The Irish standard., 1900-09-22


less,.b that there is endless opportu-
nifty for. young men in the Philippines
and in China, and that an American
colonial system will furnish an outlet
for the energy and ambition which
seeks i'll vain for field on the Ameri-
can continent.
The Democratic party says to the
young men of America that there is
room enough for them on their own
soil and that, when industrial, finan-
cial OF commercial developments tend
to lessen or destroy opportunities it is
the duty of the government to inter-
vene and reopen the channels of com
petition which human greed is closing.
one is a policy stained with the
crimes and damned with the failures
of European civilization. The other is
an American policy.
Mr.. Hanna seems to be convinced
that the Imagination of the young men
OF the United States has been fired by
visions of empire in the far East, that
they are tired of the platitudes of the
declaration of independence and the
provincialfsm of the Monroe doctrine,
and that they will enthusiastically
support policy Of conquest and ad-
venture. So every Republican orator
dwells cnchantinyly on the glittering,
mysterious, easily got wealth of Asia.
He points to the possessions of Great
Britain and other nations in the East
as an evidence of their wealth and
progress. But llr says nothing about
wholesale butcheries of half-armed
Asiatic peoples, of the burning of
cities, the laying waste of prosperous
agricultural countries, the plundering
and eNtortion, the violation of innocent
women and Il hundred other crimes
which have attended the extension of
European power in Asia.
Talk to Il Republican leader today
about the necessity for restraining the
trusts and restoring to the young men
of the country the chance to compete
i'll life which their fathers had, aud he
will tell you about the great future of
the American in China and the Philip
pines-two over-crowded countries.
The idea of empire is and always
must be associated With the idea of
force. Empire can only rest upon
force, and the Republican party ap
peals to the young voters to follow
Theodore Roosevelt, the slashins,
dashing Rough ltiIer, the man who
believes in war FOR the sake of war
1t hopes to arouse in America the cor.
rupt and corrupiing spirit of militar-
ism which has sustained the young
men Of Europe and made them the I'M
conscious enemies of their own lib
critics.
The question which confronts the
young man of America to-day is this:
Is the American continent exhausted,
and must Americans look elsewhere
for opportunities II not, how are op-
portunities to be found at home?
Is it true that the government has
no right to Interfere with the trusts?
The government interferes With man
who drives his horse too fast in the
streets. Why: 1t is his own horse.
The government interfercs with man
who discharges his gun i'll the streets.
Why? 1t is his own gun. The gov
eminent intcrferes with Il man who
sets fire to his house. Why? 1t is his
own house. The Interference of the
government is justified by the old
fashioned idea that one mans rights
end where another mans rights begin,
that one mans property must not
mean everybody elsc's poverty. This
is the basis of the appeal of reformers
to the young men.
This is the policy OF Jefferson and of
Lincoln. The highest duty which the
government owes to it's citizens is to
see that their chances of life are not
decreased. All must start equal in
the race. The man of brains will rise
and the stupid man will fall. That is
not the faul, OF the government. No
system Of lawyers will put virtue or
energy into Il vicious or lazy man. But
the chance Of each must be the same.
1t is the duty of the government to
preserve that equal chance. 1t is q
poor mans only inheritance in Amer
lea. And when trusts or any other
forms of concentrated wealth or
power begin to press against the poor
mans, or even the comparatively rich
mans equal start in the race; when
competition becomes impossible and
monopoly stretches out it's hands for
the enslavemcnt of all, or of the great
err part of the community, then it is
that the law must exert itself to widen
again the doors of opportunity.
1t needs but vigorous and united
effort to smash the trust system, to
make the United States once more the
land of the young man, the land of
opportunity and hope.
When young American officers go
to Jerusalem they frequently lay their
swords upon the tomb of Christ and
pray that they may never draw their
blades without just cause, or sheathe
them without honor. So the young
American of to-day should pray over
the civic sword which the constitution