The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1899-09-02
AGAINST IMPERIALISM.
We Do Not Want lmperiasm-What We Do Want is the
Simple Patriotism of Our Forefathers. ..-
BY L. w. ROGERS.
rNNCE a year the people who toll
with their hands put aside tine

~ NCE a year the people VINO tOl
with their hands put aside the
~ cares of life and give special
thought to the problems which involve
their welfare. This is day to seek
better conditions for the whole people.
1t is time for unfettered thought, for
noble impulse, for brave and honest
words.
We do not seek the welfare merely
of a class. Justice for each and pros
perity for all is organized labor's plat
form. Every question that effects the
general prosperity is a labor question.
Every proposition which touches the
liberty of the present or the freedom
of the future is a labor question, for
the laboring people are a vast majority
of the whole people. s
We stand today upon the threshold
of new national conditions. The war
with Spain, though the briefest and
least destructive of American wars,
is likely to prove the most consequential
of them all. We have safely passed the
crucial test of other wars and reached
the point where the road of national
progress for the first time parts into
two ways. One leads to a per-
feet government by the people, under
which manly simplicity and absolute
equality shall prevail. The other
Leads to imperialism, to the supremacy
izof Offering wealth and the reign of
triumphant plutocracy. The one
means IL return to the simple dignity,
the lofty spirit and nobility Of nature
that characterized our colonial days.
The other means that money shall be
master, that property shall be exalted, ,
and that the privileged few shall rule
5tbel unfortunate many. s:.$tsa4
The question of the hour is this:
sShall the republic live in fact as wall
as form, or shall imperia lsm, Wearing g
The mask of the republic. be estab-
lisled ?'' 81, 35s5 I'd 4.
This government by the people was
not lightly won nor easily maintained.
Its initial war was the beginning Of
the end for monarchy in the New
World. A colonial army that was
little more than a ragged rabIble, sus-
tanned by an unwave1.ing IA ffait1 in the
peoples cause, met the trained legions
Bof the English crown and for the first
time in the history of mankind rev
government without an aristocracy, a
dictator, or a king. 1s5s: 81. S.
/ The world had been used for wars of
1 conquest. The colonial soldiers were
atriots instead of nlund derers, and the
world paid to the new nat ion the ttr'b-:
/ ute of its admiration and respect:
merica became Y
the oppressed and the ideal Of the de-
humanity, its anti-imp alism, made
rcclSoned by its5worth and men were
measured by their merit. Upon this
soil of human Justice the young ma
ltion grew strong and great. IA
Nearly a century passed and the
i legions of liberty were called to "a war
of principle. The nation had never
been absolutely free. Upon THE fair
hands Of liberty S goddess was the
stain of African slavery. Could the
manhood of America cope with the
danger? Couli the nation that vas
/. inyincible from without conquer the
monster within 2 Did the New World s
tenple of freedom rest upon the rock
that endures? These were the, ques-
tions that trembled on the lips of the
civilized world. They were answered
by the flame and shock of battle.
Never before did the world behold
asnch valor. The heroic achievements
of that struggle dwarfed all the rec
ords of all the wars. The colors that
stood for unconditional freedom were
borne in triumph from the Potomac
to the Gulf, from the Mississippi to The
sea, and on a hundred Redeemed fields
whose desperate valor was never ex-
cellcd three hundred thousand of The
defenders of freedom fell with thsr
faces to the foe. Peace came at last
and from Liberty's triumphant torch
the light fell upon a nation without
IL slave. Again the world applauded
and the verdict of mankind was that a
perfect nation had been produced
The tremendous energies of the
! nation that had been absorbed by
war now. sought industrial enterprise.
Productive power had been increased
by Inventive genius and wealth. grew
with astonishing speed. The country
became a workshop and a garden.
Manufacturing lea'ped to the front and
ythc nation tlistanced all competitors.
The small capitalist became rich and
tac large one became Il millionaire.
An area of greed and speculation setin.
Men forgot liberty and thought only
OF gold. The captains Of freedoms
army gave way to the captains of in
Hustry. who marslraTed the millions
who toll and sought only the con-
quest of wealth., In the mad scramble
for riches the very principles for which
men had recently died were trampled
upon with contempt. Property be-
cal..e more sacred than men. What
the slave power had been the money
power became. Legislatures truckled
to it, the press bowed down to it, and
courts winked at its defiance of JUS
tee. Steadily and surely the coun-
try's wealth shifted into the hands
OF the few. Gradually the million
aires multiplied, the tranps increased,
the mortgages came, the palaces rose
and the huts appeared. Plutocracy
was here and money was master.
Once more the voice of Liberty
called the American people and the
insane pursuit of gold was forgotten
while Justice listened to the cry FOR
help ag;rinst the constituencies tyr
amy of Spain. The politicians heard
it not. The plutpcracy brooks no IN
reference in its haste to possess the
earth. But the common people re-
membcred Lafayette and DeKalb and
France, remembered the hopeless days
before help came, and understood the