The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1898-02-16
Won Hoist to the Rescue.

The hungry Mugwump mind--and
the sympathetic minds luxuriating
at present on discourse delivered by
one DR.. Won Hoist, professor in the
University of Chicago, against the an
nexation of Hawaii to the dominions
of the United States.
When the dominic, east or west,
emerges from the clustered seclusion
of college precincts, and buckles down
to the discussion of great national or
international question, statesmen of
tried wisdom must take to the woods,
and the officers of the government who
have learned in the school of naval or
military study and experience to esti-
mate the value or importance of isolat-
ed acts or general lines of national pol
icy, must follow. Thus it was when,
few years ago, President Cleveland
startled the country by an exhibition of
courage and patriotism in calling
halt to England's imperious march for
bhO oDcOi pblOh VA FOhCHuCius LIZ SOl-
lege professors and doctors of divinity
set up wild wall and tore their hair
because of the Presidents vigorous
reassertion of the Monroe doctrine, and
his mandate to the aggressor to arbi-
trate his claims to the territory of
sister American republic; iand for this
cause the Mugwumps for a while
ceased to burn incense to their idol in
the White House. But the prophets
of evil were put to shame by the course
of events, and the yawning abyss be-
tween the folly of these protesting ele-
ments and the wisdom of true states
manship received an impressive illus
tration. Still the dominie's assurance
as to the infallibility of his notions on
national policies, or specific acts of the
government, remains mistaken.
Regarding the political and economic
aspects of the proposition to annex
the Hawaiian islands, statesmen of the
rank of President Mckinley and ex-
President Harrison, schooled to look at
national questions in a practical way,
and with wise reference to the future,
must hide their diminished heads when
college professor, particularly if he
halls from Germany, opes his mouth
upon "the momentous character of the
annexation policy" And when this
German schoolmaster argues that in
respect of military desirability there
can be no practical gain" by annexation,
Captain Mahan and his fellow expo
nents of the strategical as well as COM
mercial Importance of these islands are
summary snuffed out.
In an ecstatic Mugwump eulogy of
the professors dictum on this branch
of the subject, the unqualified state
ment is made that Gin itself, Hawaii is
of no military value whatever" This
is somewhat dogmatic, even for the
dominic, but this declaration is clinched
by the surprising assertion that "the
highest military authority favoring an
nexaton comedies this" This would,
indeed, be important, if true" but it
ought to be clear, even to any person
who has given the most casual attention
to the literature of the annexation
question, that there is in neither the
principal statement nor the secondary
claim either truth or ordinary plausi-
bility. But siraws are the last refuge of
the drowning opposition to annexation,
and as the plight of it's opponents is not
personally very serious one, the sup
porters of an important national meas
ure may be excused for lack of sympa-
thy with them in their desperate con-
dtion.
There is very little in the Won Hoist
lecture on Hawaiian annexation that
has any practical bearing upon the real
merits of the question. 1t is the dis
QUESTION of man of books upon a sub
ject outside of the realms of his incor-
poreal existence. He has some no.
lions or theories that he has dreamed