The Portland daily press., 1898-06-11

earnings and incomes. Yet it Is q odri-
GUS tact that the strongest advocates of
the war in which we are now engaged
were the people who would be hardest
hit by it's waste and destruction. Per-
haps that was in part due to the fact that
their sympathy with the starving people
of Cuba was keener than that of those
who had never known want and priva-
ton, but that did not wholly explain it.
Some of their zeal for war seemed to pro-
coed from notion that because the rich
were against it, therefore it must in some
way be beneficial to the masses. If the
war lasts any considerable time expert
ence will convince them how erroneous
this notion was.
But there are other ways besides by
going to war that nations expenditures
can be increased without any beneficial
return to tho people who pay them. One
very effective way is to assume
the government of peoples who are aliens
IN race and who are entirely unfit to gov
ern themselves. The government OF a
homogeneous and intelligent people un-
Ger form to which they have
voluntarily given their consent, is
a comparatively simple and inexpensive
affair. No money b as to be spent for
standing armies to preserve the peace and
keep the people in subsection. Seventy
five million citizens Of the United States
have for years been governing themselves
with a standing army of only 10000 men.
If we assume the permanent government
of thePhilippines an army bigger tn an
that will be needed for that undertaking
alone. There are nearly 10, 00o, 600 OF peo-
pie in those islands. undivided and en-
tirely unfit for self government We
need not datter ourselves that we can
keep this mass In order by moral sua-
sion. An army will be needed to stand
behind the civil government, and the ex-
pense of it win be charged up agai nst
| the people of this country and come out
of their pockets in the shape of taxes.
The same is true of Porto Rico and Gu
ba, and the other islands our imperial
lists are preparing to seize. None of them
can be governed without large physical
shape of an army. Merely to keep order
in our civilized dominions and preserve
the peace will therefore entail large ex-
pense for which the masses of the people
will get no compromising return. Men of
large capital will undoubtedly find op-
portunities in these new poss essions to
add to their wealth. They will be more
than compensated, no doubt for the adj
diitonal expense imposed upon them for
their governments, but the wage Garner
and the man of small means will surely
find his already slender income depleted
by new taxes which yield him no benefit
in return.
There is still another prolific source
of government expenditure-the guarding
against enemies from without. The peo-
pie of France are burdened with onerous
taxes to maintain huge army to protect
them against possible attacks from Ger.
many, and vios versa, and in every Euro
pean state today the people are struggling
beneath heavy burdens supposed to be
necessary to protect them from foreign
foes. The United States is today COM
paratively free from danger of this Sort
and consequently the people are free from
the burdens which it entails. But every bit
of territory, not contiguous, which we
add increases this danger, and Of course
the expense of warding it off.
The scheme of Imperialism will expose us
to new foes within and new foes with
out, and hence, will impose upon the
masses of the people heavy burdens for
warding: off these new dangers. What
will the masses get out of it in the way of
compensation? Can anybody point to
anything really beneficial to themf