The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1900-08-22
A COMING { lIPlRE
The Rapid Approach OF an Ameri-
can Empsror.
THE ALARM SOUNDED.

The ALARM SOUNDED.
Some Serious R flections from
Senator Pettigrew, Of South
Dakota, on the P.Ii;i-
cal Outlook.
Within the past thirty years the
wealth of the United States, which
was once fairly distributed, has been
accumulated in the hands of few, so
that, according to the last census, $780,
600 men own sH 600, 600, 600, or over
three fourths of the wealth of this
country, while 50 per cent. Of the pop
ulation practically have no property
at all and do not own their homes.
1t would naturally be supposed that
| the 4S per cent Of the people who still
have an interest in the property of the
nation would be the governing classes.
Recent events, however, point unuls
tskably to the fact that the 250 600
people who own nearly all the wealth
have combined with the 81 per cent. of
our population who have no property,
and by gaining control of great aud
aforetime patriotic political orgaaiza
ton have usurped the functions Of a
government and established plu
tocracy.
Among all monarchies Of the past,
whenever all power and all property
have been gathered into the hands Of
the few aud disconcent appears among
the masses, it has been the policy to
acquire foreign possessions. to enlarge
the army and navy, to employ the dis
contented and distract their attention.
The attempt on the part of the Unit
ed States to acquire foreign territory,
coming as it dees along With an ever
increasing clamor for the enlargement
of the army and for the creation of
great navy, is sufficient to alarm patri-
otic citizens and lead to an anxious In
ouiry as to whittier We are drifting
Today we have no territory that navy
is needed to defend. The United
States is so situated that she can say
whether she will have peace or war.
But the moment We acquire distant,
possessions We must build navy to
defend them, for in case of war these
possessions would be first attacked and
taken from US France, England and
Germany have possessions scattered all
over the world, aud those nations are
consequently compelled to maintain
immense navics to defend them. These
possessions, in case of war, furnish SO
many points of attack, 50 many en-
barrassments, so many opportunities
for national humiliation that the strife
is to see who can maint tain the greatest
feet upon the sea. Shall We enter the
arena Of this contest?
From our earliest history We have
insisted that we would engage IN no
entangling alliances. We have said
that We would attend to our own affairs
and that our interests demanded that
no European country should gain fur
ther foothold upon the western hemis.
phere; and so strong has been our moral
position that without navy we have
always been able to enforce this doc
trine.
Throughout our past we have en-
countered many propositions for the
annexation Of tropical countries and
We resolutely Put them behind US, un-
til our judgment was clrcum7ented by
the Vaccinations of capitalistic combl-
nations and we took foroible possession
of the HaEaaiiau Islands. The same
influences are now at work to attach
permanently to the United States the
Philippine Islands; still deeper IN the
realm of thu blazing sea.
Tropical countries produce and main
tain populations much more dense than
countries in the temperate zone be.
cause it takes less to clothe and feed
and care for their people, because their
demands and wants are less and because
Of the wonderful food producing power
Of the soil of the tropics.
The island Of Java has an area DO
larger than the state Of Iowa, and 1t
contains 81, 600, 600 people. 1t is Iea-
sonable to suppose that the Hawaiian
and Philippine islands can maintain
population in proportion to their area
equal to those of other tropical coun,
tries. But what kind Of a population?
The more Of them the worse. There
is not colony Of European or Anglo
Saxon laborers within twenty-five de-
grees Of the equator anywhere on the
globe.
No English, no French, 40 Germans,
no Scsndinavians, no Russians, none
of the people whose blood flows In the
viens Of our people have colonized any
portion of the globe within twenty-five
degrees Of the equator. American en-
terprise and Anglo Saxon thrift seek
the region in the northern hemisphere
or the southern hemisphere between
the thirtieth and hfty. nth degree OF
north or south latitude.
They abide where the frost chills
mans blood and where clothing made
of the wool of the sheep helps to keep
him warm. | think it can be estao-
lished as a proposition which cannot be
refuted that self-goyernment and inde-
pendence and high civilization are
only embraced by people Who find 1t
necessary to wear warm clothing and
who feel the tingle of the frost in their
veins during portion of the ye.r. For
century the United States has held
position in relation to other nations of
the world different from that Of any
other nation that ever existed.
So great has been the moral force CT
| -, ,ron1 nosition that no American