Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1899-04-29
STAY NEIdHBoR, THE WAR nUsT
60 ON.

~ M l&t AGLb RAARa ~ - AtfA
tons. Yes, war is hell, especially that
Of the Mckinley variety.
This is the closing paragraph Of a col
umn article in the last issue of the States
man on the war in the Philippines. The
genial editor pathetically depicts The
woes Of the dusky warriors Of those IS
lands, ~eloquentIy lauds their contest for
liberty. and. after quoting from letters
written by soldiers in our Army, there,
describing the brutalityo OF our men. closes
with the above clinching argument O. and
there rests his case. Not one single line
does he dedicate to the ~treachery Of these
islanders. nor to the dead American SOL
diers found after every battle, with their
throats cut and their bodies 50 mutiIated
as to be unacceptable. Not a single
line does he write to show how such
false and unpatriotic sympathy as the
bulk of the Democratic party has shown
towards our brave men, fighting under
foreign skies, has animated these fanati-
cal warriors, and caused them to hope
that our government will withdraw the
troops from these islands. Had such
miserable twaddle as fills the columns Of
Democratic newspapers not have APP
peared, and had Bryan and demagogues
like him supported this government as ev-
cry patriotic American should, the wal
would have been over long ere this. John
Barrett, formerly United States minister
to Siam, who has just returned from Ma
Mia, says:
The greatest responsibility for the
~prolongation of hostilities will rest on
those who encourage the insurgents to
believe that if they hold out long enough
public sentiment in America will changes
If this support is withdrawn no
attempt will be made to resume HOSTILE
ties after the rainy season."
That is it, exactly. 1t is the copper
heads at home, who are responsible for
the loss of life and prolongation Of hostili-
ties. This government experienced the
opposition from the copper-heads
in the North, during our late unpleasant
ness. Many, many brave Southern boys
and loyal Union men sleep in untimely
graves, because such miserable "trim-
keep up their unholy TRADE against
the conduct of that war.
The method Mckinley is pursuing,
brother, is the method suitable to the oc-
casion-the method which has marked
every advance in civilization, and every
march of Christianity. 1t is memorable.
Thousands of years ago civilization began
its slow march from the banks of the
Nile. Steadily it continued onward, pass
ing into Chaldea, Assyria. Media, Baby
lonia and Persia, thence to the islands of
Greece and the peninsula of Italy, and
across the English channel INTO the Brit
ish Isles. There for centuries c~iviliza-
ton and Christianity wrought nightly,
and finally swept across the ocean to the
verdant shores of this hemisphere, and a
mighty nation sprang into existence.
Pausing until this was accomplished,
they now face toward the rising sun
again. And what has been the history of
these epochs, brother? Where are your
boosted seeds of Christianity, of advance
ing civilization, won by soft words and
peace? Ruin and desolation, blood and
destruction, everywhere. The sword and
the cross have gone hand in hand, and
God himself delivered the lands of Bibli-
cal history to his people, yea, urged the
determination of those who stood in the
way of the propagation Of His word.
You are a Sunday school teacher, and
these wars must be familiar to you.
More blood has been shed for religious
doctrines than for almost every other
cause. Even in this land, the red child
of the forest faded and disappeared be-
fore the rifle and sword of our fore-fath-
ers, 1t was to be, and who now ques-
tons the lessons of the past9 Who will
contend that these savages, more noble
by far than the Filipinos, should have
been permitted to hold this land a vast
wilderness.
1t is a question of liberty. Every sem
sible man knows our policy in this matter
is dictated by un%selishness and a spirit
of Christian forbearance. We will carry
out that policy marx it, brother, if every foot
of the Philippine islands is bathed in blood,
and if the costs run into the millions.
We will do it against the cowardly at
tacks of the Democratic party. We will
carry civilization to these people, and
with it charity and peace. In the years
to come, when you and the present gen.