The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-06-02
oUTGRoWING THE MONROE DOC.
TRINE.


1t is not an uncommon thing these
days to hear it said that the United
! States have outgrown the Monroe doc
trine, doctrine that the American
people, for seventy-fve years. have held
TO be a second Declaration of Independ-
ence. Less than three years ago the
whole American people rallied round
this same Monroe doctrine as the very
bulwark of their national independence.
have outgrown the Monroe doctrine.
Next we shall be told that we have out
grown the constitution and the great
principles embodied therein.
And since when did the United States
of America outgrow the Monroe doc
trine? Since Rear Admiral George
Dewey annihilated the Spanish feet in
the harbor of Manila, May 1, 1898. In
one month we have grown more than in
three-quarters of a century. There are
cancers of rapid growth in the body
polite as well as in the human body,
and the rapid growth beyond the Mon
roe doctrine is cancerous. And what
are we to get in exchange for this doc
trine that is so essentially American?
Perhaps some hundreds Of islands 1--WE
haven't got them yeD. inhabited by the
most undesirable population on the face
of the earth. In other words, we are
to give up the richest political Inherit
ance any people ever had, and all for
the veriest mess of pottage.
We have outgrown the Monroe doc
trine! And what is this doctrine that
the nation cherished so long and which
it has SO suddenly outgrown? 1t is
that the american continents by the
free and independent condition which
they have assumed and maintain, are
henceforth not to be considered as sub
jects for future colonization by any Eu-
ropean power; and that I'VE should
consider any attempt on their (the al
lied powers) part to extend their system
to any portion of this hemisphere as
dangerous TO our peace and safety"
This is what the United States have
outgrown, if they have outgrown the
Monroe doctrine. In outgrowing this
doctrine we have outgrown the theory
that the American continents are no
longer to be considered as subjects for
future colonization by European pow
ers; henceforth they are TO be consid-
cred as subjects for colonization by Eu-
ropean powers, and attempts on their
part to extend their system to any por-
ton of this hemisphere are not to be
considered as dangerous to our peace
and safety. Outgrowing the Monroe
doctrine means nothing less than this.
If the American people have the in
tention of projecting themselves into
the politics of Europe, they must eN-
pect that Europe viii project itself into
the politics of America. Not many
months since the German emperor
made demand on Hayti for
and naturalization for an
outrage committed on a German sub |
ject Then those who are today SO
vociferously shouting that the United |
States have outgrown the Monroe doc
trine were as voeiferously invoking |
that doctrine. If in future German |
subject in Hayti is maltreated and the |
emperor sends over a powerful !
squadron and seizes Hayti and extends |
the German form of government to it,
the United States will interpose no OBJ
lection, for the United States have out
grown the Monroe doctrine. And if the
German colonists in Brazil appeal to
the German emperor to extend the Ger
man system of government over them,
the United States will interpose no OBJ
lection, for the United States have out
grown the Monroe doctrine.
Before we outgrow the Monroe doc
trine SO far that we can never get back
into it, would it not be well to think
whittier we are drifting, to ascertain
what lies before US in this new found
but unknown ocean upon which we are
about to embark our ship of state? It
isn't wise even for a great nation to
break completely with all its past ira
litions. If a first success against an
power can so easily turn
the peoples heads, as some of their
heads have been turned, what would be
The effect upon our institutions of a
irst victory over a first-class power?
Let US still adhere to the Monroe doc
.rine. We have built upon it, and our
house is not as one built upon the
iand.