Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1900-01-18

OF knows human A1lure believes that the
Filipinos would ever be glad to have us
govern them. What excuse can be given
for it? I have heard three. The first is
the money argument-that it will pay; that
there is money in it. The second is the re-
ligious argument-that God is in it. And
the third is the political argument-that
We are in 1t and cannot get out. need not
dwell upon the money argument DR.. Tay-
Tor has already commented upon that.
1t Is the lowest argument ever made. The
man who will justify war of conquest on
the basis of dollars and cents applies to that
subject the same principle that the burglar
or the highwayman applies. You cannot
very well go to a mourning mother and tell
her that it pays to have her boy die. The
mothers of this country will send their
sons to fight for liberty, and If the sons fall
the mothers rejoice that God gave them
strength to bear sons for such noble serv-
Ice But where is the mother who will rear
sons for dollars and cents to be exchanged
for oriental trade?
Decries War for Gain.
"And yet the man who says it will pay has
got to put a pecuniary estimate upon the
lives of American soldiers. He has got to
tell you how much we are going to spend
In money and how much in men, and then
how much each man is worth. / believe in
the extension of trade. want this nation
to extend it's trade. / want this nation to
have communication with all the peoples of
the world. want this nation to send forth
the prod'>cts of it's soil and supply the needy
everywhere. But would not put one Amer
lean soldier on the auction block and trade
him off for the Golfers of the orientals.
There is more potent argument than
that of money. 1t is the religious argument.
Very few men will attempt to defend i'm
perialism on the basis of dollars and cents,
but many have attempted to defend 1t on
the basis of religious grounds. Convince
man that it is his religious duty to do
thing and he will do it. Convince him that
it Is his religious duty to take his money
and give it to someone else, and he will do
1t. Convince him that 1t is his religious duty
to give his life and he will give 1T. But
more unfortunate still-man is so consti-
tuted that if you will convince him that II
is his religious duty TO take somebody else's
money he will dc it. Convince him that it
is his religious duty to take someone else's
life ana he will do it. And how much money
has been taken, and how many lives have
been taken by men who have deluded them
selves with the idea that God told them to
kill somebody or rob somebody!
''One republican senator said the other
day that it was Gods work, that God haG
opened the door of the Philippine islands
and pushed US in and shut the door. There
we were. The question / ask is: Who told
him so? Did God tell him? If so. when and
where? And if God did not tell him, then
to whom did God reveal it? 1 have seen e.
publcans going up and down this land
telling about Gods plan, when 1 have
known that il God knew them as we'll as
did He never would have revealed any
thing to them. You will find that this reli-
gious argument is a potent one. All, my
friends, there Is no one who has riSh- to
tell US that God commands US either to take
another mans property or another mans
life. There is no one who can present Gre
dentials that would justify him in COM
handing us in the name of God to do
wrong.
when the Cubans were struggling for
the right to govern themselves both the
great national conventions put in then
platforms declarations of sympathy with
the struggling Cubans. But over III South
Africa the Beers are fighting for repub
lie, and this nation, the greatest repub-
lie in the world, a nation that heretofore
has announced with holiness it's sympathy
with all who seek to govern themselves,
this nation stands with its hands tied and
its mouth gagged, fearing to say word as
a nation for fear the answer will come
back: What's the matter with the Fill
pinos? Our sympathy for the Rocrs, tie
sympathy of the opponents of imp srialisln
here, does not rest upon the fact that Eng
land is the aggressor: it rests upon the fact
that it is an American principle that is e.
stake, and, no matter who is the aggres-
sor, we believe in the doctrine of self
What mockery to appeal to a
Divine Providence to aid In the overthrow
of the principles of our government!
TT may be that the time has come when
this nation. conceived in liberty, shall be
turned over to the doctrines of the past
1t may be-no man can tell what ths
future has in store. But if it is true tina,
the time has come when these fundamental
principles will be changed If it is true tina
upon the ruins of homogeneous republic
is to be built a heterogeneous empire, l
pray to God that the party of Jefferson ard
Jackson may die with the republic rather
than live with the monarchy