In the Senate, Albert Beveridge spoke, January 9, 1900, for the dominant economic and political interests of the country:
Mr. President, the times call for candor. The Philippines are ours forever. … And just beyond the Philippines are China’s illimitable markets. We will not retreat from either. … We will not renounce our part in the mission of our race, trustee, under God, of the civilization of the world. …
The Pacific is our ocean. … Where shall we turn for consumers of our surplus? Geography answers the question. China is our natural customer. … The Philippines give us a base at the door of all the East. …
My own belief is that there are not 100 men among them who comprehend what Anglo-Saxon self-government even means, and there are over 5,000,000 people to be governed.
It has been charged that our conduct of the war has been cruel. Senators, it has been the reverse. … Senators must remember that we are not dealing with Americans or Europeans. We are dealing with Orientals.
1900. From Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States