The herald., 1898-08-07

tory. Brleny, the story reduS'
Purchase of Louisiana from Napoleon;
not the state of Louisiana, but all the
territory west of the Mississippi to the
stony mountains. There was much
squabbling regarding boundaries, but
nothing dishonorable in this transaction
is chargeable to the United States.
In 1872 we seized west Florida, because
it ought to have been a part of the terri
tory purchased from the French; few
years afterward Spain ceded the remain
der of the peninsula to us. Might made
this right" the learned editor tells us.
Texas was brought into the Union by
trickery and deceit.
Our next acquisition of territory was
California and New Mexico, which were
stolen from Mexico by force of arms.
Even Mr.. Rogers. who considers these
methods justifiable means to the glorious
ends gained. naively remarks that this
war was the only unholy one in which
our country has ever been engaged. We
made a deliberate assault upon neigh
boring republic and robbed her in her
hours of defeat"
! Before the Hawaiian group Alaska was
our last acquisition of territory. 1t,
as everybody knows. was purchased from
Russia.
| Mr.. Rogers thinks these good enough
precedents for further expansion. He
shows how California was farther from
| civilization and resources when Fremont
hoisted Old Glory over it than are the
Philippines today. Also, that the con-
servatve Jeffersonians, just like those
of now, deprecated anneXing what is a
good half of the Union.
1t must be admitted that Mr. Rogers
makes out fair plea for his side. Still,
he omits to mention that all the land
annexed was geographically an integral
part of the United States, except Alas
ka, which doesn't count; and moreover,
these different territories We're sparsely
settled by the white race, and were un-
occupied excepting by the Indians that
roamed over the whole west.
To the most obtuse mind the difference
between annexing California and New
Mexico and Hawaii and the Philippines
must be obvious. What can we do with
the native Hawaiians? Elevate them by
a whereas and a resolved to our stand
ard? Rubbish. They will be evolved.
like the Indian, off the face of the earth.
And the ten million Filipinos?
1t is not the attaching to our back
yard the property of these people that
is so Objectionable as the taking to board
and lodging a people only one remove
from cannibalism, and notoriously i'm
moral; and, unfortunately cursed with
medical science.
These however, are immediate effects,
ones under the noses of the least observ-
ing. But the remote consequences are
rarely taken into account. The craze
for land is an Anglo-Saxon misfortune.
But it is not one whit more deplorable
than the insidious socialism that is rap
idly wiggling it's way into our govern
ment methods. Anything to extend the
office-holding class. Though waare far
this respect great care must be exer-
cised or there is danger of our outstrip-
ping Europe in off1cialism. as we have in
most things, except art and music.
The greatest evil is the one least taken
into consideration, namely, the unduly,
and out-of- proportion one. of in
creasing officialism There is no class
so despotic as the official. A large Off
cial class in the United States means
the divorcing of ourselves from Demo-
cratic principles and a union with des-
potic ones. An army of officials, pass
ing a certain growth. becomes irresist-
ble, as Herbert Spencer we'll illustrates
in these words:
Every extension of the legislative pol
icy involves an addition to the regu!a-
tive agents-a further growth of Off
ciaism. and an increasing power of or
ganization formed of officials. Take
pair Of scales with many shot in one and
: out of the loaded scale and put them
into the unloaded scale Presently you
will produce a balance. and if you go
on the position of the scales will be re-
versed. Suppose the beam to be une-
qually divided. and let the lightly load
ed scale be at the end of a very iong
duclng much greater effect, will far
sooner bring about change OF position.
This finely illustrates what will hap
pen if we continue taking members OF
society from the regulated mass and
placing them in the official class, because
a comparatively small coherent body OF
officials, acting under central author
ity, has a tremendous advantage ovel
an incoherent and unsettled public.
1t is this growth of officialism, made
possible by our republican administra-
ton, with its imperialistic tendencies
and by our short sighted fellow citizens
who are so easily enamored of immediate
fects, and who howl the loudest when the
effects, and who howl the loudest when
the remote ones come home to roost, that
ought to make us careful and consider
ate before trying experiments, that are,
from Democratic standpoint, funda-
: mentally wrong-i. e., an increase of
officialsm.
, HOIST BY THEIR OWN PETARD
The little band of conspirators who