The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1900-09-01
ttingnished New England iawver and
scholar, sg,- &. ,ss@f
5%G ImDSerialiAnl Ileflne.,. ss 52%s is@s 4,

'''The struggle OF men for freedom has
ever Deen struggle for constitutional
liberty. There is no liberty If the citi-
zen has no rights which the. legislature
may notinVade:-if he may be taxed by
legislature in which he is not repre-
sented:H or II he is not protected by a
fundamental law against the arbitrary
ACTION Of executive power. The policy
Of Porto Rico. Hawaii. or the Philip
pines no prospect of American citizen
snip. no constitutional protection, no
mt; rn in the congress wh'cn
men by arbitrary power without their
my friends, are the exact opposite OF
the methods and ideals of republics
conflict with the principles professed
by our fathers, which they made the
basis of their revolt from the imperial
system Of England: which they pro-
penGence and built into the fibre of our
Constitution. Arbitrary governments"
said Daniel Webster. may have terri
tories and distant possessions. because
by different laws and different sytems.
We can do no such thing. They must
be- of us. part of us. or else strangers.
\ New Departure.
Yet ''arbirtary government govern
ment ''by different laws and different
SytemS.' prevails today in Porto Rico.
and is proposed in the Republican ma
sued toward all the islands lately taken
from Spain. This is in very deco inn
perialism Governor Roosevelt has
said, in another place, when speaking
I'VE stand at the parting ofthe ways"
SO indeed we do. The new policy in
wolves a complete severance from the
customs, beliefs. ideals and traditions
can this l!r said to be an 'imaginary
danger? On the contrary is it not
the. most mumentous issue ever submit
ted to the decision Of the American
people?
Expansion and Impcrialixm
x conspicuous example of the verbal
l''sslery by which our opponents at
tempt t" confuse the discussion of this
subject is seen in their use OF the
word expansion us descriptive of
their policy. Mr.. Roosevelt is not
'pretend' tn be for expansion There
is no pretense about it, Except the
case of Alaska every foot of land on
ms continent, beyond the limits of the
old Thirteen States, over which the
American flag floats today. has been
acquired under Democratic administra-
tons. And these acquisitions were
made too in precise harmony with the
principles of expansion" The COVER
d.
floridn and Texas as examples Of our
expansion. and has the temerity to cite
them as presidents for the present pro-
redure of the administration. But the
ana that now proposed is so vice as
the distinction between right and
wrong. Justice and injustice. depotsm
ana liberty. Not an acre of our former
ton was explicitly assured of ultimate
statehood in this glorious union: not an
lnhabitant but was welcomed tn citi-
zenshlp under the flag: not a nook or
liberties did not go with our laws. our
constitution with our sovereignty. The
republican party now declares, the
lirst time IN our history that such
alien countries inhabited by nations of
governing themselves may be seized by
us by conquest and may be governed
by us arbitrarily without thier con-
ply, to Them neither guaranteeing their
rights nor conditioning our authority:
that the United States of America may
have subjects as well as citizens, may
only reliance is on the benevolence of
our depOtism. This repeats the Decla-
ration of Independence. This SUBJ
stitutes force for consen: as the basis
deprives even our own liberties of all
admitted sanction and exposes them to
attack by ambition and to insidiolls de-
struction by the selfish forces or So
ciety. r.. r., >Hj
Roosevelt in Other Days.
And vet nobody has better explained
the difference between true ''expan-
sion and this false pretenSe Of it which
we denounce as imperialism. then this
same gentleman. [ quote from pages
Of Thomas II. Benton, published in 1898.
referring to certain Canadian pro inces
that might have been within our limits
under different settlement Of the old
Northwestern boundary dispute than
that reached in the Ashburton treaty.
he says: "Of course no one would wish
to see these, or any other settled COM
munities, now added to our domain by
enter our Union. European nations
war for the possession of thickly set
tied districts which. if conquered. will
Tor centuries remain alien and hos
tile to the conquerOrs; we, wiser IN our
generation, have seized the waste soil
tudes that lay near US. the limitlesss
forests, and never ending plains: and
the valleys of the great lonely rivers:
them to take possession; and a score, of
years after each conquest we see the
conquered land teeming with people
that is one of ourselves
Yes. this peaceful conquest of ada
cent lands to be inhabited by citizens Of
equal rights under the government of
equal laws: CnlS mas Deen our custom
in the past. this must remain our GUS
tom in the time to come. Under it
the thin line of settlement on the
Atlantic coast has widened Westward
beyond the Allegheny mountains to the
valley of the Mississippi. across the
prairies, through the passes of the
Rockies down to the bosom of the
peaceful sea, and heightened southwark
to the warm waters of the Gulf of
Mexico. Under it. in Gods own good
time. unless we mar our destiny with
violet hands. the same peaceful and
beneficent sway shall carry the ideas
OF WASHINGTON and Jefferson and Lin
coin northward to the frozen ocean and
southwark to where the waves of the
Atlantic and PACIFIC rush into each
others arms beneath our hemisphere
1t not this destiny to ennoble the
mind to fill and satisfy the soul? What
dream of blood and slaughter can ap-
peal to us as that fair vision of right
eous glory can?
An Imperial System.
Despite many evidences of self-im-
posed caution. Mr. ROosevelt's speech
clearly enough exhibits his bias to-
ward an imperial system and his con-
viction that the present policy of his
party must commit us to an Indefinite
course of conquest and colon1ai admin
istration. He speaks Of the immeas-
urable disgrace Of abandoning the proud
position we have taken, Of fiinching
from the great work we have begun"
He appeals for the reelection Of MIR
1-s~. L L