The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1899-08-26


yet TO be legally reckoned. From the
seething caldron Of debate no snintilla
OF conscience, humanity, courage or
Righteousness can be spared. They are
the ingredients that must temper ard
control the mass. However much OF littls
may be our contribution IL shall go in.
In the present struggle between the
expansionists and their opponents IL is
the marked policy Of the former to avoid
discussion Of principles. Wild beasts
or dangerous reptiles are not more as
| eiduously stunned. Instead, expediencles
ars exalted. selfish interests are appealed
to. vanities are fed. ambitions are stimu-
lated, ideas are ridiouled. AZ long as
men AFRO content to be seducsd into this
confusing field, TO lose time and strength
on non-essential considerations, the foes
Of eelf-Rovernment exult. Bnt when,
brushing aside these sophistries and in
veracities, the defender OF the true faith
addresses the tribunal OF abstract right,
the anger, dsnunciation and m IL violence
| or the serpent betrsy sac touch OF the
Ithuriel spear. Therefore 1t Ia the effec-
| tive weapon TO use
A plain old Observation-Disclosures was
wont to assure his. hearers in homely
phrase that nothing hurts sn much as
| the nasty truth" The most brilliant
argument on matters OF detail on prob
abilities likely to follow certain measur-
ere. OF on alleged fncts and figures, are
searching questions: sis this morally
right" Ills Justice its support doe
| IL square with the ideals which have
lifted us to our present civilization or
lis u the poison which has slain the
proud and confident nations whose
tonbstones crowd the path OF history"
These questions will provoke sneers, not
answers.
When one compares the present men In
power with the great minds which domi-
mated the country In the ante-bellnm
days, lending their superb natural gifts
TO the defense of human slavery, he has
no cause for despair. The gigantic INTEL
lect of Webster. the magnetism and elo-
quence of Clay, the statemanship of Cal
houn. what availed them all with bad
oausef With whom. among the present
leaders of the dominant party can We
compare them without INSULT Yet all
were powerless as children against the
swelling tide OF freedom which they tried
In vain to repress.
And do these feebler creatures, whom
accident or corruption has placed in brief
authority, expect to compass what their
great predecessors were impotent to
rcnchS ''Pigmies are piginies still,
though perched on Alps" and the men
who deffed "the half.5mnIpotence 4 Web
ster' would have needed little these at
tempted betrayers OF free government t.
The crushing out of tire aspirations of
the precepts Of Jefferson and Lincoln,
Is a crime for which one must search
long to find a fitting name. AS Victor
Hugo said of the death of John Brown,
1T is more than Cain killing Abel; it Is
Washington Staying Spartacus."
1t is not by anti-imper,alist organiza-
ton Lor Individual protest against the
forcible crushing out of IA nations 8spira-
tions for freedom that the downfall of
this criminal aggression is to come. IL is
the imperialists' own avalanche that will
yet bury them. A builder who is careless
Of foundations, materials and perpendicu-
lars, will soon have his house tumbling
about his ears, however exemplary a
husband, Deighbor or Methodist he may
DO.
The foundations Of expansion are the
shifting SAINTS of expediency; its mater
ials are lies, brutalitiss, ambitions and
greed; Its bulging outlines warn the OBJ
server to ehun the premises; its penal
ties are cumulative and its own weight
will duly accomplish its ruin.
Were wisdom, COINCIDENCE aud phenome-
nal skill combined Ia the administration,
more than herculean tasks would await
IL. score of momentous issues hare
been forced. any one Of which, dangerous
IS live wire, will need the highest
ssatesrnanship to deal with 1t. In the
present bungling hands the catastrophe
cannot be long aSerted. The time Is
approaching when we shall be called
upon to temper Indignation With pity for
the rash men who in feeble imitation OF
A lax attempt to defy the lightning.
1t requires no strain of the ina gina
ton to forecast the problems which the
war will leave. L enumerate few:
first-A bleated pension list, swelling
unnhturaily as the war which furnishes
Its excuse receded, menace to the re-
public before the new wa2 came to ac-
CELEBRATE It's growth; not only bounty
on inendicanoy and fraud, but a prolific
| source of political corruption. Second
"A system Of plumber called the proteo-
tive tariff, calculated to keep out the
competing trade of the world which We
are lighting in the Orient to obtain; a
paradox which holds concealed elements
OF surprise for the daring performers who
think to ride two horses in opposite di-
rections at once, Third-An anti-immi-
grafton code which, barring out beg
gardly number of Orisn tails from the Pa
oitio coast. must reconcile itself with the
| annexation Of millions In the newly cap
tured Islands. kourth-A race conflict in
the south, waxing In proportions, COM
| plicated with the costly war conquest to
accumulate other race perpiexities and
horrors. Fifth-A labor unrest and Bit
ter struggle among the workers in the
mills and mines, to which We are to add
the labor questions of the brown races.
Sixth--The acquisition of another "irre-
tY and coolie slavery under the same
flag. All this, for
"a frail and bloody pomp which tins
will sweep
In fragments tn Oblivion"
Our struggle ia not for a day, not for
a generation, bur for all time. In the
vast fabric of human freedom each cen-
tury weayes but fragment of the pat
tern. Nations rise and fall, hopes die
| bnt to be reborn; yet to the slowly ac-
oumulating store of the worlds ciyiliza-
| ton no decrease can come.
Zone accent of the Holy Ghost
The needless worlu has never lost,
and our concern is with the substantial
con tribution we may make. by holding
to the abstract and eternal right, undis-
| turbed by the olatter Of politics or the
| detection of towards
| That the leaven of conscience Is at work
tho sins of the time demonstrate. Con-
versions are q. wsy from imperialism, not
to 1T. The shadow Of great fear hauDts
the rohber administration which must