Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1899-05-05
RIGHTEOUSNESS EXALTETH A NATION.
ny HUGH A. KELSEY.

The man who spoke this proverb had ha
ample opportunity to speak from experience
and, from his day to our own, history has veri
fed his statement.
This letter is not written for a religious pa
per nor from a religious standpoint thar
that the ethics of Jesus Christ are the best th'
world has-but in the public policy of our ma
tion formed and executed by men who cal
themselves Christians, the question of righ
and wrong ought to be given consideration; ant
we ar. willing to grant that, IN large measure,
it is. We also we'll know how liable men are
to mistakes ''To err is human" Neverthe-
less, some OF us humble subjects cannot shake
off the belief that we are either not allowed the
knowledge af our public policy, which is our
right, or that the administration is committing
a known wrong.
Do the people of Garnett aud Anderson
county believe that your gallant soldier boy
Curran Craig gave up his life in right and
jlst cause? Do any of us feel that we should
be anxious to enlist if call for volunteers
should be issued? Do the mothers of our SOL
dier boys take great pride in the belief that
their sons arc ten thousand miles away, defend
ing their nations flag and exterminating race
of seni-civilized people whose very condition
calls forth the sympathy OF Christian? Has
it suddenly become right for the United States
to take by force that to which she has no claim?
A year ago, when President Mckinley issued
his call for troops to aid an oppressed people,
there was a clear manifestation of true patriot
ism, and many of our chums and brothers donned
the army blue, while those of lis who are to tall
for our size, or who are weak-eyed, would have
done the. same. The purpose for which the
call was issued was, without doubt noble one,
and no one doubts the righteousness of it, but
we are decided in our opinion that the present
condition of affairs is not right, and that,
sooner or later, the United States will pay the
penalty of her course.
Our caption is only onehalf Of all antithesis
and in truer than the rest of the sentence.
Those who do not know it can easily lealn,
and those who refuse to recognize it will finally
be compelled to do so. The ineXorabe law of
retribution does not make inquiry as to the
cause of wrong committed, but where the
right is violated, sentence is Immediately pass
ed and always executed. If the people of the
United States permit wrong against their SOL
diers and a greater against practically
primitive and defenceless people, they betray
their trust and invite the European idea of cen
tralzaton and absolutisn to seek harbor on
this side of the Atlantic. Could Germany's EN-
peror be invested with stronger power than that
Of retaining his magnificent army in allegiance
to his order, whether it is for conquest or for
defence, for humanity or cruelty? Yet, our ad-
ministratlon assays to do that very thing
In the daily papers we read that the Twenti-
eth Kansas is to leave Manila, October a7th.
What does that mean? Only that the boys
of your households are to spend long summer
in jungle, stopping Mauser bullets from the
guns of a treacherous, ignorant enemy, to no
purpose whatsoever, unless it be to pacify the
English lion and instigate endless difficulty for
our country Surely one need not search long
to find th. injury that is being done.
Our soldiers did not enlist for the present
guerilla warfare, and to compel them to engage
in it is, talney put, an injustice. The inhabit-
ints of those islands are not rebels, and have
committed no crime in fighting for their liberty,
md to shoot them down like wild animals savors
of medieval barbarism. The
Ultra religious cry that the natives must be sub
usated before they can be Chrstianized is not
Il accord with the teachings of the Prince of
'eace, but, rather, his arch enemy, Mohammed
he Saracen prophet. Christianity, taken in hy-
,erdemic doses aud at irregular intervals and
IL various parts of the anatomy, is not the kind