The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-06-09
IMPERIALISM FOR AMERICA

pSdTeu IN a New YORK paper ana rep
resented the Philippines as a white ele-
phart on Uncle Sans hands, it goes
into genuine ecstacy of jingoism.
mo! we cannot live on sufferance,
| says the Post. 1--WE must take our place
among the nations. The policy of iso-
lation is dead. We are something more
than wheat growing and pig-feeding
country, and have interests more vital
| than the sending of meal to Liverpool.
Our commerce FORCES ahead. Our flag
reappears on every sea. The skill and
| integrity of our workmen enable our
| manufacturers to dominate foreign
markets. These newborn opportuni-
ties and advantages require the protec-
ton which can only come from an i'm
perial policy based upon the nantes
tation of imperial power"
Fine sophomore sentiments all those,
and finely said. 1--WE cannot live on
sufferance." Since when did We live
on sufferance? Not since July 4, 1776,
even if we did before. Live on suf-
ferance! Certainly not. 1t is most
degrading way to live, and as unsat-
isfactory as degrading; it is only en-
dured by poor relations.
Our flag reappears on every sea- -
How beautiful and inspiring is that
sentence. OF course our flag hasn't
rCappeared ON single sea that it has
not been on right along, though for
nearly two months row it has not re-
appeared quite so frequently on the
1898.
These newborn opportunities and
advantages require the protection
which can only come from an imperial
policy based upon the manifestation of
imperial power" The eloquence of this
surpasses that of General Cyrus Choke
as he expatiated on the beauties and
glories of the Garden of Eden. Hooray!
All that is good, yet it but whets the
appetite for more, and it is forthcom-
ing. Hearken to this:
The nation is one. Much, perhaps
too much, is written on this obvious
theme, but it is a cold, pregnant fact,
full of meaning and encouragement.
The north and south are one because
it is to their interests. A blow at Cali
fornia is felt in Maine. This cemented
and impregnable union is the ground
work of an imperial policy. A new
consciousness seems to have come upon
us-the consciousness of strength, and
with it new appetite, a yearning to
show our strength. 1t might be COM
pared with the effect upon the animal
creation of the taste of blood. New fac
ulties are created; old faculties are no
longer dormant; new passions are in
IN, Of wa
must go into the forest and the foray.
We feel the necessity of that self-pre-
servation which depends upon the
sword. Ambition, interest, land-hunger,
pride. the mere joy of fighting, what
ever it may be, we are animated by
new sensation. We are face to face
with a strange destiny, and must ac-
cept its responsibilities.
An imperial policy! The night has
passed and the day has come. We have
interests in the Antilles and must pro-
tect them. Spanish civilization has for
feited its rights upon this continent,
and must withdraw at the point of our
sword. Hawaii is necessary for our
Pacific commerce, and the Philippines
become an outpost. If not far enough
advanced for the security of our COM
mercial dOminions, we may ask from
China that consideration showed to
Russia, England and Germany, and es-
tablish our flag in the Gulf of Pechili
or on the Yang-tZe-kiang. An alliance,
or what might be better, an under
standing with the moral force of an
alliance, with Great Britain, would
bring North and South America-the
whole continent, indeed-within what
the diplomatists would call "the sphere
of Anglo-SaXon influence" This under
standing since the Chamberlain speech
has grown with force, and is only a
question of time.
The essential step toward it is the
Nicaragua canal. This would mean the
stiffening of every sinew of the repub-
lie. 1t is as much a consequence of the
conquest of the Philippines as the Pa
cific railway of the annexation of Cali
fCrnia. These are the footprints of a
nations destiny. The path of empire
opens, and we must tread wherever it
leads, whatever the sacrifice or the
peril.
The president divines this, and with
wise and cautious craftsmanship leads
the way. However much he may have
deprecated some of its forms, and how
ever anxious he may be over some of
its inevitable consequences, the trend
Of opinion is irresistible. The taste Of
empire is in the mouth of the people,
even as the taste of blood in the jungle. |
1t means an imperial policy; the-rcDub- !
lie, renascent, taking her place with the /
armed nations.
And all this in the name of humanity |
and civilization A new consciousness /
and a new appetite are upon the peo- I
pie. Indeed, it may all very we'll be /
with the effect of the taste |
Of blood upon criminals. The illustra-
ton is so apt that one shrinks in hor-
ror from the contemplation of it. The /
taste of little Spanish blood is to turn |
a great people, whose proudest tri- !
Imphs have been the subordination Of
the animal instincts in man to his spir- /
tual longing, into wild beasts; the glory /
IF this imperial policy is that the
American people are to become as the
tigers and jackals of the jungle, wan
1ering forth seeking whom they may
levour. But the tiger and the jackal do
not devour their own species. God for
Did that such should be the destiny of
he American people, that they should
be known in history as the scourge of
he world
'"The night has passed and the day
has come" When did the night come?
The people have never realized that it
vas night with them.
The Philippines are to become an out
post, and if we need few more we will
let them up in China, in that darkened
china whose inhabitants we have been
70 jealous TO exclude from our shores.
IN these outposts in China will be
,laced arc lights that shall serve as
Deacons along. the pathway of human
ty and civilization. These outposts
hall be a new light of Asia.