Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-01-02
THE TIMID STATESMEN WHO PRO-
TEST

The enemies of greater America have
been routed horse and foot from the field
of constitutional debate. They no longer
attempt to sustain the observation that ter
torial expansion is forbidden by our or.
ganic law. They now stand on the belief
that the acquisition of remote possessions
is subversive OF the spirit" of a demo-
cratic government. and that it is not a
wise or promising policy.
The wisdom or unwisdom Of annexing the
Philippines is a very proper topic of discus
sion, but the oracular manner in which our
anti-expansion friends have voiced the be-
lief that it will be a losing anne for the
United States is not a hit offensive to
those who want evidence in lace of empty
assertion. The protests of tlmid and con-
sentative people have not been absent at
any of the times when our country has
been at the point of leaving the beaten
pathway. AS was recently remarked by a
distinguished American journalist. the at
titude of many of our public men has been
that of almost continuous protest in pub
lie life, and most of them lived long enough
to discover that they had protested quite
as often against the right as against the
wrong. Madison and Monroe protested
against the removal of property r~estric-
tons from the right of suffrage; all New
England, led by Josiah Quincy, protested
against the contamination of the Louis
lana purchase; Daniel Webster protested
against building the Ohio turnpike; half the
Wing leaders protested against the Mex
lean war, and its attendant territorial ac-
quisitions; Clay and Webster fought vi
ciously against giving the president the
right to veto; a long list Of senators signed
a solemn protest against the admission OF
California; an equally long list denounced
the %exa of Oregon. and half way
through the civil war the Democratic party
declared that war a failure.
AL of the great periods. of American prog
ress might be analysed with the result of
finding that there existed a formidable fac
ton who were so afraid of the powers and
enduring qualities of our form of govern
ment that they shrank from putting one
foot ahead of the other. Their slumbers
were disturbed with nightmares. They lived
in caves peopled by ghosts and hobgoblins.
The CHEEKY sun never penetrated their
abodes in shade. Timidity and prejudice
stood guard al their doorsteps. When they
ventured out il was TO shout warnings at
the passing procession. But sooner or later
they Joined the moving throng and were
swallowed up in the currents of progress.
Therefore we need not become unduiy
alarmed at the present-day prophets of
evil. Indeed, the multitude will not take
these gentlemen half so seriously as they
take themselves, for the multitude has had
a century of experience with this chronic
dissemination to going forward. But the
multitude viii object to the calm assurance
with which these oracles reserve to them
selves the right to interpret the spirit
of n democratic form of government as
forbidding territorial expansion. The first
important national policy affirmed by our
forefathers was one In sympathy with all
the territorial expansion ii will ever be
within the power OF our nation to enjoy.
The spirit in which our young republic was
born was that of expansion Inside of ff-
teen years after the closing OF the Revolu-
,ionary war our nation expanded by more
than doubling its original territory, taking
in an alien people and a landed domain.
portions of which We're then ten times as
inaccessible as the Philippines. Ever since
We have been expanding with clock-like
regularity. and every expansion has in
creased not only our national strength and
glory. but also the binding and enduring
quality of our form OF government. II is
nonsense TO talk about the spirit of a DEM
ocratic government being out of harmony
with territorial growth. The spirit of our
form OF government is to bring liberty and
happiness 10 as many of Gods creatures
as may come within its sphere of influence,