Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1896-01-09

have n voice i'm the mild government
that holds sway over them. They
support themselves just as completely
now as though they were independ-
ent. 1t is, too, and they know it, a
much more expensive government
than they would supply under a
local system. But they are generally
SO little interfered with that, al
though the tie which binds them to
the mother country is without any
great strength, they have been con-
tent to stand the expense OF I'M
perialism i'm return for the quieting
sentiment that they are less likely
to get into trouble and more likely
to get out of it as a British colony
than they would be as independent,
self-governing nations. The fact
still remains that the colonial allianc ,
profits nothing to Great Britain that
would justify her i'm sustaining one
OF her American colonies i'm a course of
wanton wrong, persistency in which
prom sed serioas trouble with the
ti,,i.sa.t States 49,. - -----=.----
But if we are to have trouble with
Great Britain over the principal in
vulved i'm the Monroe Doctrine, now
is good time to have it. The Press
has often called to the attention of
it's readers the remarkable mil
itary proceeding i'm which the British
Government has been engaged for
the last twenty-five years in the
neighborhood Of our coasts. These
proceedings continue. They con-
template a series of modern offensive
fortifications beginning at Halifax,
extending from there to Bermuda,
from Bermuda to st. Lucia, from st.
Lucia to Jamaica, and from Jamaica
to anywhere else in the more i'm
mediate neighborhood of the Nicara-
qua Canal that can be acquired.
Burnluda are substantially complete,
Those at st. Lucia are rapidly going
forward. and those at Jamaica have
scarcely been begun. England has
already spent about S65,0OO,OOO in
making earthwOrks, i'm mounting
guns, i'm the construction of dry
docks and in the establishment Oi
naval stores almost within sight OF
Boston and New York. To shut
our eyes to the fact that all this If
meant for us, that, relying upon the
peaceful disposition that controls
our people and leads them to he
Indifferent toward all subjects Of
| National defense, England has quietly
and steadily gone to work to place
us at such ii disadvantage as would
prevent us from asserting our opin
ions and maintaining our interest
whenever they confiicted with hers
would be to shut our eyes to- facts
which are as plain as church steeple
/ We don't suppose that England
means war. What she means is tC
make war impossible by being
always ready for it, counting on the
probability of our never being ready
for it. Now is as good time as
another for us to wake up. II we dc
wake up, if strained relations witt
Great Britain teach us the duty o
getting our sea-cOast cities i'm 4
! proper state ofdefense and of building
a navy adequate to the maintenance
OF our position as a first-rate power
this disagreeable incident will hav'
had it's compensatiOns. No natiol
can afford to be so careless OF it
interests as we constantly are
Carelessness of this sort is bound
sooner or later, to cost urs profoun'
humiliation and sums of money com
pared with which the expense of ;
suitable navy and a proper system
of coast defense is the merest fraction
New York Press.