Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-03-20

secure US a larger Snare OF this enormous
Oriental market, with the Philippines as
a center Of distribution and supply.
THU JUSTICE OF THE UNIVERSE.
is It just to compel the yellow men OF
the Orient to change their whole mode of
life-to forsake the inheritance Of their
f-athe-s-because it may be the ambition CT
another race to expand its own methods
INC conceptions of living?" So queried Sem
ator Hoar in one OF his diatribes against
the ratification of the Spanish treaty.
There is no infiexible rule OF justice which
may be applied to the affairs of either men
or countries. The whole history of the
world. the operations of the laws of nature.
the existence of countries, races or indi-
viduals. alike give testimony to the power
OF a law which is great beyond the narrow
limits of our moral and mental philosophy.
This law is known as the survival of the
f%ittest, and 1t governs everything. from the
whirl OF the starry spheres to the common
| est detail Of human life. When one speaks
Of the Justice or injustice Of a thing 1t
ought to be in its relation to the whole.
rather than in its relation to the particular
interests affected, and when Senator Hoar
lays down as immutable certain racial or
territorial rights he defies what seems to
be the controlling force Of the universe.
Here in America We have set up certain
things which We are pleased to term the
inalienable rights OF citizens. One Of them
is the protection Of the individual in his
ownership of property. II Senator Hoac
should be asked ii 1t were possible under
our laws to deprive a citizen justly Of the
accommodations of a lifetime, he no doubt
would answer promptly hat 1t could not
he done. Yet. Senator Hoar at any time
during the last twenty years might have
cast his eye out of a window in the national
capitol and gazed upon millions of dollars
worth Of private property which had been
confiscated from its owners just as truly
as ever was done by an armed conqueror.
! When Boss Shepherd was given the task
| OF making Washington a beautiful and
healthy city he set on foot certain public
improvements to be- paid for by the prop
erty owners. When he had completed the
sewers and pavements and gradings which
were needed to make the city what it
ought to be. thousands Of citizens found
themselves forced to yield their property
In order to pay the tai imposed upon It.
To this day the visitor in Washington is
shown "a places which failed to bring
at forced official sale the amounts charged
against them. and walking about Washing
ton are many men who refer with bitterness
to the time when they were dispossessed Of
all they owned.
This is a humble illustration. to be sure.
but 1t serves admirably to show how rights
which ordinarily are deemed inalienable
must at times yield themselves for the
bettermcnt of the whole community.
Some centuries ago when the ancestors OF
Massachusetts they found a barbaric gov
eminent not entirely dissimilar to the gov.
eminent Aguinaldo is now seeking to es-
tablish in the Philippines. Commencing
with the first settlement at Plymouth Rock,
the white man swept the red mans gov
eminent toward the setting sun. Not all
at once. but no less surely. the red men
were compelled to change their whole
mods OF life-to forsake the inheritance Of
their fathers" because it became the am
! bition OF another race TO Expand its own
modes and conceptions of living. Was this
an act OF injustice? From the narrow point
| OF view taken by Senator Hoar. undoubted-
ly II was. Locally considered. no one can
deny that the conquest OF the American
Indian was IN act of a tyraIt. His gov
eminent was destroyed. his domain taken
| and bis HON desolated. To-day the mighty
\ American nation stands on the ruins of a
\ despoiled people. But would Senator Hoar
turn back the course OF history and REIN
state American conditions as they were
threD centuries ago. in the interests of alb
stract JUSTICE? Or. to broaden the propo-
logic!ans turn back the history of the world
and restore the dark ages simply because
the evolution has been accomplished with
bloody %conquests. local injustices. and SEEM
ing infrinsements on the rights OF MANI
And considered broadly. too. isn't it well
nigh certain that al! OF the seeming injus-
tees. the relentless conQuests, the shocks
and overturnings which have come to men
and races. are part Il a mighty plan which
mocks at the feeble moral codes Of man:
With nature sets out to improve q species
h applies the relentless Law Of the sur
vival OF the fittest There Is neither mercy
nor pity in the evolution Of 4 type. From
the time man first came out Of his cave IN
the rocks. the barbarian has been put away
remsrselessly to make room for advancing
civilization. Who. now looking back upon
-LNEh 49,