Evening journal., 1898-05-10
LETTERS FROM The PEOPLE
A FEW CARDINAL REASONS WHY
THE PRESENT WAR EXISTS.

a Fl4W ANAfAlIl4N1AA4 uALLADOANO 'NIll
THE PRESENT WAR EXISTS.
To the Editor OF the evening journal.
Sir One Of the potential factors OF |
The present war, aud one which has |
invariably been brought into play |
whenever war was deemed advisable. |
was that Of impassiOned oratOry. The |
introduction Of oratory of this nature
is the favCrite trick of the practiced |
politician providedthe possesses the gait |
and it is one by which the people are
more than often caught and deceived. |
When war is the program OF nation,
then the governmental and other Lead
ers OF political Thought seek, by the
employment OF the fascinating art OF
oratory, to play upon the feelings OF
the people until they have got public
opinion just where they wanted to get
il. But all such pyrOtechnlcal displays
of oratOry, as this country has been
deluged with of late, tend to warp the
Judgment and obscure the reason OF the
people to such a degree that they are
no longer able to distinguish between
that which is right and that which is
wrong in any matter of national i'm
portance. We we'll remember witness
ing the late Mr.. John Bright MELT 10
tears, by the force OF his eloquence,
a close listed, hard-headed, intensely
practical body OF English manufac-
dlrens as he unveiled a monument to
Richard Golden, and expatiated upon
the public and private virtues OF the
great Corn Law repeater. But the very
moment that those men came in con-
tact with the open air their fit OF senti-
mentallsm vanished and they again
fh|rfrs mi nqrfuflq1 and fuuUpTIlt-
ly practlcal state OF being Very possi-
bly, they wondered what they had been
bellowing about few minutes before.
This instance goes far to- prove THAT
at a given crisis the people OF a nation
-particularly the people of an Eng-
lsh- speaking natlon-Inay be brought
under the influence OF either this or
that OratOrical magician, the result be-
ing that the rational appeals Of COM
mon sense are altogether ignored And
II is only when the given crisis has
either passed away or culminated in
some wrongful act that the people real
ize the fact that they have been hood
winked and made the victims OF par
eel OF INSCRIPTIONS, aggressive and
time-serying statesmen. The people OF
England realized this fact after the
Crfmaan war. and the people OF France
also realized the same TRUTH after the
INranco- German war OF 20. The reali-
gatiOu or awakening generally comes
after. and II may be that the present
war will have its own reflective after
math.
Let us banish from our recollection
all recent oratOrical bellOwings; let us
eliminate from our mind the fictitious
glamour OF a so-far successful war, amid
let us come down to the cold, pitiless
logic OF common sense and to a just
appreciation OF the common rights of
nations those OF Spain included. III we
but do all this, then our mind's-eye
will not be jaundiced, but we shall be
able to see as with a clarified vision.
We have been time and again told
that this country has no wish to am
mex any portion of Spanish territory;
that the United States is not desirous
81 appropriating amy Spanish colony or
possession. We appraise all such dec
larations at their highest value, accept
ing them as being made by the present
government in more or less good faith.
But we are not so sure THAT either the
United States or England will not gob-
bic up the philippines, after having
held tho city OF Manila as security for
war expenses. Neither are we so sure
that Cuba, after the Cubans have made
a mess" OF governing themselves, win
not be eventually gobbled up by some
future Government of this country.
The London Spectator" ONE OF the
most influential OF English organs, in
this weeks issue urges the United
States 10 keep the Philippine Islands,
and the Spectator" adds-"Tha Amer
leans will emerge from the war with
new ideas and larger ambitions. They
will abandon the idea of nOn-inIterven-
tiOn and change the Monroe doctrine.
We hope the Americans will keep the
Philippine Islands" This English ut
terance not only confirms the accuracy
OF our former expressed opinion OF
England's -graIbbingprOclivity and
OF her disposition to cOvet her neigh
boris ass" but it also points out that
Notwithstanding the fact that ''hu-
manitarianism" was declared to be the
sole and only reason of the present war
the United States will in all probability
become a landowner in the other and
Eastern Hemisphere, and that, too, in
spie of the tenets OF the Monroe dc
trine, that most just and equitable OF
all finite doctrines. sDon't let any mar
run away with the idea that the ma
tons OF the earth are eXa'dtly so many
BemevOlent Societies, merely existins
to play the great game OF war and tC
increase the taxation OF their respec
tive people-all for the most lauda.bh
and philanthrOpic purpose of freeing
the people Of some either nationality
We NO more believe that such a chari
table policy Is the policy actuating thu
nations OF the earth than we beliey'
the moon to be made Of green cheese
And If amy man inclines to any sucl
quixOtic belief as that, then that mai
is too simple to live; he had better sc
right off the face of this practical an'
mundane earth.
1t is all very we'll for his country b
declare that il does not wish to anne
Cuba. but that 1t merely wishes to de
prive Spain Of the same and hand
over to the Cubans. But what if Spat
a.. 4 .N.aN q