Omaha daily bee., 1895-10-27

What q Corsintcnt Application of Its
.f Frinciptc Leads To.
st. Louis Republic

ST. LOUIS Rcpubuc
II is en- interesting fact, ard not less sig
| nlfcant than interesting, that as far as the
character OF tho membership OF the A. T. A.
society is revealed In occasional publications
OF the proceedings Of the order, or in what
purport to be rosters Of the membership In
any given locality, continental European
names figure largely If they do not actually
predominate. 1t Is an undoubted fact that
large percentage Of the membership Of the
order Is made up Of first or second gener-
alton Americans descended from European
stock found nowhere In the British Isles
This fact In no way diminlshes the political
Importance OF the order. II is purely Amer
ican in It's political sense, while its member
ship Includes American citizens clothed with
the political power which such citizenship
confers. The fact however, presents a study
more psychological or chronological than po-
lltical in character. That fact Is seen In the
disproportlon in the statistics of membership
indicated by the undue preponderance Of
continental names. According to the relative
strength of the elements in the population
of this country, English and Scotch names
should largely outnumber all others. We ex-
cude the Irish from consideration, for the
obvious reason that their position Of defense
against the spirit and demand Of the A. +. A.
society would make such consideration i'm
proper. Drawing the lines In this way, we
find that while on the score of population
and on lines of pure Americanism the Brit
lsh stock should outnumber all others as ten
to one, it does not, in fact, represent more
than half the total membership.
There IS but one way to account for this
striking and important fact. The gonius of
the English race, and Of the Scotch as
closely related race in history and politics. is
that of opposition to taxation without repre-
sentaton. More battles have been fought
north of the English channel and west of the
90 Ea. 4.
ciple of human liberty than anywhere else
in the world. The forefathers of the present
generation Of Americans came to this coun-
try filled with the spirit of resistance to un-
just impositions of public burdens. That
spirit was famed into a raging flame by the
attempts of the English government to force
such degrading condition upon them. 1t
has survived in their descendants, who have
II as part of their heredity. and it has
grown in strength with each addition OF the
British stock which immigration has brought
to our shores.
An interesting question arising here is
whether, If the American Protective asSo-
citation should in denying the riyat Of cfilce-
holding to Catholics, stipulate that Catholics
should be released from obligation TO pay
taxes or render military service, the Ameri-
can mind could be brought to contemplate
them more favorably. 1t will be remembered
that in the Declaration Of Independence the
two greatest grievances charged against
George the Third were that while he exacted
military duty and taxes of the colonists, he
persistently denied them representation in
Parliament That spirit survives to the
extent of denying that any government has
the right to tax any class of it's citizens
in equal measure with all its other citizens
while denying them equal rights and repre-
sentaton with all other citizens. Whether
the American could be brought to the point
of favoring the release of large body of
citizens from taxation and military duty in
lieu of the loss of the right to hold Office
is very doubtful. He is Anglo-Saxon enough
to be very jealous of the taxing power, and
very insistent that no man, or body OF men,
shall escape a just share Of the burden 1t
in poses. Particularly is he solcitous that
all classes and elements in the population
shall contribute to the support of the public
school system, which he justly regards as
the foundation of the state and its best and
most lasting security.
The task which lies before the leaders
OF the American Protective association is to
reconcile the public mind to the creation
OF class Of citizens exempt from taxation
and the performance of military duty This
may be impossible, but it is certainly more
practicable than to bring any Anglo-Saxon
people to concede that a class of men shall
while being compelled to discharge all the
duties OF citizens, be denied the rights Of
pit