The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-03-21
Ghe Ilesseww.
THE REAL MEANING OF KIPLING,S
ssBURDEN, POEM

"k3Of8DEND EOnIA
Some days ago we read an interest
ing article taken from the able and in
,fuentia1 London Weekly, the famous
Spectator, upon Kipling's last poem, the
,teWhite Mans Burden" We confess
that to some extent we had misread
that remarkable production. His pur-
pose, we suppose from what the Spec
tator says, was to show to this country
the white mans duty in conquest and
thus taking UP" what Kipling calls
the white mans burden. The Specta-
tor thus interprets the poem:
"The duty of the white nan is to con-
quer and control, probably for a couple
of centuries, all the dark peoples OF q
world, not for his own good, but Tor
theirs; to give them the chance OF de-
yeloLment which m will a stable
and well ordered peace; TO break Tor
ever, IL such breaking be possible, that
strange arrest of progress which for SO
many centuries has benumbed their
powers, and which leaves two-thirds Of
the world such hells upon earth that Il
the white man realized the truth, all
the strength of the good would be abb
sorbed in one great effort to ameliorate
their condition"
The poem then is a cry for Imperial
ism, for conquest, for extending the
empire, for charging the sphere, in
~creasing hugely the taxes, building up
great armies and a great navy. 1t is
to forget all the past of our country and
to follow Great Britain in it's wide ex-
pansive plans and throw aside. the
grand doctrines, principles and inherl-
tances from the great republic builders
of these United States, AMI to adopt
England's craze for Imperialism. Good
pure, Queen Victoria is Empress Of the
Indies. So anxious and earnest is the
British Kipling to get our country pre-
cipitated into the maelstrom in which
Britain has been swept, that he does
not hesitate to urge, as Interpreted by
the Spectator, the widest self-sacriices
in behalf Oh c%onquering the ignorant
hordes of the world at any cost, as II
we did not have now enough at home,
The Spectator is misinformed when he
thinks two-thirds of the American
people have embraced the fearful
idea of Imperialism. 1t recognizes the
strength of the third it thinks OPP
poses. It's words are:
"But then it is a study? The ques-
tion is not an empty one, for it is at
this moment disputed by a third of
America, perhaps the best third, GER
tainly the most cultivated; it makes
some of the best Christians at home
ir~esolute in theirs course and hesitat-
ing in their approval"
We must believe that if a vote were
taken that the two-thirds would be
found in opposition to this British
craze for our own land-this gross be-
sHrayal Of the country by Mckinley and
his troop of infatuated expansionists.
We think, after watching with some
interest, the trend of opinion in the
south, and particularly among demo-
Gratis and true white men, that five
sixths are against republican Imperial
ism in any form and under any circum-
stances. The south means ito take up
the White Mans Burden" in all good
earnestness of purpose, for it dare not
stoop to less But that burden" is
the pe~rpetuation and preservation of
Anglo-Saxon civilization in Southland
to keep it under strict white mans
supremacy. 1t has quite enough to at
tend to at home to rebuild and estab-
lish prosperity and peace by wholesome
laws and honest government without
going off on a senseless crusade against
expressions and crimes and low con-
ditions in other lands among savages.
After the south has really restored law,
order and civilization and given educa-
ton to all of it's inhabitants it may
then consider that Kipling's much agl-
tated refrain may mean to next help
some peoples under other skies. AT
present the helping business in Cuba
and Philippines is a costly thing as the
pocket-nerve of the people will be made
to feel by largely increased burdens.
~"Entangling alliances" were strongly
DEPRECATED by wise and great George
Washington, and they are not to be
.couuetted with or fostered now by any
people who are wise and prudent ana
endowed with ordinary prescience and
love of peace.
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