The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1899-09-01
Slavery Under the American Flas

Slavery Under the American Flag.
Under the protecting folds of the
American flag the slave trade will now
flourish in Sulu. The s"actity OF home
and family is violated: the wife is sold
from her husband. tie child from its
mothers arms. The lash Of the slave-
driver falls upon the q~uiyoring back of
the covering human chattcl IN Sulu
falls with the sanction OF President
William Acknowledgements permission
granted in the treaty" negotiated by
by General Bates. his military repre-
sentative. The slaves one recourse.
on soil 81 allowed by the stars and
stripes, is to purchase his freedom at
tho market price.
Polygamy and concubinage is the
law Of tie land in Sulu-a law ratified
permitted aud endorsed by William
Mckinlcy's administration through the
treaty with the sultan. The sacred
names of wife and mother are stripped
of every %cnnobling quality aud made
s%ynonOrnOus for shame with the knowl-
ekge and consent of the government
at Washington in the islands over
which the dc baUched sultan of Sulu adj
ministers American law, and is paid
therefor 500 a month by The grace of
William Mckinley.
The American people have. through
their authorized representatives, weak
" compromised with dishonOr. Vice
and lechery, wrOng-doing and crime
are legalized that the American flag
might wave undisturbed over tho har-
EN- over the sultan and the slave-pens
Of his plantation.
What now will high minded chris
tian men and think who have
endorsed ''forcible annexation" that
"christlanity and civilization might
follow in the wake of the hag:?" What
will ministers of the gospel of ''peace
on earth. good will to men" say to this
all conclusive proof that the present
administration makes war not to civil
izc. not to christianize, but simply and
solely to possess? What will Ameri-
can citizens who are proud of their her
i:age of lofty IDEAS and principles of
freedom and equality say to this shame
full abandonment Of the teachings for
which the blood OF American manhood
has flowed in rivers: What possible
excuse can be offered for the consum
nation Of this liason with MoSlem NOR
ais and pirates ethics? This is not a
question thai will admit of any ak Of
'.expediency." No possible theory OF
''expediency" can explain the n~ecessi-
ty of Virtue en-. bracing vice. or OF the
incorporation OF a foul and deadly can
GER into a healthy political organism.
If slavery is wrong in America it Is
wrong in Sulu. II it was not to be per
mitted beneath the stars and bars of a
southern confederacy, neither may il
be fostered under the stars and stripes.
There is no geography in right and
wrong. The ethics of Col are eterna,
and all-embracing. To do Or permit
evil under the spurious plea that good
NAV follow is the criminal sophism O
all the ages. From it has sprung the
wars and prosecutions, TN crimes anC
follies that have darkened the history
of church and state. AS surely as from
good comes good, SO from evil come;
evil.
Americans are confronted with {
fact. A treaty has been concluded
with the sultan OF Sulu by the presi
dents military representative, which
recognizes the institution of slavery ii
the territory over which this sultar
was ruler. AS the price of his allegi
ance it legalizes that institution ant
permits it to exist on American terri
tory and under the American flag
This is the fact, but from Washington
no explanation is forthcoming; rathe'
has concealment been attempted.-Om
aha World-Herald.