Arizona republican., 1900-07-21
A FIGURE OF STRAW
With Which Democrats Are Try
 ing to Brighten Voters
What Imperialism Means-The Flag Furling and Duty-Shirking Cam paign Upon Which the Democratic Party Has Inconsistently Entered.


 perialism may serve as a campaign scarecrow. but before the harvest of votes is garnered next November the people will recognize that it is but thing of straw.
 Imperialism presuppOses an empire, and the magnificent domain over which our lovely banner flies is imperial in its beauty, in its products and in its extent Such a wealth of hill. noun tain. plain and prairie, such an abund ance of crystal lakes and such a net work of commercial-bearin rivers were never before bestowed upon any people. Every state is an empire; every county is a principality, for which, as true Americans, we are proud, and for which, as Christians, recognizing God as the God of nations, We should be deeply grateful.
 This domain has been given to us by a power that is higher than any party or policy, though the republican party was called into being in order to pro test and battle against the division of this mighty empire, which democracy declared, in the press, in its platforms and on the bloody battlefields, should be divided. To this extent the charge of imperialism can with truth be made against the republican party. Abraham Lincoln was the embodiment of that imperial idea, and a martyr to the cause of one flag, one country, and one imperial destiny.
 Imperialism, if it means anything the democracy would have the people be- lieve, implies an emperor, a dynasty, a throne, a crown and a scepter This feature of imperialism, by no stretch of partisan misrepresentation, can ever be charged against our honored president and candidate for the presidency He was the choice of the people; he was honestly elected in a constitutional manner and has been so loath to oppose the will of the people, as expressed by legislation enacted by congress, that in the four years of his administration he has vetoed but four bills, He will serve his two terms as many other good presidents, both democratic and repub- lican, have done, and will then give way to his successor, chosen as he was chosen, by the free votes of sovereign people. TIT
 The partisan accusation of imperial ism, when translated into plain every day English, in the light of the history made during the brilliant administra- tion of President Mckinley, is simply this: The republicans declare that it is their policy not to blindly abandon the islands transferred from Spanish to American sovereignty by the treaty of Paris. The democracy. so far as it has a policy, would have the master m hI1i of I1a al a ;tc plain duty, furl our triumphant flag and hunt an easy future rather than a working future. Porto Rico, recogniz- ing the fact that she can not stand alone does not wish to become an inde- pendent power, and the only thing pos sible is for the United States to con tinue it's sovereignty, which is republi- can, or to invite Spain to reenter the western hemisphere and commence anew her policy of misrule, of robbery and extortion from which We have de- livered Cuba. To plant the customs of the seventeenth century in the dawn of the twentieth century is democratic. This is the logical conclusion when the democratic cry of the democratic plat form is analysed.
 The same is as true of the Philip pines as of Porto Rico Will the demo- crats dare to fix a date for the evacua- tion of either? They are under the flag of the republic, and there they will re- main. This means work, and thought and statesmanship for the people of the United States. but it means blessing and liberty, justice and opportunity for the islands placed under our care by solemn treaty obligations that were ap- proved by the senate of the United States, and urged by MT. Bryan. Meth ods of administration and of govern ment are legitimate objects of party differences But annexation is a fact. It is for all purposes as much an ac- complished fact as is the abolition of slavery, another republican measure for which that party was hated and misrepresented.
 The people will learn that imperial ism, as employed by the democrats, means that they would have the coun- try shirk its duty, turn its back on des- tiny count all bloodshed lost, furl the flag and withdraw its protection from people who need it today more than ever before in all their history.
 The charge of imperialism, when properly translated, means duty. And the party of Lincoln, of Grant. of Har- rison, and of Mckinley, is willing to be charged with doing it's duty no mat ter how hard that duty may be.
 Stripped of all glamor, the democrats have entered upon a fiag-furling cam paign. They condemn expansion. yet welcome Hawaii, because it's one vote alone enables them to again attempt to overthrow the stable currency of the country. They decry, imperialism, !" yet shout themselves hoarse over a Hawaiian prince" They are welcome to all the votes and glory they can make out of such duplicity and treach- cry, which will nauseate but never de- ceive, the true American people.
 c. P. H.