The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-02-25
A QUESTION OF AMERICANISN
Alfred Henry Lewis Writes OF Mckinley and
His Imperiastic Policy.
(The Verdict.)

CThe Verdict.)
One often marvels at the American
patience. Or is it a decline of American
spirit? Sure! our forefathers of CEN
tury ago, by this and that! blow high,
blow low! would rid themselves of such
government as that we bleed with to-
day. 1t was a tea-taX of paltry mil
lion or two which eliminated i'll seven
years of blood and revolution. Now we
sit tame and close while Expressions.
Frauds, and open Robberies pillage us
for billions. Such rule as this of the
greed encrusted Hanna-vulgar with his
avarice-would not have lasted IN that
other day. 1t was last week when d
cool philosopher of men made these re-
marks to The Verdict: Folks as rule
will get such government as belongs to
them Be they dogs, they will be gov
erned like dogS-kenneled and fed and
beaten to their work like dogs Ours will
inherit a ours portion. The deduction
is, that whatever be the yillainies of
government, the governed-the people
are to blame therefor 1t was not neces~
sary for Jefferson TO declare that gov
eminent derived itself from the consent
of the governed. That was ever, and
ever will be true Be the fabric of con-
troll a tyranny, a monarchy an aristoc-
racy, a democracy. or what you will
be it honest or venal or criminally wick
ed in its administration, the people as
sent to it, or it could not exist. Vile
or good that government fits their ma
lures, fills their demands One should
never forget that in spite of cant and
hypocrisy and moral SWIVEL; in the face
of argument or precept announcing
theory, in government as in Nature gem
orally, Might is the Dominant and the
Dominant is ever Right There is no
virtue like the virtue of Force. Someone
once said that Vigilance is the price
of Liberty. He should have amplifed
his remark. Vigilance alone never pur-
chased nor preserved a Right. And lib
erty in the last solution of its defence
calls for Vigilance welded to Force. Not
always the force of bullet or bayonet;
those are last remedies. Rather the
Force of Right thinking, and in our
American case the Courage of Right
voting. Also, one should have that civic
wit and valor which, while detecting
wrongs of registration and crimes of
ballot, meet them, and arrest them, and
clap them in the pillory OF strict punish
ment
The moral difference between pure
burglary and pure business has grown TO
be slight. 1t is a difference, also, in no
sort to favor the victim. Lockwood. be-
fore the Industrial Commission asked a
fair question (not as yet replied TOT
when he said: What is the material
difference between being robbed by a
Il IL, I
/ by Standard Oil with a railroad? No.
truly business is greed. And Greed
which each day lowers moral standards.
finds that expression in the slavery Of
every one too weak to resist. You end =
your government does-with the strong
few masters and the weak many as serfs.
In this money age, when money is pow
er, and poverty limp and sick, one will
not wend far afeld to find ones ruler,
Yet it need not be that money should
conquer freedom. If Freedom would
but grid UP the loins of her courage,
face Money and fight for her right to
live, her triumph would be easy ana
swift. But therein lies the trouble.
Americanism, coming to our own sad
apathetic case, would seem as a splrir
to be paralyzed. Look at the outra ges
OF the Hanna government. They crowd
one another in a very lock-step of corrup-
ton and fill each dripping day. Yet re
sentiment burns glow and cold There
would appear to be no more fire in the
public breast than might be found in the
bosom of a wet bath towel, and public
courage shows water-logged and Sodden.
1t is a wrong figure, however, to speak
of the public as dogs. Rather are they
sheep to be driven. On their way to the
shearing sheds, in charge of those who
fleece them, it now and then falls out
that the antic ignominies of some under
shepherd of an Alger or Il Gage, or it
may be an Eagan, alarm the flock
They bunch up and stand at dubious
gaze. Thereupon the Hanna at the
head OF all casts out this disquieting
shepherd. The flock at once forgets and
goes forward. The fleeing proceeds
the shearing goes on the same.
Surely it would seem,' continued this
philosopher, that given on the part OF
the people one spark of that former
spirit which, kindled at Concord, burned
through a Valley Forge to blaze in vic
tory at final Yorktown, Mckinley will
this year, be beaten from his place. Yet
50 certain are such as Hanna of the dull
and stupid tameness OF the American
voter, that they today wager one two to
enc on McKinley's success. He should
Of verify. lie beaten. Conditions have
changed in four years. The fight of 1896
was perfOrce a battle of promises and
platforms. Both sides, Bryan and Me
Kinley, Were out, while Cleveland held
the White House. Neither Bryan nor Me
Kinley had a record to conider and the
contest was rather one Of hope and fear
based on the professions of candidates
and platforms. To this situation OF
course one must add the 19-milhon cor
ruption fund of Hanna. and which
bought and fought on the side of RepIb
lcanism. This years warfare is not one
Of promise. There has been in the black
illicit case of Mckinley some four years
Of performance. The Canton cipher has
Il record He has been tagged on to NOR,
than one, yes, more than one hundred
numerals of Nillainy and Greed to narb
the measure of public crime. Today Nc