The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-04-29
Weather Forecast.
sEp1r1ous AND rREAsoNABLE.

tariff problems for SO MANY years anu
so diffusively that all manner Of propo-
sitions. cranky, wise and otherwise, con-
corning the domestic economy of the
nation have absorbed him mind and
soul. and he lis now a monomaniac upon
matters of sociology, upon statistical
research and upon the study of political
economics. His patriotism has become
column of figures; his sentiment a
cold and nerveless proposition in tabu-
lated data His thoughts grovel with
numerals, and his esteem of country is
smothered in dry as dust formulaes Of
politico-economic specifics"
But Edward Atkinson has not only
become monomaniacial upon these sub
an luminosity toward his country be-
cause it does not move as he fancies
1T should that he has taken treason
able position. He now boldly and
shamelessly avows, according to the
dispatches, that he is the author, in
part, and the sender of the seditious
literature and appeals that have been
flooding the American armies in the
Philippines.
He has the brutal franknesS to say
that he has applied to the Secretary
of War for rosters of all commands in
the Philippines, that he may address
to our bleeding and exhausted men in
the torrid cline of the Philippine arch
apelago other seditious matter intended
to turn them from their loyalty, and
ITO impress them with the false state
ment that public opinion at home is
opposed to the war, opposed to re-
sistance of the insurgent demands, is
antagonistic to the occupancy and re-
tention of the Philippines, and really
favors the REIMBURSEMENT of all the
fruits Of the war of humanity into
which we entered in the name of an
oppressed people, and in protest against
tyranny. cruelty, inhumanity and in
Justice.
Atkinson il his old age has become
nothing less than a copperhead. He
and those who are putting up money
to, accomplish the seditious purposes
be is prosecuting are pursuing a course
that can have but one result, namely,
TO prolong the war against the rebels,
and thus cause the nation the loss of
more lives and still greater treasure.
The work of Atkinson and his con-
freres is nothing short of giving aid
and comfort to the enemy. The friend
7xr dor
that they withhold US support solely
because Of such men as Atkinson, and
tine work such misanthropic people are
doing They wish the United States to
pacify the archipelago and extend to
the people thereof the blessings of free
government, but the fear that Atkin-
son and his colleagues may break down
the Administration policy, and leave
whoever in the Philippines shows
friendship to Americans at the mercy
of the pftiless insurgent soldiery, re-
strains them-they' dare not be out
spoken, much less render US material
aid, because Atkinson and his crowd
have placed them in peril.
Thus we have it beyond question, so
plain that none can mistake it, that
such as Atkinson are giving aid and
comfort to the enemies Of the nation,
and are conspiring in and carrying on
a scheme with hope Of success to de-
feat the ends of the President, bring
dishonor upon our arms and effect the
abandonment of the Philippines to the
inevitable anarchy that will ensue when
our boys come sailing home, cowed and
whipped.
What should be done with such men
as fAtkinson? Nothing as long as they
co,lfne their activities to preaching
their cowardly doctrines at home. Moth
ulg, so long as they do not step over
the lines within which free speech Is
guaranteed. Nothing, as long as they
do 10 more than urge their views upon
the country as to- what its policy should
be. But having gone beyond the limits
OF right and privilege, and made license
serve treason, they should be called
down, and kept down.
In the "sixties'' thousands of men for
saying things infinitely less harmful to
the national cause were seized and
clapped into the cells of military pris-
onS, and kept there for the public good
until the war was over and their power
TO do harm had ended; and some for
treason We're shot or hanged. We are
a pauent people. We will be long and
Sorely tried before we strike. But I'M
less we mistake the American spirit.
MI. Atkinson and men of his ilk will
slnd ere long that between free criti-
clsln, Tree writing and preaching, and
giving aid and comfort to the public
enemy and stirring up discomfort in the
army abroad, there is a wide and ma
Ierla4 difference. He has no guaranteed
or other right to seduce our soldiers
from their duty; no right to resist the
government in asking it's citizens to
serve 1t in arms. He may preach and
fprattle all he pleases at home. and
voice his discomfort with the Govern
ment at will. But he has no right to
creaue dlscontent and build up a re-
Deihous spirit among the men serving
'le government in arms. Such acts
are nothing less than treasonable and
aoA their performance there should he
Hleted out punishment fit for the de-
f,picable crime.