Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-10-26
A REPLY TO CRITICISM.
litor of the Register.

CAMERON, ~. Va, October 24-Sir.
1t has been said by certain parties
| committed treason TO my country be-
cause | did not endorse the course OF
B. B. Dovener in Congress and this adj
ministration on imperialism, militar-
| ism, trusts, government by Injunction
and the gold standard and because |
| advocate the cause of the poor man as
| being an American citizen and the equal
of the rich man under the laws of our
land and our National Constitution Iii
opposing war Of conquest a war made
! without the sanction OF Congress, which
alone has power, is treason, am guilty
| II the desire to stop the enormous bur-
! dens OF taxation created by the Philip
pine war is treason, | am guilty. II
TO wish struggling people the bless
ings of government that our fore
! fathers fought for, is treason, l am
| guilty. If to protect the laboring man
| and woman of this country from the
competition of degraded labor of the
| Philippine isla.ds, is treason, then l
am guilty. Ships are coming home
! ladened with our boys, sick, insane
| hundreds dead-if it he treason to want
! this stopped, | am guilty. If to stand
by the Declaration of independence and
our Constitution is treason, am guilty.
! II 1t is treason to oppose governing our
territories outside the construction of
! the will CT Congress, and a wish to
avoid the mistakes Of England. Ger
many and Spain, is treason, | am
/ guilty, | am guilty of opposing en-
! pire, but in my own heart | am loyal
to the republic.
! If to repeat the language of Lincoln
when he says, No man is good enough
+ TO govern another without his consent"
is treason, | am guilty, because I ap-
! ply the principle of the great Nazerene
when here on earth, teaching mankind
! his duty to fellow mankind. He said,
DO unto others as you would have
Others do to you l believe in this
! doctrine and | feel that we are not
obeying this precept and carrying it
out with the Fnipinos nor with Porto
Rico. The lines between the parties
are clearly drawn.
A vote for Mckinley or B. B. Dovener
! upholds militarism, imperialism slav-
cry in the Sulu islands in violation of
the thirteenth amendment of our Con-
! stitution; upholds polygamy, uphoius
| government of our territories and
Islands as an empire or colony; ignores
the Constitution of the United States
as applying to any territory belonging
to our government and to the District
of Columbia They beiieve N taxa
| ton without representation, and al
] ready apply that law to Porto Rico.
! They say the words United States"
only applies to the States and our ter
(, rltories have no name or government
j except as Congress may designate They
I believe in a colonial policy. They be-
! lieve our flag can wave over a country
! where slavery exists, over men gov
/ erned by governor general, as in Porto
/ Rico, where he rules with a.solutt.
power, according TO his own swEt
will. They say the Constitution does
not follow the flag in our territories
| and its precepts are lost in their gov
! eminent as it only applies to the States.
! ithey believe in trusts. ',lhey believe in
| the Dingley bill to maintain them.
! They believe in government by injunc-
| ton, in giving a thief or murderer a
| trial by jury, but laboring man, who
trespasses ON the property of the man
! whom he works for can be arrested by
a federal officer and tried by federal
judge, without jury, and fined and put
in Jail if he SO desires.
! stand for the American flag ard
J our Constitution and | believe they
| go hand in hand together in all our
! territories. Such men as Doyener Dali
zell, Aldrich 4 Co., when cornered on
| their un-American and un-Constitu-
tlonal methods, say that wherever the
| flag once floats there it shall stay
God help the man whose heart is so
shaped that he would feel a national
humiliation in doing justice to the poor
weak little brown man of the Philip
/ pines" and refuse to take down our
| nag after it had served its mission,
| when by doing so we could better our
own condition and theirs. Palsied be
the arm and dimmed the sigh OF any
| man who would for self agrandisement
or party fame attempt the destruction
| of that diadem, the crown that holds
| the gems that shines forth and por-
| trays the luster OF our magnificent in
(, situations, cur freedom, our Declara-
| ton OF Independence. We all honor
| and revere the flag, not the stars and
stripes, but what the stars and stripes
| stand for-Liberty, Freedom and
| Union. The flag is the emblem OF all
| those cardinal principles proclaimed in
the Declaration OF independence and
secured and guaranteed in the Consti-
| tuition. 1t also reminds US of the days
| when patriotic blood coursed through
the veins of our forefathers and who. by
| their valor and stern sense OF justice,
fought the battles of Bunker Hill,
Monmouth, Trenton and Yorktown,
endured the hardshlps Of Valley Forge
and finally planted its battered and
faded plumage over old independence
Hall in Philadelphia TO protect it in
the future when bringing cut again to
the world the same message it sent
forth on the Fourth of July, 1776-
| Wherever it floats, whether upon land
or sea, in the Occident or in the Orient,
it proclaims that beneath its shelter
ing folds and protecting aegIs, there
shall the people under its insignia, born
in the Revolutionary War and cement
ed by the blood OF the patriots OF those
days, enjoy the right to worship God
according TO the dictates of conscience
| and have and possess all the other
grand and noble attributes laid down
in that part of our Constitution desig-
| mated the bill OF rights. When this
great and noble banner ceases to rep
resent these principles, when it is
raised over an allen people in alien
lands and becomes typical of aggres-
-to, .rd oorruezf than rnrcver rnrnh