Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-10-28
AND RUM

on the theory that conditions may i'm
prove, or fail to improve, by reason of
a given policy pursued by the nation,
sumo that absolute and rretrievable ruin
will result from the course which they
see fit to politically antagonize. This
song of woe has been sung since the LAYS
of James Buchanan. Republican policies
have been negatived by the democratic
party, not in the sense that they might
prove less beneficial than their own, but
that their adoption meant the ruin of
the country.
The prosecution of the war of the re-
bellion, the reconstruction of the seced-
ing states, the resumption of specie pay
ments, the changes in the national bank
Ing laws, the adjustment of the protec-
tive tariff, and a score of minor questions
of public interest, We're all skillfully
handled by the republican party. in the
face of democratic prophecies, in each
ana every case, that ruin was staring the
country in the face. Had the democratic
party proven itself to be a true prophet
in even one instance in the history of
the country-had it's visions of destruc-
Ton and its dreams of woe been realized
as to n one of the great controversial
questions that have been fought to a
finish at the polls-the present predic-
tons Of that political organization might
be accorded more weight. Learning
nothing from past experiences, the pres
ent attitude Of the democracy is that of
a political seer, looking down into the
future and conjuring up all sorts of dis
asters that will fall upon the people
should republicanism retain it's place at
the helm of public affairs.
Instead of going back over the last
thirty or forty years to the events fresh
in the minds of the people, to show
wherein the tendency Of the republican
party has been toward the wreckage of
the nation. they fly to ancient history
for parallels that do not parallel and
for applications that do not apply. The
following paragraph from the Montana
Bulletin is an illustration in point:
Imperialism and expansion will ruin
any nation that undertakes it. 1t took
40o Years to level Spain into the dust,
but it will never take 400 years to rub
Uncle Sans nose in the mud if he UNDER
takes to follow up that sort of thing.
lnasmuch as there is no such thing
contemplated or implied in the policies
of the American people as imperialism
that portion of the illustration is wholly
without significance. In attempting tc
generate an issue of this kind, Colonel
Bryan merely set uD a man of straw tc
rail against, having the political astute-
ness to know that chaff will catch the
applause of some men whose minds can
not grasp the relevancy of the pertinent
questions of the day. Though conditions
of war. necessitating offensive or de.
fenslve movements on the part of the
government, may imply a larger regular
army than was required in times of pro.
found peace, it is worse than folly tc
point to such a thing as Indicative of ar
imperialistic tendency on the part OF
the people. AS an ISSUE the ight
against Imperialism is a burlesque, i'm,
posed upon the people as a legitimate
stage production.
Expansion did not ruin Spain, or any
other country, as the Bulletin would have
its readers understand. No historian
has ever accredited the downfall of the
Spanish nation to expansion. The seeds
of Spanish decay were sown in the perse.
curion of the flower of her civilization
the Jews and the Moors. Spain bounded
from her borders the people who made
her great, who popularized education
and good morals and opened wide the
doors of her intellectual growth. TIL
days of her final reckoning were delayed
not accelerated, by expansion. It was
the discovery of America with it's limit
less treasures of gold that revived the
dropping energies of Spain. Expansion
placed a check upon her downward tend
ency and delayed the payment of the
great debt that she owed to the immuta
Bile laws of eternal justice.
To expansion ancient Rome owed her
greatness and her power among men