Willmar tribune., 1900-10-20

The privileged classes are not con-
tent with our own country. They want
more worlds to conquer. They want to
control populations that have less
power Of resistance than the white
race--iands where their dominion may
be complete, and SO, taking advantage
Of the conditions growing out Of the
Spanis war. they are now
endesvoring, to establish imperialism
BIZ fastening upon our institutions . !
colonial system and large standing !,
army.
Our people know intuitively that
there is menace and danger in this |
!. new departure. To overcome this ,
feeling they appeal to the patriotism,
to the national pride, and to the self
ishness of the people. They say that
the glory of our flag and the prestige
of our name demand it. They say
! that, besides, there is money in it.
This latter they rely upon as their
most convincing argument. Did the
Spanish people find Imperialism prof
table? Did their colonial empire tend
to the upbuilding of their industries,
their trade, and their progress? On
the contrary, it had the opposite ef-
feet. From being the most powerful
state of Christendom, the most enlight-
& ened and in many respects the most
progressive, before it embarked in
the venture of colonial empire, its
power, its resources and it's people
( had been dragged down to the lowest
depths of degradation before we forced
it to abandon the system. Shall we
disregard the example of Spain and
and adopt the very system that de-
stroyed her power and impoverished
her people? = y.@:r :. r..
Nations can grow and expand, as
ours has, to their political and eco
nomic advantage. But. such national
growth always has been, and always
will be, through the occupation and
acquisition of territory not already
occupied by a dense population, and
by PLANTING the1e rein 81 the expand
ing nations own people and it's own
institutions. Such was our expansion
over the territory acquired from Spain
in the southern part of our country,
and from France in the south and to
the west of us. The same is true of
Alaska. But the white race never has
and never can permanently occupy
and inhabit land within the tropics. 4~.
INTEGRAL PARTS, NEVER. e.
We can never hope to make the Phil
ippine islands integral parts Of our
Union, occupied by people Of our, race,
with our political and social ideals, as
we have in Florida, Louisiana, and CAL
Ifornia. Our occupation Of these
islands will be military and the govern
ment colonial, thus converting our own
institutions from q republic, resting
upon manhood suffrage, governed by
laws Of the peoples own making, in
other words, governed by the consent
Of the governed. to military empire.
Such changes in the institutions of
4 nations in the past have always
proven destructive OF the liberties of
the people, and in the end, Of their ma
Il tiOnal existence. This historical fact
Il is we'll expressed by Froude, the his
torian, in his introduction to his
Life Of Cesar He says:
TO the student of political history,
and to the English student above all
others, the conversion Of the Roman
republ icS into a military empire, COM
mands peculiar interest. Notwith-
standing many differences, the; English
and the Romans essentially lly resemble
4 one another. The early Romans pos
81 sessed the faculty Of self-government
beyond any people Of whom we have
u historical knowled ge, with the one ex-
ception of ourselves. In virtue of
their temporal freed ON, they became
the most powerful natio in the known
#s world, and their liberties perished
ss8 only when Rome became mistress OF
conq uered races, to whom she was un-
M 2 Dle or unwilling to extend her prlv1-
leges: #@s3
e there be ono lesson which hiss
tory teaches e IS this. that FREQ II.
ttons cannot govern subject provinces.
BIG a they srs unable 81 unwilling to al
NIT their dspsnd dsnciss g share II
. llsir own cons stitution. the sconstitu-
5 lion It.eif viii TIL Ii pieces from msrs
Iasompstsnee for Its dutiss s. e 4 ssa8
1he righ ulness otf the prop osition
to govern other peoples against their
5S Wiill ought not To- be open for discus
y sion the American people, whose
government rests npo on the PROPOSE
tion that cove ment by force, and
not instituted by the consent Of the
governed, S. tyranny The only an
Il . 81 Mswer W AZ / can GO GET 70 this proposi-