Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1895-04-04
OUR FOREIGN POLICY.

ing by both past and present. neither
party will deal with the money ques-
ton in such definite and decisive
way as to make that the leading issue.
We can neither foretell or foresee what
the future may bring forth; but all
indications now suggest that the Re-
publican point of attack will be the
foreign policy of this administration !;
and their main accusation will be that
it is not sufficiently aggressive.
Neutrality has always been our pol
lev as a member of the family of ma
tons. And it is plain that orr chief
advantages are to be found in this neu-
trality, when it can be preserved with
out compromising national honor. As
we have never been prone to mingle
in the quarrels of other nations, so we
have sought none of our own. On the
contrary we have, of late, been the fore
most advocates of international arbi-
tration as a mode of settling all dis
putes, and as the first and longest step
toward the era of universal peace.
Why then should one Of our great
parties stake It's success on stirring up
an active war spirit among our peO-
pie?
This agitation is one of the last
struggles of expiring protection. Our
manufacturers have so long fattened
on government bounty, that they have
come to look to government to supply
them with new markets, when the old
have become too contracted for their
producing capacity, instead of trusting
to their own enterprise and integrity
to win them from foreign competitors.
In Hawaii, Canada, Cuba and else
where they see promising fields for
the sale of their surplus goods; but the
trade is held by other nations. If
these several countries were under our
own dominion. tariffs could be framed
for them that would compel them to
trade with us instead; and our manu-
facturers would be relieved Of the ne
cessity of catering to their special
wants as other nations must now do.
Everyone can see that there is moth
ing in this for the great agricultural
class. If every annexation" so far
limited at were to become an accom-
plished fact, they could not afford a
market for a single additional "bushel
of wheat or barrel of pork. And
yet it is the agricultural class that
must vote this policy, and furnish the
greater part Of the men and money to
carry it out and maintain it. This it
could never be induced to do in its
own supposed interest; it is not blind
enough for that, But the willy Yam
kee has hit on what he considers a yet
more effectual scheme to inspire it with
the spirit he needs.
From time immemorial it has been
the men who are born and reared,
who live and move and have their being
in the land itself, that are moved most
readily by sentimental love for coun-
try. 1t is the testimony of history
that the patriotism which overlooks
material advantage and spends money
and blood to defend that intangible
thing called national honor" is the
attribute of the tiller of the soil rather
than of the manufacturer or trader.
So Messrs. Lodge and Frye and
their fellows, in the interest Of their
ounty-seeking New England constit-
uents, are endeavoring to arouse this
sentiment to action, by hysterical
shrieks about insults from Spain and
hereditary enmity" to Great Britain
and other such balderdash. The eff
fort will be vain. The voices raised
50 high in feigned patriotic outbursts
have too much of the metallic ring of
dollars and cents when listened to
closely. The blazing eyes ofthese fire.
eaters are sure to be sharpened by the
CLEAN of anticipated gain, instead of
lighted up by patriotic fire. The ag-
ricultural class knows enough of for
eign affairs to recognize that our in
terests and our honor alike are safe in
the hands of this administration. And
it will not be betrayed into burning
its own fingers to pull chestnuts out
of the fire for enterprising protection
lists.
Those who never read the adver.
tisements in their newspaper miss more
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