Washington sentinel., 1898-11-19

of this generation and the genera
tons that will come i'm mediately
after us must wait and toll for what
will come to the far future and
which should have come to uS.
We shall lose much morally.
We shall lose inevitably the fine
and ennobling respect Tor man
himself which is bred alone among
thoss who live on equal terms, who
stand together on the same level
before the laws, who have equal
voices il the making of the laws.
The country is rich in illustrations
OF this truth. They may be found
wherever the white man is the i'm
mediate neighbor Of the Indian or
the black man. We shall also
suf, materially. Some Ameri-
cans may enrich themselves by
reason Of the opportunities which
our new possessions will offer 70
them, but that does not mean that
the Government will grow richer
or even that the maj jority will pros
per. On the contrary, the new
colonies must be a burden to the
nation. The cost Of the increased
military and naval establishments
alone that will be required to main
tain them will reach at least $780,
ooo, 900 a year. We shall, in our
turn, feel the burdens OF militar-
ism as the nations of continental
Europe feel them, and we may rest
assured that our groans will not be
less loud than those which we hear
from across the ocean, coming
from the people who are now
eagerly turning to socialism, the
chief enemy Of a true democracy,
for reliei from the burdens OF bear"
ing and paying tor arms. We
shall net only suffer in taxes, we
shall properly suffer in COM
merce, Tor there is no likeli
hood that we shall abandon our
prose ctive system for a long
time to come, and as the Constitu-
tion requires that all taxes shall be
levied uniformly and equally. the
tariff system that protects New
England must protect also the
sugar and tobacco Of our colonies.
The result will be, OF course, the
promotion OF commercial war. 1t
is partly because Of our medieval
trade policy the commerce Of
Great Britain has Aourished and
become the greatest in the world,
and it is partly because the failure
of the Dingley bill as revenue
measure led Englishmen to fear
that we would abandon the pro-
tective system, which aids them so
materially, that many Englishmsn
have been urging us to take the
Philippines and everything else in
the way ofterritory that may come
in our path. They confidently be
lieve that with new colonies we
shall extend the area and lengthen
the lille OF our protective policy,
and that British commerce will be |
the gamer thereby. AT all events,
an enormous increase of taxes and |
a new lease for the protective sys-
TEN are probably to be an immedi-
ate result of our colonial policy.
The people must pay for the ex-
pertinent in two ways: their taxes
will be increased and their in
comes will be diminished.
But the greatest suffering will
be at home and in our domestic |
politics. Our troubles here come
from the rule OF corrupt and ignor-
ant men, who, to speak generally, |
are in politics for money making.
1t seems to us to be the first duty |
Of every friend OF the country to
exert himself to the utmost to in
form the public mind and to
awaken the public conscience,
with a view OF driving the present
race Of politicians out of power, so
that vulgar commercialism shall
no longer STAN the escutcheon Of
the republic. But the first step |
towards the accomplishment Of
the object should be the restriction
and decrease of opportunity. In
taking on new colonies, however,
we are increasing opportunity, and
the field tor the politics
Of cupidity and plunder We are
predatory politics more
attractive. This, as we have said,
will hurt most at home, for it will
make the fight against bosses and
bandits harder and longer. Ex-
for the moment at least,
will strengthen bad government.
Finally we shall be discrediting
democratic government every
where. We declared that our var