Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1900-04-19

tauite likely the most practical form Of
raising the necessary revenues in the
Immediate future. ms the Porto Ricans
are IMPOVERISHED, are unused to direct
taxation. they receive the benefit Of all
1.-The monies collected, which are to be
expended in administering their own
/ affairs. and they viii enjoy absolute
free trade at the end Of two years. But
! it is the principle involved, the ex-
ample furnished, that proyokes criti-
eism. We are heneetorth to have
citizens and subiects-a superior and a
dependent class. How does that APP
peal to the descendants Of Ethan Al
LEM What effect will the example
have on the people Of Cuba, who are
uneasy under our control of their is
land, and on the Filipinos, who are
vet actively resisting us? Can they
| expect better treatment from us than
the docile Porto Ricans, who greeted
our troops with open arms and who
were assured by Gen. Miles that all
the blessings of American citizenship
should be theirs Can they not rather
expect harsher treatment, less rights,
higher tariffs against them2 What,
then, do they gain by exchanging
Spanish rule for American If they
are plundered less it will be on ac-
count of the difference in character of
Spanish and American officials, for the
latter will have equal opportunity with
the former. And the carpet-bag
period in the South showed how even
the American could and would some
times abuse his opportunities when he
had the power
The whole thing is repugnant TO the
American idea of liberty and Justice /.
The Revolutionary war is not so re- /
mote and the worship Of power and |
gold has not yet attained the point !
where, as people. we are ready to OPP |
press, in any degree, those over whom |
the stars and stripes float That flag
should mean liberty everywhere If |
we have raised it over a people unfit
Tor self-government rs to their home
affairs, of whose free competition in |
our home markets we are afraid. it |
were better to haul it down than that
it should wave over an unwilling peo-
pie, subjects, merely, We can never
make a success Of Imperialism, if this
is its meaning. Our hearts are not in
it. it is repugnant to all that we hold
dear, Our people will never be united
OVERT. We shall be forced to main
tain an immense army and navy to
rule our colonies, who will view as
false all our pretensions to fairness
and humanity.
Nobody wants to welcome to full
American citizenship and voting rights
at once the Porto Ricans and Filipinos.
but they are fitted 10 the same degree
of liberty that in the past we have ac-
corded to the inhabitants Of our terri
tories They deserve the privileges of
free trade relations with other parts OF
this country. For one, we cannot con-
ceive Of the American flag, above all
others, as the emblem of two grades of
the one inherent, the other
accorded. Not only is it foreign to the
nations policy in the past, bat that
he Republican party should be the
of this doctrine is most
saddening to many who have followed
it since its inception. We can but
think that misguided leaders, and not
the thinking masses ofthe party, have
marked out the course, which will be
one of sorrow, if 1t is pursued.