Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-12-01
AN IMrEKIaL SUGGESTION.

1
AN IMPERIAL sUGGEsTION.
The New York Herald, out-and-out
| and rampant imperialist and advocate
of centralized military rule, voices that
idea by advising the administration to
close the mouths of political agitators
! in Cuba by force. "A stitch in time
saves nine" says the Herald, and urg-
| es the federal executive to move
| promptly and put down these agita-
tors" who are opposed to the policy
| of the administration in Cuba.
This is in direct line with the imper-
| ial idea and the natural outcome of the
| imperial theory of government, not by
| consent of the governed-an idea now
obsolete at Washington-but by imper-
ial gunpowder and bayonets Apply
the gag law in Cuba says the Herald.
Doubtless the political agitators in the
| Pearl of the Antilles, who dare preach
of Cuban independence, notwithstand-
ing that such independence was prom
ised to them, will soon find the gag
applied on one pretext or another.
This proposed abrogation of the
right of free speech in our dependen-
cies, by the imperial government at
| Washington, furnishes considerable
food for speculation. After having had
, taste of this easy method of suppress
sing opposition, political or other
wise, may not the administration hum
ger for more? What is to prevent the
extension of the idea by slow degrees
to the situation in our own land Of
the free and home of the brave?"
What is to prevent the imperial pow
ers at Washington, for example, from
one day suddenly awaking to the i'm
perial necessity, for reasons Of gov
ernmental policy best known to the
imperial minds, of suppressing dang
erous and traitorous" opposition to
said imperial policies by the "irrespon-
sible" leaders of a certain political or
ganization known as the Democratic
party? What is to prevent the sup
preston for reasons of State" of Dem
ocratic speakers and leaders preaching
certain doctrines to the people inimical
to the continuance of the wise and ben
ehcent rule of our beloved Emperor
McHanna I?
Following this the ballot box could
be easily and profitably dispensed with,
or, better still, the ballot limited to
those having "a stake in the country"
of a million dollars or so, amount to
be regulated by the boss of the imper-
ial finances Marcus Aurlferous Hanna?
What is to prevent? The Declaration
of independence? The Constitution of
the United States? Bahi Both have
been relegated to the imperial scrap
pile for year.
For some time now the organs and
henchmen of the administration have
been persistently referring to oppo-
nents of the imperial policy as trait
ors." What is to prevent our imper-
ial rulers, after they have gotten their
imperial hands we'll in and have drunk
deep of the Intoxicating draught of i'm
| perial and military power, from acting
on these suggestions and applying the
gag law? The New York Herald says
it ought to be done in Cuba, and the
Herald is in solemn earnest about it.
If it is right and good policy TO do this
thing in Cuba, why not in the wider
field of the United States? 1t would
simplify matters so much for the ad-
ministration and save Mr.. Hanna the
! necessity of wringing a quadrennial
corruption fund from the hard earnings
of.the trusts.