The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1896-05-22

act Of a President of the United States invoIV-
ing the nations honor, can only be taken with
prOpriety when the business and financial con-
dition OF the country demands IL. how are we
to ri gard the acts Of st4tesmanShip prOmul-
gated by George Washington James Monroe.
Abraham Lincoln aud Othtr heroes of Ameri-
can history?
How important place the Monroe doctrine
has always occupied in the foreign boliey Of
the United States can be shown ~ two things:
/ first. that il has been a>ser ed by every admin
iStration from MoBroe 10 Cleveland. and second
| that such statesmen ~ jefferson. Adams Web
ster, an y others who have repea teddy en-
| phasiZed II a distinctive feature Of American
/ d plOmsey. have been the most popular men,
VINO are pr mineht in the history of the United
States.
| In l79; George Washington said. The great
rule of conduct for Us in regard To foreign ma
tion> is. in extending our commercial interests.
to have with them Elite political connection
AS possible. Later. in 1s2O. jefferson wrote:
" The day is not distant when we may formally
require a meridian of partition through the
ocean which separates the two kemisPheres. on
the hither side of which no European gun shall
ever be heord, nor an american on tAe other;
and when, during the rage of the eternal wars
OF Europe, the lion and the lamb. within our
! regions, shall lie down together. The princi-
plies of society there ana here are radically diff
ferent aud | hope no American patriot will
ever lose sight of the essential policy of inter-
dieting IL the and territories of both
Americas, the feroeiOus and sanguinary con-
tests of Europe"
The only reason l have yet heard advanced
for making specific definition of the doctrine
at this time, is that foreign powers should net
be permitted to say, as Great Britain has said,
that the principle has never been officially as
serted. Does not the ringing message of Presi-
dent Cleveland promptly supported by q unani-
nous congress and an overwhelming majority
of the people, give sUthcient notice to every
power in the civilized world that the Monroe
doctrine is fixed principle of our govern
mental policy to be maintained at all hazards?
The Doctrine of Manifest Destiny which was
Of early origin, as erted that IL was the ultimate
destiny of the United States to control the
whole western hemisphere While we may not
care to undertake 30 great responsibility as
this doctrine suggests. yet il has been the de
clared policy of the United States to recognize
aud to foster the free Governments which have
been established in the new world.
The other day | saw in the April number of
the Review of Reviews a cartoon representing
John Bull standing with his fingers aside his
nose" meditating upon the map of South
America and he said: "A continued applica-
tons of surveys would transform South Amer
lea into the head OF The British Lion" The
LaPlstte River forming his mouth, Cape ST.
Rogue his nose, the Amazon would make an
eye ever watchful of the commerce of the west
ern world, while the O-inOco would form the
fllet of royalty which would bind the English
crown to the western continent
The chief difficulty. which we find in allow
ing small encroachments to stand without pro-
test is the fact that there can be no definite
limit as to where such encroschments shall
cease. We know that England, by her policy
OF consuming small amounts of territory
through the stemachs Of her commercial agen-
cies, has gradually absorbed the entire area of
India And We look with avowed disapproba-
ton aud protest upon any plan for absorbing
the whole or even a part Of the continents Of
North America.