Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1900-07-04

ana the good Trusts the trust that con-
tributes most to the republican party. to
which it owes its life. Thus nowadays.
instead of telling us there is no innpe-i
rialisnn, they will be pointing us to the
comparative advantages OF different
brands of imperialism. Some will doubt
less be labeled .Polygamy,' others .Slav-
cry others Tariff Taxes Between Parts
rious designations more or less appropri-'
ate. And then we shall have disserta-
lions on their respective merits by a
man whose only claim to renOWn is that
he bought United States senatorship
and afterward boosted that he knows
his business But when this happens VIC
shall have gained one point We shall
have forced them to admit that imperial
ism is at hand. just as we have already
forced them to admit trusts are to-day
operating in every state of the union,
in violation Of the law and to the ruin
of the public welfare
Behind these trusts-the industrial and
the imperialis one greater than any and
from which all the others come. 1t is the
political trust operated by M A. Hanna
and represented in the white house by
William Mckinley. This is the trust that
goes into every state, every congressional
district every county and every precinct
In this country, debating who shall be
candidates for public office; who, being
candidates, shall be elected: who shall
make the laws and what kind of laws
they shall be when made. The political
trust is the trust that goes into state
legislatures and even to the distant is
lands of the sea, to procure public fran
chises for its favorites. This Is the trust
that determines which party shall pre-
dominate in both branches of congress-
and in return for services to that end
openly and shamelessly bestows foreign
consulships and local Offices upon those
who promote its interests. This is the
trust which gathers up the usufruct of
millions annually to perpetuate itself in
power. This is the trust that worms
itself into political conventions, as it has
recently done in Ohio, and from this very
platform, and is able to prevent delegates
from voting for their choice for state
officer, even after they have been in
structed by their constituents for whom
to vote. This Is the trust that is able
to prevent the people of Ohio from cele-
brating the one hqndredth year of their
glorious history in a manner already
provided by law, because, forsooth, the
political trust would make of the Ohio
centennial a political machine This is
the trust whose operations are universal
the mother of all the other trusts
Sometimes Its offspring multiply too rap
idly, and then it becomes like the old
woman who lived in a shoe-she had so
many children she didn't know what to
do But when this happens to the po-
litical trust 1t has remedy in killing
off some Of its children by giving others
advantages over them: and so the fam
lily resumes its former numbers and pros
pers on continued robbery without at
tracing too much attention. This trust
fixes the policy of the government by die
tating who shall constitute it, It is able to
stif1e freedom abroad and breed corrup-
ton at home: for under its operations
it is easier for a political boss to buy a
United States senatorship than for a
slave to buy his liberty in the Philippines.
You cannot destroy the other trusts
and let the political trust live. They
must stand or fall together. If all the
other trusts were destroyed, the political
trust would breed their successors; but
if the political trust is destroyed, all
the others will die from lack of nourish-
ment. To accomplish this is the object
of democracy; it is the object of your as
semblage here and will be the object of
the greater assemblage that will pres
emily give a new expression of the ma
tional faith at Kansas City. And when
that is done and our candidate is NOM
mated, at one stroke we shall have made
an end of the imperialism of industry
and the Imperialism of arms.
my friends, in all we think in all we
express, in all we do, in all we propose,
it is most essential now that we renew
our devotion to the cardinal principles
of American craftsmanship, since others
have departed from them. It was writ
ten on the death of a great Persian
philosopher that, taking the first foot
step with the good thought, the second
with the good word and the third with
the good deed. he entered Paradise In
the same order Of progress the people
of this country, niarshaled' under the
banners of triumphant, democracy, may
Renter the land of the fathers and pos
sess it. 1t is astonishing, it is humiliat-
ing-but it is true-that to-day we are
obliged to reafhrm fundamental doctrines
that were accepted as matters of course
only four years ago. in order to prove
our title to the name of freemen.
eve believe in the constitution of the
United States. We believe in the declara-
ton of independence. We believe in the
Monroe doctrine. We believe that the
love of liberty is Unborn in the human
breast and that possessing it's fruits our
selves through more than a century of
trial and temptation, we cannot deny
them to others We believe that the love
OF liberty Is the same in California as
in Massachusetts: the same in Cuba as
In California; the same in Porto Rico
as In Cuba; the same In the Philippines
as in Porto Rico and the same in South
>N~>~O~
no distinction as to where liberty should
be enjoyed when men desire it.. Intelli-
gent sacrifices for liberty prove the fit
ness of their victims to possess it, and
there's no line drawn between such sacri-
fees, whether they are offered on the
altar of American tyranny in Luzon or
on the altar of British greed in the
Transvaal Sherman said that war is
hell but there is no word this side of
hell that can describe the horror of a war
of CONQUEST.
1--WE charge that William Mckinley, OF
his own *volitton, began such a war on
the 21st of December, 1885, by issuing
to the Filipinos a proclamation claim
ing absolute sovereignty over the entire
Philippine archipelago and over the prop
erty and persons of its inhabitants. We
charge that this declaration of war was
issued against a people with whom we
were then and always had been at peace
nay, more, that they were our allies
against common enemy at the moment
Mr.. Mckinley proclaimed the conquest.
We charge that this declaration was is
sued without the consent or even the
knowledge of congress-, which under, the
constitution Is the sole power to make
war. Before the treaty of peace with
Spain was ratified, before we could have
substantiated the slightest claim, of pur-
chase or. conquest. over the Philippines,
the present administration deliberately
proclaimed the Filipino patriots rebels
and put the stamp Of treason; upon their
honest virtue. At that moment impe-
rialism was born in this country. At that
moment the clouds began to obscure the
republic. and a blood-red sun foretold
the empire. That sun rose in signifi-
cant hue, for it showed the crimson tide
that has since flowed from the DEATH
wounds of 1000 American soldiers. Where
its rays pierced the gloom they were
bolts of fire in as many desolate homes,
and where they shone not was the black
ness of despair-the despair of the hero
Who was denied the privilege of surren-
dertng up his soul. but from whom this
war of conquest took, away his mind.
What has followed in the Philippines
and wherever we have thrown down our
tmDerfal panf1pt haS f0ll0uyad mn t,1ra11v