This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1913 edition. Excerpt: ... THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY AND PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENCE. What will the Democratic Party do for the Philippine Islands? This is one of the questions which presses for immediate consideration, and which should be dealt with now while the party is in power and before new issues arise to divert public attention and divide its councils. THE PARTY'S PROMISES. The promises of the party have been clear and explicit. When the treaty with Spain was ratified by which the United States acquired the islands, the votes of the Democratic Senators, without which the treaty would have been rejected, were given upon the theory that the treaty would end the rights of Spain in the islands, and that we should give them their independence. The first Democratic national convention after the treaty met on July 4, 1900, and its declarations were positive. These were its words: We declare again that all governments instituted among men derive their just powers from the consent of the governed; that any government not based upon the consent of the governed is a tyranny, and that to impose upon any people a government of force is to substitute the methods of imperialism for those of a republic. We assert that no nation can long endure half republic and half empire, and we warn the American people that imperialism abroad will lead quicky and inevitably to despotism at home. We condemn and denounce the Philippine policy of the present administration. The Filipinos can not be citizens without endangc-ing our civilization; they can not be subjects without imperiling our form of government; and as we are not wiUlng to surrender our civilization nor to convert the Republic into an empire we favor an immediate declaration of the Nation's purpose to give the Filipinos, first, a...