachings and examples of Nathan
Dane and Abraham Lincoln?
Is the policy of President McKinley consistent with the history of the county of Essex?
Shall your representative stand for Nathan Dane and Abraham Lincoln and Freedom, or for William McKinley and Despotism?