“There must be no scuttle policy. We will fulfil in the Philippines the obligations imposed by the triumph of our arms, by the treaty of peace, and by international law, by the nation’s sense of honor, and, more than all, by the rights, interests, and conditions of the Filipinos themselves.... The Philippines are ours, and American authority must be supreme throughout the archipelago.” Those who find this declaration vague and unsatisfactory may well turn to Mr. Bryan’s great speech of acceptance delivered at Indianapolis on August 8, in which he makes this distinct pledge: “If elected, I shall convene Congress in extraordinary session as soon as I am inaugurated and recommend an immediate declaration of the nation’s purpose, first, to establish a stable form of government in the Philippine Islands, just as we are now establishing a stable form of government in Cuba; second, to give independence to the Filipinos, just as we have promised to give independence to the Cubans; third, to protect the Filipinos from outside interference while they work out their destiny, just as we have protected the republics of Central and South America and are, by the Monroe Doctrine, pledged to protect Cuba. A European protectorate often results in the exploitation of the ward by the guardian. An American protectorate gives to the nation protected the advantage of our strength without making it the victim of our greed. For three-quarters of a century the Monroe Doctrine has been a shield to neighboring republics, and yet it has imposed no pecuniary burden upon us.” So is the issue drawn in the important campaign in which, for a second time, William J. Bryan and William McKinley are the opposing candidates for the highest elective office in the world. For weal or for woe, who can doubt that the outcome will be of serious and far-reaching import to the people of the United States and to their children and children’s children who shall live after them? THE INDIANAPOLIS SPEECH Mr. Bryan was notified of his second nomination for the Presidency by the Democratic party at Indianapolis, Ind., on August 8, 1900. The ceremonies took place in the presence of an immense multitude of people, the number being conservatively estimated at fifty thousand, among whom were included many of the most distinguished members of the party. In formally accepting the nomination Mr. Bryan delivered a speech which will not only rank as incomparably the best of his numerous public utterances, but which is destined to immortality in the brief list of the world’s great orations.