The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1899-10-28
IMMINENT DANGER
OF IMPERIALISM.

as he, for that is the most serious
aspect of our whole situation,
promulgates the policies of % ua-
ton. Every now and then N our
political history there occurs a
curious incident which Mt the first
blush Is most perpleXing forweeks
and months.
There has been deepening in
the public mind some strong con
viction which finds its expression
in so many ways and by so many
voices that it seems to be IN It's
grave significance unmistakable,
"Just ut this point, however,
there occurs in some leading state
a political convention, in which,
not unnaturally, we should expect
this profound and widespread
sentiment to find expression. But
somehow or other it doest not, and
what is still more curious the of
fcer, the policy, the utterance,
whatever it is that has provoked
courses from which platforms,
candidates and policies emanate,
are liable to become more and
more controlled by those with
whom personal interest are the
supreme motives, and personal
gain the supreme ends. 1t is, of
course, conceivable that in the
persons of those to whom these
distant governments shall be com
mitted we shall lind only the
highest ideals and only the most
incorruptible integrity. But what
are the probabilities in the case F!
What is the likelihood that there
any more than anywhere else the
stream will rise higher than the
source.
Comparing the Philippines to
India he said:
There are the same diversions
of race, condition, religion, tribal
relation and the like, and in the
case of these insular communities
there is no binding interest what
ever. To undertake to superim-
pose upon them our free institu-
tons would seem to be an utterly
hopeless task, and in such situa-
ton what is the alternative but Il
torn of government which, while
not nominaIly, yet practically, IN
its essential absolutism, is imper-
ial Already we have seen how
easy it is to drift INTO imperial
methods, which are simply the
methods Of paternaIism in this
very connection. a cardinal prin-
pie of government of the people,
by the people and for the people
is that the people shall not be
treated like children, kept in the
dark. A sound public opinion,
we say, is the great buIwark Of a
republic, the foundation stone on
which its popularity and prosper
itv must needs rest. In this con-
nectlon the searching of the mails,
the prescription of certain publ
cations and the sitting Of CORE
spondence form one of the most
intolerable outrages which a free
people has ever suffered, and it is
significant. most of all, of the de-
velopment of tendency which |
foreshadows that, whether we are
likely to have imperialism in our
distant possessions in form, we
already have it at home in fact
at is time that, confronted !
with such possibilities in connec-
ton with our new possessions,
we ask, Is it worth while For, |
at this point, it needs no gift Of |
but only very mod
crate knowledge of history to
reveal us the dangers that
threaten us. There lies behind us
in It's pages the story of a great
republic which, by its ever-ex-
banding conquests, was lifted into |
the throne of the civilized world, |
only to find that the tributaries
that had made it great were des-
tined erelong to be the instruments
of its rum.
''Now, then, the that destroyed |
Rome was the loss of her homo
geneity. Our strength today con-
sists in the triumph of those great |
civic ideals which are the proper
ty alone of Anglo-Saxon ciyiliza-
ton. But if we persist in dilut-
ing that civilization too largely |
the result needs no prophet to
forecast. We may have territorial |
and material prosperity |
and for a time 1t may be that pos
session which IN the mere dream |
Of it has begun to lnhame our peo-
pie with strange inebriety, | |
mean worldwide supremacy, but |
in the winning of 1t we shall have
lost every distinguishing charac-
-eristic of a free and self-goyern-
ng people. .
There was a large delega-