The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1899-11-24

on March 4, 1897.
A COMMON SENSE VIEW.
President Mckinley, through his agent
for whose acts he has accepted response
bility, has made treaty with the Sultan
of Sulu by which the United States as
sumes control of the dominion of that
potentate, recognizing slav-
cry and subsidizing polygamy from the
of the American people, in di-
rect violation OF the cosntitution which
declares that slavery shall not be toler-
ated in any territory subject to our con-
troll. Pettigrew declared that ''the flag
should be hauled down" from over the
harems, believing-as does
every intelligent, self-respecting, patriot
ic American-that it is disgraced when it
is permitted to shelter lecherous, po-
lygamist and to enforce human slavery.
1t there is traitor in the land it is the
man or men, no matter how high their
station, by whose means this blot has
been cast upon the flag of freedom.-
Grafton News and Times.
And there isn't an Intelligent, self-re-
specting, patriotic American that be-
lieves in any such fool ideas as expressed.
by the News and Times.
It is one of the fool absurdities,
of the anti-expansionists that be-
cause this country happens to take in
some additional territory, that instanter,
the people inhabiting that country,
whether it be the Indians of ftheLouisiana
purchase, Esquimaux in Alaska, or Kan
akas of the Pacific Islands, become by
that act, free and "equal' with all other
American citizens. There is no princi-
PIE better understood in the found alton
of this government than the fact, that in
telligence and morality are necessary to
citizenship. The United States as a
whole and each state individually, places
numerous restrictions on the privilege of
citizenship.
England for many hundred years, and
other countries with constitutions as free
and liberal as our own, have held and
are holding possessions peopled with all
kinds of heathen and barbarous tribes
and nations, but nobody ever ventured
the assertion that England's laws uphold
polygamy, idolatry and slavery.
The theory that if one picks mp dirty
ragmuffin boy from the street, to try and
better his condition, that by that act, the
boy becomes free and equal member of
ones own family, even before the boy
has washed his face, is nonsense. Our
Indian tribes, as whole. after two
or three centuries of "gov-
ernment" have not become
citizens. Possibly the the Sultan of Sulu,
may need hundred or more years to
become civilized, like the Indian, but if
we are to haul down the flag in the Sulu
Islands because the people are heather
and barbarians, then let us be CONSTANT
and haul down the flag now flying over
the louisiana purchase and the land con-
quered by force, as we'll as that purchas-
ed, from Mexico, wherein existed all the
barbarities at the time of our acquisition,
as are listed by the News and Times, as
at present practiced in the Sulu Is
lands.
There is not one fact urged by Mr..
'Pettigrew, in reference to the SuIu Is
lands, that would not have been applic-
able to all the former acquisitions OTTER
ritory by this country, and furthermore.
in almost every case Of such acquisition,
exactly similar arguments were at that
time urged against the proposed expan-
sion.
There isn't school boy in the United
States who is old enough to read about
this matter. but knows that the United
States has not taken possession of the
Sulu or Philippine Islands or any other
territory, but for the purpose Of raising
them to higher and better civilization,
to freer and more enlightened govern
ment. There is no intelligent person
who reads history, but knows the prob
able result. Though some few, for polit-
ical purposes, seem to argue. that the
people of these new lands should be
made over previous to their becoming
part ofthis country:
Thirty odd years ago. we visited the
Fiji Islands, in the. South Pacific. At
that time the people were cannibals.
Years later England assumed a protect
crate over the group. Today the mis-
sionery society states that almost every
adult onthese islands is CONSTANT menu
Der Of the Wesleyan Methodist Church.
This is one example Of hun reds, not al
ways as successful as this. but the result
is always, more or less, for the better
ment Of mankind and civilization.
+ y i - B. q - sI1 r.