The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1896-02-13

every ocffas tn1t TINS SCyeTome NJ
owes, dollar for dollar. and In the dol
lar Of the contract, and the money re-
. cognixed and authorized by the Con-
stitution.
A few weeks ago, ~ hen the President
OF the United States sent to Congress
bis message on the Venezuelan Ques-
ton, both Houses OF Congress. irres-
pective Of party, came forward an d
in uphoIding the Monroe doctrine.
As sat here ir my seat and heard
) the message read, began to hope
that there WAS some change Of heart in
the Chief Executive Of this country,
or rather, might say, began to hope
that he was no longer the victim Of his
evil environment. When l saw Sena-
tors OF all parties rise on this door sod
echo and re-echo the patriotic senti-
ments of the President ia uphold OF
the great doctrine of self-defe .se and
4 independence laid down by oar fore
fathers, also began To hope thst
American pride, that Americas honor
American patriotism, and American
independence were still! in the ascen-
dency.
began To hope that this session Of
Congress would not adjourn without
wiping from our statute books some Of
the Infamous laws enacted in the in
terest of English capitalists, il not
by their influence, and would also
enact such remedial legislation as
would revive our dropping industries,
as would put every idle iaborer to
work end every idle piece Of machin-
cry to turning.
Right here, however, il might be well
to state that, according to my reading
OF the Monroe doctrine, the President
did not state it as it was meant by
| President Monroe and his distinguish
ed cOmpAtriots and as it Is understood
| by the American people.
| call attention TO the following
paragraph in the Presidents message ::
Great Britian's present proposition has
never, thus far, been regarded as admissible
| by Venezuela. though any adjustment of
the boundary which that country may deem
for her advantage and may enter into Of her
| own free will can not, Of course, he OBJ
jected to by the United States.
If that is the Monroe doctrine, then
the doctrine is sham and a farce.
| That statement Of the case leaves Great
| Britain or Venezuela to decide when
the Monroe doctrine shall apply and
when it shall notapply. If the Mon
roe doctrine means anything, it means
that the Uuited States Government
will not allow any foreign power to
| gain any foOthOld on the soil of any
| American republic, or adjacent island,
that might prove ininical to the well
fare, independence, and stability of
this Government, and that question,
of course was to be decided by our
own government. The opinion of
Venezuela or the people of any other
| American republic or foreign mon
archy does not enter into the matter.
1fit is dangerous for Great Britain to
push her dOminions further in Vene-
zuela, then it is just as dangerous for
her to do it with the consent of Vene-
zuela as it is for her to do it without
| the consent of Venezuela. Suppose
that Venezuela should come to some
agreement with Great Britain that
was inimical to the safety of this coun-
| try, or let us suppose that Great Brit
| ain should, to state an extreme case,
bride the officers of the Venezuelan
government and thereby get them to
| consent to turn over their whole terri
tory to the prOtectOrate of Great Brit
ain, then what should the United
States do? According to the Presi-
dents Interpretation of the Monroe
doctrine, the United States should not
Interfere. Is that the Monroe doc
trine? No. This seems to me to be too
absurd for discussion. The Monroe
doctrine is the doctrine of self-de-
Tense, and certainly we must decide
when it is necessary for US to act in
self-defense
But let that pass. As l said before,
this message of the President met the
unanimous approval of Congress and
enthusiastic applause of the whole
American people, not because they in
dOrsed his Interpretation of the Mon
roe doctrine, not SO much for their in
terest at this time in the Monroe doc
trine, but simply because it sounded in
a general way, like frank, honest,
patriotic American sentiment, and
chiefly because this independence was
asserted against Great Britain. 1t has
been so long since the people have
heard single patriotic American ut
terance from the White House, so long
since they have seen Presiden who
even claimed to live up to the Declara-
ton of Independence, that they were
ready to applaud anything that sound
ed patriotic-they were ready to ap-
plaud even the shadow of American
patriotism.
The people, from Maine to Califor-
MA and from the Great Lakes to the
Gulf, were still applauding this mes
sage of the President, when another
message was suddenly sent to Con-
gress. 1t was sent in great
haste. 1t was sent after the Senate
and the House had passed Joint reso-
luton to adjourn for the holidays, It
was sent to the Senate five minutes be-
fore this body was to adjourn for the
holidays. In fact, telephone message
was sent down to this body from the
Executive Mansion asking us to re-
main In session until the message could
get here.
nat was that message? That mes
sage told us that there was "crisis"
hanging over us. That somebody's
"unreasoning fear" had been aroused
and was about to sacrifice the inter
ests OF the people. That message call
ed upon us not to adjourn for the holi-
days, but to stay in session and do
something to help the Executive lift
TINS country out of the danger and dis
tress in which it had been plunged "bv
our dangerous and fatuous financial
operations" That message also gave
US to understand that the President
wanted authority to issue gold bonds.
and at the same time indirectly threat
ened to repeat the scandalous bond an
erations of last year if we did not com
ply promptly with his demand.
Mr.. President, that message was re-
ceived in this body with as little re-
spect as any message that has ever
come here from the Executive Man
sion, and the applause of the people. |
which was still ringing out for the |
monroe message, was at once hushed |
into silence-applause was petrified |
into fear and distrust. The great
masses of the people, as well as the
members of Congress, began to suspect |
tnat the Venezuelan message might |
not nave been written in good faith.
Yes say, the people began to sus-
pecC That the President of the United |