Possibly the limit is nearly reached for the exnloitation of franchises in this country. but when vast tracts of land shall have been reclaimed. when the wooden stage of development shall have given place to stone and iron habitations built for 300.000.000 instead of 70.000.000 people. it will be time enough then to consider the exhaustion of our home field for investment. The barest survey of the question convinces me that the cost to this nation in money of Philippine colonies will be greater than any pecuniary benefits it will receive. that while a few fortunes may be made by exploitation. a vastly greater burden will be imposed upon the nation as a whole than the benefits which any individuals may secure. that the islands are not likely ever to become a corporate part of this country. that they are not fitted to be the home of Americans. that they will greatly weaken the country in time of war and expose it to liability to war: that. worst of all. their retention will involve the destruction of lens of thousands of American lives. and that it will involve the departure from the traditional policy which has made this nation great. The assertion of a policy of Asiatic domination will bring the Monroe doctrine tumbling about our ears. for we shall make ourselves the laughingstock of mankind if we say to the overcrowded nations of the other hemisphere. Keep your hands off the empty and unoccupied portions of this continent." and then at the same time. having a sparse population. embrace a thousand islands in the other hemisphere. Such a course would deprive the Monroe doctrine of the last appearance of justice. and thenceforward it would have to stand upon force alone.