Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1899-11-09

ator Vest as IA Orator-Tribute to
Vice President Hobart.
Especial Washington Letter.
Mr.. President Schurman of the Phil
ippine commission is distinguished
scholar who should ponder the wisdom
of the old dictum, NE sutor ultra
crepidam'- let the shoemaker stick to
his last As an educator. from com
mon rumor, he was a success; as a
diplomat, a flat failure AS a defender
of treaty with the sultan of Sulu
providing for the payment of tribute
I to that petty despot and guaranteeing
to his sultanship the right to practice
slavery and polygamy he stultifies him
self and makes utterly ridiculous those
for whom he assumes to speak. Here
are his exact words: "Polygamy is part
of their religion, and slavery, about
which so much is, being said just now,
is a mild type Of feudal bondage"
Those are President Schurman's pre-
else words. They constitute no doubt.
the best defense that can be put up for
that amazing transaction, which dis
graces us in the eyes of all creation,
for President Schurman is scholar of
great erudition. Now, let us examine
this wonderful defense.
.PoIygany is part of their religion" !"
is it? What do you suppose Brigham
Young and the other Mormon prophets,
living or defunct, think of that as a
justification for our treaty with the
sultan of Sulu? How they win poster
their brains to discover how it happens
that what is safety and honor to the
sultan was only a delusion and a snare
for theml Was not polygamy part of
the Mormon religion and have not all
/ the Mormons from Joseph Smith down
to Brigham H. Roberts vociferously
pleaded this as their defense in court
and elsewhere? And did we ever re-
spect their plea? Did we not prosecute
and punish them as common felons?
| And should not what is sauce for the
goose be also sauce for the gander?
j "PoiygaIny is part of their religion, Z
+ and therefore the sultan of Sulu, our
new fellow citizen, car indulge the
luxury of 300 wives, a performance
which is a penitentiary offense in ev-
cry state and territory Of the Union,
except in our new possessions. Now,
suppose a ease. Suppose in our pere-
grinations in Asia and the uttermost
| ends of the earth we run across a lot
| of savages whom we desire to annex
and part of whose religion is to steal
| horses How can President Schurman
and his remarkable school of remark
able statesmen refuse TO admit the
i soundness of their plea? 1t is certainly
as good as that of the sultan of Sulu in
favor of his harem. Suppose another
case. Suppose we annex another tribe
of Asiatics, a part of whose religion is
to sacrifice human beings to their
heather gods. We must accept that,
too, as valid plea and tolerate in
them acts for which we would hang
the descendants of the Mayflower pill
| grims or of the cavaliers of James
town. Brother Mckinley evidently has
need of another defender of the new
faith. President Sehurman Is II. e.
| imagine it will take a whole regiment
Of defenders of polygamy to satisfy the
American taxpayers that they are do
ing a righteous thing or a necessary
1 thing in paying salary to the keeper
of the harem of the sultan,of Sulu.
PoIygamy Defended.
But when we turn from Sehurman's
defense of SuIu polygamy to his de
Tense of Sulu slavery our amazemen'
grows with what it feeds on. HeaI
this college president. He says by
way of Justification, And slavery
about which so much is being saii
Just now, is a mild type of feuda,
bondage" and therefore to be excused
j justified, indorsed In the language oi
the immortal President Squeers, This
is richnessr' Why, bless my soul, Af
rican slavery in America was defended
for years and years by millions of in
telligent citizens on the very same
ground to wit, that it was IA milo
type of feudal bondage" the good ole
patriarchal system. good for the mas
i ter, particularly good for the slave
the gentleman in ebony, who somehow
or for some reason objected to this
mild type of feudal bondage. If Presi
dent Schurman is correct, what an as:
Sambo was to kick against a system
SO benign! And. if Schurman is right
how could Abraham Lincoln be righl
when he declared that no man was
good enough to own another man
Really, / am afraid that if Lincoln
were living today Colonel Theodore
Roosevelt would feel in duty bound tt
denounce him as a traitor.
| IL it were wrong to practice slavery
in America. it is wrong ia Sulu.
thing that deserves to be branded a:
felony in the United States SHOULD
be so branded in our new possession
the world around.
If Lincoln. Chase and Seward coult
read Schurman's defense, they woult
refuse him and his ilk fellowship a
Republicans.
Without regard to party affiliationi
all men regret the serious, most prob
ably the fatal, sickness of Vice Prest
dent Garret A. Hobart. He has dis
charged the onerous duties of his higf
position with ability dignity, grace
aud industry More steadily than mos
Of his predecessors has he remained Al
his post, seeming unwilling to deyolvt
his routine functions upon any one elss
for any considerable length Of time. Ht
gave the casting vote against the Ia
con resolution. performance whici
may have as much effect upon our his
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