The Irish standard., 1899-05-13
THE GREAT LOYALTY TRUST.

The Chronicle is the only daily paper
in Chicago that upholds the true Amer
lean doctrine OF liberty for all men
white, black and blue. In its issue of
last Saturday it contained the following
editorial utterance, which has the gen.
uine Democratic ring to it:
Not long ago the president expressed
desire to hear an expression OF opin-
ion by the people of the United States
in regard to the expansion policy in the
Philippines and elsewhere. 1t is now
apparent that he wished to hear nothing
but opinion favorable to his own policy.
The moment he hears that many people
entitled to respect entertain different
opinion he is grieved and shocked. When
he learns that many such people believe
the Filipinos have as good a right to
self-government as the people of the
United States and that it is wrong to
shoot them down for asserting that right
he begins to talk about treason and Sc
dition, and all his servile followers, big
and little, begin to yell "traitor!" cop
perhcadw and the like, and to threaten
pains and penalties.
Such men as President Rogers, Pro-
lessor Laughlin, Bishop Spalding, Geo.
S. Boutwell,, ex-senator Edmunds, and
Senator Hoar are denounced as disloyal
Disloyal to what? To the constitution?
Where in the constitution docs the pres
ident find power to make war without
the consent OF congress? Where in the
constitution does either the president or
congress find power to subjugate
peoples on the other side of the globe
and to offer them the alternative OF alb
solute submission or determination? No
warrant is found in the constitution for
adopting and pursuing the policies and
the methods OF the remorseless con-
qucror. The constitution does not make
rebels OF those who never owed allegi-
ance to the United States and whom
according to an accepted principle OF
international law, Spain had no power
to hand over as subjects to our govern
ment.
Disloyal to what? To the foundation
principles of our government, to the
doctrines of liberty as formulated in the
declaration of independence and as crys-
tallized in the fundamental law OF the
land? These men who are so loudly
denounced as disloyal are above all true
to those principles and doctrines. They
are intelligently and Indignantly true
to them, while the imperialists who yell
"disloyal!' are essentially, though per.
haps unconsciously, false to them. They
are SO far true to them as to assert that
the right OF life, liberty and the pursuit
OF happiness, the rights OF self-gover,l-
ment and independence are as much the
rights of the Filipinos as they were OF
the American colonists in 1875 or as
congress few days more than year
ago said they were OF the Cubans. They
assert for the Filipinos no more than
congress by almost unanimous voice as
serted for the Cubans. They assert just
what the imperialists deny to the Fill
pinos and mean in time to deny to the
Cubans. They deplore this tramplng
under foot Of our most precious prin-
ciples, this hcadlong rush to the destruc-
ton OF our own liberties by the imperial
plotters, followed by a crowd wild with
the deadly delirium OF conquest.
And these imperial plotters now have
the unspeakable effrontery to set them
selves UP as the only loyalists. Intensely
excited and shaken by the disclosure of
the undercurrent OF sober public opin-
ion they are now making great prepara-
tons for ''loyalist' demonstration.
Having got pretty much everything else
into the clutches OF trusts, they now
propose to organize themselves into a
loyalty trust as preliminary to a COM
plete monopoly not only OF all the 10y
atty, but all the liberty in the land. al
ready their design upon the latter shows
itself in their denial of freedom of
speech and their closing OF the mails
against public documents of the United
States which President Hanna and Adj
vance Agent Mckinley of the loyalty
trust choose to brand as Unreasonable
and seditious."