Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1899-03-17

time. The dearest possession of this
nation has been the soul of liberty in
written by the fathers in our framework
Of government. The constitution was
made and adopted "to form more per-
feet union, establish Justice, insure do
nestle tranquility, provide for the com
mon defense, promote the general well
fare, and secure the blessings of liberty
to ourselves and our posterity." Note
the limitation: yourselves and our
posterity". There may be inherent
power in our government sufficient to
turn the the peaceful republc-with its
limitless acres yet untitled, its domestic
problems to he solved, its world power
of Industrial supremacy-into war
like, conquering and colonizlng govern
ment; but the wisdom and the moral
right of it we deny.
The fathers bulded with breadth of
base sufficient for our time and for all
time. In its inception this government
rests upon the high idealsm Jesus
Christ preached-the equality of man,
the brotherhood of nations. the peaceful
fruits of righteousness, the civilizing
power of industry and of knowledge.
There was no missionizing by the sword
in the teachings of the man of Judea, or
in the projection of liberty upon this
continent. For that we have to turn
back to the story of the Spanish con-
quest Nor even has such an ideal been
advanced in the United States in cold
blood. 1t is the direct and unlovely
product of war begun with professions
of humanitarian benevOlence, but quick
passing to the strange issue of an easy
acceptance of "Destiny" and policy of
Imperialism which appeals to pride of
power and thrills with its dream of
world growth. 1t is not phase of ma
tional and Christian duty, but the savage
passion of military conquest at odds
with the American past and the doctrines
of liberty that can never be outlawed or
disregarded without Unreasonable ma
tiOnal loss.
yourselves and our posterity' To
that searchlight let the citizenship of the
republic bring this strange and bloody
adventure in the Philippines. The fruit
of it is war and not peace. If persisted
in we are going to saddle the United
States with a large standing army,
burden upon ourselves and pOsterity.
This means cOndemning our young men
by the thousands to practical imprisOn
ment in deadly climates, the fostering
of the spirit of militarsm that is the
bane of Europe, with the probable adj
dition of an army of foreign mercenaries.
No nation can safely indulge the passion
of military conquest. 1t is sure to bur-
den the people intolerablv and must
lead to endless crimes against liberty.
If ever a people ought to have been
safeguerded in their future after the
floodgates of war had been opened, it
was the nation that had been nurtured
for n century in the practice of de-
mOcracy.
But we have not withstood the shock
of the assault. The old barriers, eternal
ly planted as it seemed, have been borne
away and the United States has been
swept by the Overmastering flood to a
participation in an enterprise that grows
more abhorrent as we progress with it. !
External vigilance is the price of liber-
ty." If, indeed, power rests with the
people in this government of ours-if
the process of Capitalization has not
passed beyond the point of their con-
trol-the business of resOlute, organized |
and implacable opposition must be under |
taken. If the impotence of the individu-
al, with imperialism under full Roadway,
appears so great, the necessity for or
gained action is the more manifest. In
such unity the necessary strength will
cOme-as come it must.
The people are still true TO the old |
principles and to a cause which Is Pc |
culiarly theirs, and they will see with |
increasing clearncsS that while capitalism |
and wealth may dream of advantages in |
an abandonment of the old doctrines. |
the new departure means burdens for
the masses and the weakening of safe
guards of popular government as we
have been advantaged by it. TO OPP
preston abroad might too easily be adj |
ded repression and injustice at home |
Evils in a wrong departure are apt to |
multiply in ways unlocked for when the |
false start was made, Says ore of the |
strong men of the republic, wiring
ANONYMOUSLY because Of his official |
position:
All true Americans object to and resent the |
imp ltation that the American people, un Ter !
the guidance of Washington, have not here |
tofore been one of the nations of the earth, |
and that it is now their duty to take part in |
the strife and complications of the European |
political world-which means, as we under.
stand the situation, that our official and po |
htlcal classes, with their usual contingent of |
lobbyists aud contractors, are to take part |
v 18th the official and political classes of |
European governments, and that our indus.
trial classes are to pay for it, We believe, as |
our fathers believed. that the American name |
has been honorably known in all lands; that |
American ideas have influenced all peoples |
that our great army of industry, If it could be |
let alone, would compel the disarmament of |
Europe; that our national progress has been |
without recedent or parallel; that our ma !
tonal life has been, among International /
forces the great moral power of the world /
that our national sentiments have been in |
favor of peace and arbitration and industry |
and education, of little government, and that !
little devoted to the welfare of the governed. |
This example and these sentiments are not to
be flung away by those to whom have in. /
trusted the responsibility of government, |
We believe, moreover, that there are few |
things for which we owe more unceasing |
gratitude to the father of his country than for /
his farewell words bidding us as a-nation to !
pursue our own quiet way. we do !
not hold the influence of brute force, or Gf |
You prefer III of military force, an honor. |
We hold fast to our American ideas, to our |
American foreign policy, ito simplicity of |
government, to all of those great prnciple |
which have made the American nation, with. |
out great army or navy, commanding |
power in the troubled and misgoVerned |