The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-05-22
.THE NEW IMPERIALISM

When the war is ended the disposition
of the Philippines will be the touch
stone in regard to the country's future
foreign policy. If they are retained
permanently it will mean the inaugu-
ration of policy of colonial expansion
that no one can see the end of. 1t will
mean, in all human probability, not an
extension of the American system of
government, but the setting up of a
pro-consular system of government.
Nowhere have we seen this newborn,
world-encircling policy more vividly set
forth than in the columns OF the New
York Tribune. 1t says:
Imperialism is a word now often
heard in discussions of our national
policy. 1t has not hitherto had an over
pleasant sound to American ears. 1t
has been held synonymous with Gaze
sarism and reminiscent OF the usurpa-
ton and tawdry despotiSm of Louis
Napoleon; and against anything re-
sembling these latter no resistance
could be too strenuous. But such are
not the only nor the truest definitions
of the term. There is another imperi-
alism, the Imperialism of the nation,
not of its ruler. That is the new i'm
perialism of the day and of the future,
by no means repugnant, but rather well
come to the thoughtful American mind.
Uncounted times New York has been
called an imperial city" For a cen
fury this has been known as the EN-
pire State" In such sense, in its full
and logical expansion, we may well
have an imperial nation. Indeed, John
Marshall, nearly so years ago, called
this the American empire" The
time has come to face The fact and get
accustomed to it. We are not going
into land-s grabbing for the mere sake
of greedy acquisition. We are not go
ing to make big empire just for the
sake of being big. But the isolated,
restricted. continental idea, never we'll
sanctioned and never approved by rea
son, must henceforth be a thing of the
past There is no more reason why our
material possessions should be confined
within certain limits than why our
commerce, our travels, our culture and
observation, our human sympathies,
should be thus confined. There are
strong reasons why we should take
and hold two classes of lands, in what
Soever quarter of the world they may
be found. One class consists OF such
lands as lie SO near these states as to
belong naturally to our system and to
Involve in their administration our
peace and welfare. Hawaii is such
territory. Porto Rico may so be reck-
oned, and Cuba assuredly will be, I'M
less-as is to be hoped-she shall de-
velop sufficient ability for self-govern-
ment 10 make her an acceptable indie
pendent neighbor. The other class
consists of such lands, however remote,
as may through the eXigencies of war
or otherwise be practically and morally
forced upon US. Such are the Philip
pines, of which this nation is now tax
ing possession, and which it will ad-
minister according to its judgment and
ability. We had to take them as a war
measure against a hostile power and,
having taken them, responsibility for
their future rests unavoidably upon us.
The curious statement is put forward
that the possession OF a colonial empire
Is Incompatible with true republican
ism. Nothing could be much wider of
the mark. The fact is, as every his
tory-reading schoOlboy knows, that re-
publicanism and this form of imperi-
alism go hand in hand. The greatest
and most lasting empires have been
built by republics. The example of
Athens springs readily to mind-a re-
public, yet the founder OF a colonial
empire before which that of Alexander
seems petty. Or Rome, whose world
embracing empire was acquired under
the republic. Great Britain may be
a
democracy in fact whose empire in all
quarters of the globe has been built I'D
since the United Kingdom became for
an practical purposes a republic. So,
too, the colonial domain of France is an
outsrowth OF the third republic These
empires are greater and far more en-
during than the monarchiai domains of
Philip II and of Napoleon Bonaparte.
The republic is the successful empire
mr. i= fe-
well as in practice. The republican
is the imperial principle. For
only the state that governs itself Alright
Is fitted to govern tributary states and
bring them up to its own standard. The
monarchial empire may be acquired
and held for selfish and oppressive
gain. The republican empire is de-
veioped and civilized for its own last
ing good.
What sophistry is all that. "Imperi-
alism' is a word that carries with it
every idea that is antagonistic to
Americanism. Instead of representa-
tive government it means Caesarism,
Bonapartism, Kaiser Wilhelmism. 1t
means that the rulers are everything.
the people but the instruments of their
it means the subversion of
free institutions, the exaltation of des-
potism. This is in part what 'imperi-
alism" means.
''Uncounted times New York has been
called an imperial city" Convincing
argument for policy of imperialism
And uncounted times has New York
been called one of the worst governed
and most corrupt cities in the world,
And how many times has Jugurtha's
fling at Rome been hurled at the i'm
perial city" of New York!
THE isolated, restricted, continental
idea, never will be sanctioned, and
never approved by reason, must hence
forth be thing of the past" In the
past the United States have been re-
garded as so vast in extent, so rich in
all resources, so full of future potency.
that few men, comparatively speaking.
have been able to grasp the idea of
such a nation. And then to /alk of the
restricted, continental IDEA" and when
this new born Imperialism" shall have
the world, are the peo-
pie of the United States to sigh. like
because there are no more
worlds to conquer? This new ''impe-
rialism" teaches the grand doctrine
that the whole world is our inheritance
and that no one has any rights in it
save our ''imperialists.'
We are tod Cuba, which the congress
Of the United States, in the most SOL
emn pledge that man can give. has
declared we will not annex, belongs to
that class of lands which lie so near us
as TO belong naturally to our system,
and that she will assuredly be so reck-
1ned unless she shall develop sufficient