The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-12-19
THEIR MORAL OBLIaUITY.

THEIR MORAL OBLIQUITY.
The fact that dwarfs all others in
connection with the proposition to an
mex Hawaii is the calm indifference or
open contempt with which its adVo-
Gates regard the moral issues involved.
They brush these aside WITH a wave Of
the hand, as if there were no such
thing as right or wrong in the uni
verse, and as if considerations based
on that distinction might do for the
nursery, but were unworthy Of the at
tention of grown men. 1t Is probably
because of this confusion in the un-
alterable nature of things that they
VIE not able to advance or carry for
ward any line of argument tending to
support their side of the case without
involving themselves in immediate con-
tradictions. 1t is one Of the most
amusing features Of this debate, as
carried on in congress and through the
press, that the arguments of any
two advocates of annexation speedily
nullify and destroy each other, and
that TO one advocate can pursue his
Il ema very long without involving
himself in 4 ne same hopeless ruin. For
irstar &c. we are to!d at one moment,
when some one objects that the ma
tiVes Of Hawaii have rights which
ought to be considered. that they are
mere savaSes. Whoever asked the con-
sent Says the lingo, of the American
Indian? The aborigine has always OBJ
jected" against being destroyed, says
another but that is his destiny, and
his objection does not count. So our
copper-colored friends of the North
American continent are trotted out In
review to prove that there is warrant
of nature and of justice for melting out
the same fate to the Hawaiian peo-
pie, who are put upon the same plane.
Without referring to the fact that
the American Indian was, up to the
day when the last repressiVe measure
was eXerted against him, a hostile;
that he was constantly in arms and
making war upon the people of the
United States, whereas the Hawaiian
natives have been peaceable people,
we have to consider the force of this
singular parallel when The annexation
list gets on another branch of his thesis.
When he is trying to convince US that
the Sandwich islanders are assim-
liable, he assures us that they are
ofipa1lr pOO1 pitizppc al
ready; that they have a complete sys-
TEN of common school education like
our own; that they observe the Amer
lean holidays, and that all they need
is the ratification of the treaty to make
them worthy partners in our republic.
Now both of these facts cannot be
true. If the Hawaiian is an aborigine
and a savage who has no rights civil
lied man is bound to respect, he is not
on a par with our own people and
ready for the reception of the rights
of citizenship. We do not care which
horn of the dilemma the anneXationist
chooses, since both positions are alike
far from the truth. The fact that he
Is capable of making these contradict
tory assurances at the same moment
for the sake Of argument shows how
destitute his thesis is of moral force
Or foundation.
Again, one of his most satirical and
sardonic acts is when he taunts us
with studying the desires of Great
Britain and other nations Why, he
shouts in patriotic ferVor, should the
United States consult the wish or fol-
low the policy of any foreign nation.
He out-Bryans the Bryanites in declar-
Ing that, in the matter of annexation,
the United States should act without
waiting for the consent of any other
nation on earth" This is very fine If
you do not happen to notice that it
is very foolish. In the next breath he
will show you that the policy of the
great nations is today one of agrees
sion. England, he says, has spread her
colonies all over the face of the globe
and doubled her territory in the last
thirty years. Germany and Russia are
continent is being partitioned among
the powers of Europe. Why, he de-
claims, should the United States be
left behind in this race? 1t, in accord
ance with the spirit of the times, must
also so filibustering about the world
or fall permanently in the rear. Thus.
again blowing hot and cold, he tells
lis i'll the same breath that it is I'M
American and unworthy of US to emu
late or initiate the policy of the Euro
pean powers and that we must copy
them or fade into an empty name in
history.
Taking another tack, he points to
the flag and assures us of the purity
of his motives. We, Of the West, he
fervently exclaims, are the true Amer
icars OF today. The people Of the