The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1899-11-09
AMERICAN GOVERNMENT,
AS it Relates to Others.
SOME COMMENTS ON SLAVERY.
BY G. GaOsvENoR DAVE.


Written For The Commonwealth.
Though this is written two weeks in
advance of election day, yet the various
elections of the country will have
been held before it Is read, and we shall
have realized onca more the advantage
OF having government that is repre-
sentative. q government that can be
rebuked by vote and cast out by "a
vote. The qu!etuae With which an
election passes off is in itself proof
of the general good sense of the COM
munity, and is promise of future
quietude. To know that practically
the same acquiescence in the will OF
the majority prevails all over the
country is to know that Americans are
capable of selt-goeernment: Whatever
apparent temporary departure there
may be at present, while we are in
state Of war with some portions OF our
own country. sill of us who stop to
think feel confident that Americans
having been true, in great measure, for
a hundred years to the traditions Of
the fathers, will not now be found un-
worthy of an heroic past. If there is
any one thing more sure than another
in this world it is that the dusky races
that have come in under our care from
a variety Of causes will be better off
with us than without us. Fer us to
raise the voice of iamentation and say
that these new possessions merely
mean more Office holders, more thiev-
cry, more self-beneft is to utter a wall
that is our own condemnation for if it
be true that thievery and wrong doing
exist in public Office it means that we
who boast of our freedom and inde-
pendence are ourselves to blame and
are ourselves certainly not fit TO gov
ern and certainly, at the same time not
wise enough to criticise. l do belleye
in haying sense enough to go in when
1t rains, but also believe in the wis
dom and the gain that come from
looking on the bright side of things
Let us believe with our whole heart
that the nation that carved its way to
freedom, that dared almost to disrupt
itself for the sake of fuller freedom,
| that has had courage to be untrue to
! its declaration OF independence in order
to do away with Mormonism and that
has the name the world over for ener-
gy, for progress and humanity will be
| true to its higher purposes and aims.
According as our heart beliefs are In
! terpreted into action, so will the nation
be.
Speaking OF the slavery of men and
women and also of the necessary effort
made by the United States to have one
style cf government throghout, reminds
one of the war being now waged In
South Africa. Because England gets
scant treatment from some OF our pap
ers, perhaps lew words may be per-
mitted regarding some features OF the
struggle between the Beers and British
Practically the Beers are the only white
people in the world who defend and
practice slavery. With sort OF moral
obtuseness that is peculiar at times
to those who ara verbally religious, the
Boer prates of his nearness to God and
then by his harsh brutality to the flesh
and blood of his brotherman be dem
onstrates his nearness to the devil
For two centuries he bas been out o1
step with progress and lives his pat
riarchal lite in conditions far inferior to
orr own Cracker whites.
The Mormons went west beyond all
fear of future interference. They were
mistaken. Civilization caught uE
with them, ran beyond them, surroun
ded them, assassinated them-this last
not without difficulty and distress. The
United States could not permit within
itself a region utterly foreign TO the
forward trend of things, hence the
Edmunds law and demonstrations BY
sold,erv and now the opposition te
Roberts.
The Beers trekked northward beyond
all imaginipgs of future British ex
tension. They, too, were mistaken
The steady tramp OF commerce. o.
trade, of development has surrounded
them and already stretches northware
of them hundreds OF miles. Ever
within their own bounds their rlche
have arisen from those wnf
came in and developed the country
while the Beers merely squatted on IL
Thew forbid Catholics or Hebrew
from holding Office they grant lnonop
olies; they despise the people VINO pa!
tho taxes. Even a slight knowiedg
Of history would tell US what to expec
under such circumstances. The group
, or the states, or the countries that VII
= A~< r