Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1900-02-09
BOWS TO JOHN BULL.
ADMINISTRATIONS SUBSERVI-
ENJOY TO GREAT BRITAIN.
Tho Seizure of American Products OF
the Farm and Factory ON the high
Seas Goes on without Protest to the
British Foreign ONCE.

McKinley's subserviency to Great
dangerous confirmation. Four vessels
laden with American flour and Other
food supplies, consigned to Lourenco
Marques, the port of the Portuguese
possessions at Delagoa bay, South AT
RIGA, have been seized by British cruis-
ers for carrying contraband of war.
While the cargoes in question might
eventually reach the Transvaal, nc
Great Britain is also preparing to pa
troll the Atlantic coast with war ships
to prevent any craft leaving which is
even remotely suspected of carrying
supplies which may reach the Trans
vaal.
If there were truly American presi-
dent in the White House such affronts
would never have been offered to this
government.
Our government has so far made no
protest against this seizure of neutral
goods bound for a neutral port. The
secretary of state has merely given the
shippers a non-committal assurance
that he will have their complaints in
quired into. That is all the satisfac-
ton they are going to get until the
final day of reckoning comes, when
Great Britain will have to account for
these seizures and a good many other
things besides.
One hundred years ago Great Britain
got into the habit of taking American
seamen off American vessels and i'm
pressing them into the British navy.
She got her lesson then, but she seems
to have forgotten it. She is now seiz-
ing American goods in American YES
sells absolutely without warrant of law
or precedent. Mckinley has done a
lot of prating about 1.-THE flag" but he
hauls it down every time Great Britain
wants him to.
While it is true that there is no
proof that the particular cargo seized
by Great Britain was intended for the
Transvaal, yet it must be remembered
that Delagoa bay is the only neutral
territory adjoining the Transvaal, and
through it alone has it been possible
for outside supplies to reach the Beers.
Great Britain has clearly gone outside
the Paris convention in attempting to
seize foodstuffs as contraband of war.
If she tries to starve out the Trans
wal, President Kruger can retaliate
and he probably will. There are sew
eral thousands of British prisoners at
Pretoria, and there will be 10000 more
within few weeks. President Kruger
may refuse to feed these prisoners il
Great Britain refuses to let food sup
plies come in. The Transvaal may be
trusted to meet this emergency in
proper spirit.
American farmers and producers
should realize the danger to their in
terests if Great Britain is to be al
lowed to declare food supplies contra
band of war. About the only times in
farmers have got good prices for their
products have been when prices have
gone up on account of European wars.
If that market is to be absolutely cut
off by declarations of belligerency,
American interests will suffer hundreds
of millions of dollars loss. If GreatBrit-
ain can shut off American flour bound
for the neutral port of Lourenco Mar
ques because she is fighting the Trans
'yaal, she could cut off provisions from
this country bound for France in case
she had war with Russia. 1t is a
dangerous precedent and it is a pity
that the White House hasn't an occu-
pant with sufficient backbone to pre-
vent its being established. There will
be democratic president in the White
House in about fifteen months, and
probably one of his first acts will be to
cut loose from Great Britain and give
her full warning that the partnership
severed in 1776 and resurrected in 1899
is at an end.