The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-09-03
SPEAKS
TO W0RkINGMEN.

Continued from First Pageo
ready to defend such a government from
standing army Is to suppress by force hat
alscontent which should be cured ny leg
To support a permanent army Of 10000
men requires approximation one-hah as
n Fion in a. the L aP Unisady s sfpended H for e0 much
Gfe II e l. t3 uphft people BY the gen
velopment than to blow them Up with
powder and dynamite?
imperialism involves a departure from
principles which were universally accepted
IN this country until within two years To
know that al men are created equal one
learning OF the schools. It was declared
70 be a self-evident truth: it was evident
maintenance of the Declaration of Inde-
pendence. and 1t is evident still TO those
wealth and the glittering. promises of a
colonial system If all men are created
rights, 1t follows as a logical and a neces-
sary sequence that governments were in
stftuted for the welfare of all and derive
their just powers from the consent Of the
governed On the preservation of this doc
trfne our hopes depend: If it is abandoned
there is no foundation upon which a gov
erQment like ours a be constructed. Do
those Who question the capacity of this
people or that people for self-government-
points out the folly Of attempting to pre-
pare people for Self-EOvernment by deny
ing luGm the EIEHLL To D2TuclDaEG IN their
own government. He said:
Many politicians OF our time are in the
q. laying IL down as a.. self-evident
until they. are fit. to. use. their freedom.
The maxim is worthy Of the fool in the
water until he had learned to swim. If
men are to wait for liberty until they be-
indeed wait forever"
When I say that those who distrust the
capacity of the people for Self-goVernment
tend directly toward monarchy. I am only
repeating what Lincoln deliberately de-
clared in his first annual message. He
Monarchy itself is sometimes limited at
as a possible refuge from the power of
the people In my present position I could
ing a WARNING voice against the approach
OF returning despotism. It is not needed
nor fitting here that a general argument
should be made in favor of popular insti-
connections not so hackReyed as most 9TH
ers, to which I ask brief attention It is
footing with. If not above labor. in the
structure of government- No men Lying
are more worthy to be trusted than those
who toll up from poverty: none less in
elined to take or touch aught which they
ware Of s~urrendsring a political. power
which they already possess and which. If
the door Of advancement against such as
they. and to fix new disabilities and bur-
LOST
The warming is even more needed now
imam y was forty years age, In army
colonial idea. and declaring that fate has
decreed for US a destiny in which an i'm
OF a written constitution. will govern sub
{eots according TO his OVID pleasure. The
ed at Boston, in its issue of July Is. says:
only a blind person can fail to see
that remarkable transformations of one
kind or another are in store for the
race, hence the folly of asserting that
the policy of this country, which is
destined to play such a leading part in
human affairs of the future, shall be
governed for the most part by political
maxims uttered more than a hundred
years The greatest evil which now
confrcnts this republic is the clamor
raised by a certain faction for a set
Element of problems of state by just
uch a method as We have been depre-
eating. Considerably more than a
century ago a certain notable declara-
ton was made in this country to h
effect that all men ought to be free
and independent This is merely a gen.
eralization of the French school of Vol
dictum absolutely lacking foundation in
history and incapable of ~SyllogiStic JUS
~tificatfon- 1t was, however, a handy
phrase for rs to employ when assert
ing our right to break away from the
mother country; it suited the e~xigencies
Of our situation in 1776 admirably,
though in itself but a bit of sublime
demagogfsm. The declaration was q
9 AA(GA- ~ lii N14 ~A41 WG-3 1
at that time desired To bring forward
this declaration in this year, 1900. in
connection with our treatment of the
and the Cubans, is as gross
an a~bsurdity as ever was practiced- To
do so is to subscribe to the declaration
in question"
But why quote from as
to what may be done hereafter in the
presence of a law already enacted
which makes subjects of the Porto
Ricans, withdraws from them the
guarantee of the constitution, and as
serts the power of the president and
to govern them without their /
consent and tax them without repre- 4
power as unlimited and
t~yrannical as was ever asserted or ex-
of the human race. This doctrine mas
furnishes the supreme question of the
present campaign In the presence of
these perils the laboring man has a re-
sponsibility commensurate with his OPP
portunity Without a large percentage /
OF the laboring vote no party can win
an election in the United States. The
who work for wages can by throw
ing their votes on the one side or the
other determine the policy of this coun-
try. They need not march in paradeS; /
they need not adorn themselves with
the insignia of any party, but on cleo
ton day their silent ballots can shape
the destiny of this nation, and either
bring the government back to its an
cient landmark or turn it into the
pathway followed by empires of the DID
world
~ n