The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1900-05-16

! victory OF that year. open Tue i>oohs
In Cuba, will nave much to do with
the Democratic victory this year.
The Post has rendered Democracy
good service by giving it . tiptop bat
tlccrv. 1t will not do to underrate the
force of q happy phrase. Lord War
ton always claimed that he whlstled
King James III out Of three Kingdoms,
and everybody knows what q marvel
Gus part a few jingly sentences. some
of them we'll nigh idiotic, cut in the
famous campaign of 1910. But "Open
the Books In Cuba is not idiotic. 1t is
full of meat and founded on wisdom.
The quicker they are opened the better.
In the following words Senator Hoar
tears the jingoes and their fantastic
arguments into tatters, or. in ring par
lauce, cuts them into ribbons.
Why, Mr President, is it credible that any
American statesman. that any American senator,
that any intelligent American citizen anywhere
two years ago could have been found to affirm
that a proceeding like that oi the Paris treaty
could give just and valid title to sovereignty
over people situated rs were the people OF those
never submitted to nor admitted by the people OF
the islands, with frequent instructions at differ
ent times for centuries, and then the yoke ali
thrown off a constitutional government. schools.
colleges, churches, universities, hospitals, town
governments, legislature, cabinet, courts,
code OF laws and the whole island occupied and
| controlled by its people, with the single eXccp-
ton of one city, with taxes lawfully levied and
collected with an army and the beginning OF 4
navy.
And vet the senate The congress, enacted less
| than two years ago that the people OF Crba-col-
trolling peaceably no part OF their island, levylnG
no taxes in any orderly or pcaceable way, wltt
no administration OF justice, no cabinet-not Only
of right ought to be, but werc IN tact, tree anG
independent state. did not give my assent to
that declaration OF fact. assented to the doc
trine that they of right ought to be. But /
thought the statement OF fact much calculated to
cmbarrass the government of the United States,
II it were bound by that declaration, and 1t mas
been practically disrcgardcd by the adInlnlstra-
| ton ever since. But the question now IS very
different one You not only deny that the Flll-
pinos are but you deny that they Of right ought
to be, free and Independent, and you recognize
Spain as entitled to sell to you the sovereignty OF
an island where she was not at the time occu-
pyinc foot Of territory, where her soldiers were
held captives By the government OF the 1siand' q
government to which you had delivered over
large number Of Spanish prisoners to be helc as
captures And yet you come he:e tocay ana say
that they not only not, but they OF nght
ought not, to be free and independent, and when
YOU are pressed YOU answer US by taking aooul
mountains of iron and nuggets OF gold and trace
with China.
affirm that you cannot get by conquest ana
YOU cannot get by purchase, according 70 Inc
modern law Of nations. according to the law OF
nations as accepted and expounded by the United
States, sovereignty over people o: title TO ter
ritory of which the power that undertakes 10 sell
it or the power from whom You unoertahe 10
wrest it has not the actual possession and CO.
minion. Under municipal law you cannot buy
horse OF which the seller is dispossessed; you
cannot buy foot of land Of which he IS dlsselz-
ed: YOU cannot purchase q lawsuit. Cnder inter-
national law YOU cannot buy a people from
mower that has no actual dominion over them.
You cannot buy war. More than ths you can
not buy tyrant's claim to subject asain an op-
nressed people who have achieved their freedom.
yo;, cannot buy the liberties of people from
dspossessed tyraDt-liberties they have oravely
| von for themselves in arms. You cannot puy
eovereipnty like merchandise and men like sheep.
The king Of England kept, down to 1S0O, the ute
Of duke of Normandy and king OF France. Couto
anv other country OF all Europe tosether nave
bought France Of King George? wonder "iat
would have happened Ii, instead OF acSnowleos
nr NA'N
treaty France had bought England out and unoer
taken to assert her title to the United STATES.
These Questions have to be answered, not arnlo
+he shouting and applause OF ! poiltlcal cam
paicn not in party platforms, rot aione IN d si"
gle campaign or single generation. hey nave
got to be answered TO history, TO the lnstruclea
conscience OF the civilized world, when lsie pas
sions and the greed ana the ambitions OF SIN
Gle generation have gone by ana are colc' 'Aio
tDoy,,b Into
Gates Goes Free.
When the old woman was Informed
that the COW had eaten the grlnds'ohe'
she exclaimed. Il told you So. am
in her frame OF mind Recently pre-
dictcd in these letters that the prosecu-
tion against Hon. John ". Gates for
cheating, swindling, fleeing and other
wise maltreating other Wall street
gamblers would come to naught. That
prediction has been fulfilled, a New
York Judge having liberated Gates. VI
course he did. guess that after the
heeced gamblers had applied arnlca to
their wounds and had had time to re-
fleet they concluded that, as Gates had
already realized colossal fortune at
their expense, he might, if driven to
the wall. take it into his head to give
the snap away and thereby prevent
them from recouping themselves Tor
losses inflicted upon them by Gates by
fleeing tenderfoot operators in that
perilous street. So Gates gees free TO
arrange other coups and to throw 9TH
or thousands out of employment in or
der that he may pile Up 4 few addition
al millions.
wish to repeat that as between
Gates and his Wall street opponents it
is a choice betwiXt tweed!edum ana
tweedle.lce. When they abuse each