The Portland daily press., 1900-05-17
IMPERIALISM And
MANS LABOR.
by Bourke Cochran.

Imperialism has come to be a word
of great Significance, and / am asked
TO state conciseiy and exactly what il
means for American labor. ! cannot
do better than refer to a speech which
/ delivered to the students of the Uni
versity of Michigan in February. 1893
before Imperialism had become, as II
! Is to-day, the dominant issue. of our
politics. and the gravest danger. in
my judgment, that has ever threat
ened our republican form OF govern
ment.
AS said then. 1t is necessary to dis
tinguish between Expansion" and
imperialism" Expansion has al
ways signified the extension of our in
stitutions through the enlargement of
our frontiers. Imperialism is not the
diffusion Of American constitutional
ism over new lands. but the establish
ment In conquered territory by this
Government of another government,
radically irreconeilable to the spirit of
our own constitution and essentially
hostile to 1t. Expansion. then. may
be defined as the peaceful development
of our political system through an in
crease in the area of the United States.
and Imperialism as the forcible exer-
else by our Government in other coun-
tries of powers denied to IL at home.
The marvellous growth of commerce
between the States of the Union Is due
to its absolute freedom from artificial
restrictions. The inclusion of Canada
in this free-trade area would stimu-
late production beyond our powers to
conceive.
Exactly opposite results would be
produced by imperiaiistic Conquest
The forcible annexation of Canada
would be an act of Imperialism. as I'M
profitable as 1T would be unjustifiable,
and as calamitous as IL would be GRIM
inal
A conquered country is always dis
contented and, therefore, disloyal 1t
would be impossible to intrust the
rights of statehood to a disaffected
people. Our authority over them
could be maintained only by force,
that is to say by standing army and
military rule.
Aside from its inherent hostility to
free institutions. a standing army Is
crushing burden on the neck Of the
laborer.
The first essential OF high wages is
abundance of commodities. and a
standing army is an insuperable OBJ
stacle to extensive production. Every
| dollar Of surplus product or capital in
vested In implements. in machinery.
in buildings. is fruitful dollar. Com
| modities used in production multiply
| themselves even while they perish.
| Every dollar expended for munitions
| of war is sterile dollar IL is not
used for the purpose of production. but
l
wasted as completely as IL 1t were
thrown into the sea.
| / oppose this novel. un-American
| policy of Imperialism because the
grounds on which its advocates sup
port 1t are peurile, inconsistent and
dishonest; because 1t involves the ex-
istence of a standing army to menace
liberty and to Cypress labor by dimin-
| ishing wages: because IL is oowardly
| to invade the rights of the weak while
| respecting those of the strong; because
| 1t would divorce the American flag
and the American Constitution by
| sending the one where the other can
not go; because 1t is a policy OF incon-
| ceivable folly from material point OF
view.
I favor the traditional American poll
| icy of expansion because / want this
Republic to continue in the path
which leads to higher achievements of
peace and progress: because / want
| this country to remain the land where
| the patriotic workingman who pro-
| duces is more honored than the paid
| fighting man who destroys. where the
laborer's overalls enjoy equal dignity
with the soldiers uniform, where a
| dinner-pail Is more highly esteemed
than a knapsack, where a spade Is
| deemed more valuable than a musket
hospital than a battery, q school
| than a fortress; where the enduring
glory of justice Is pursued and the
| vainglory of conquest despised; where
the flag which typifies liberty and the
constitution which secures IL, en-
| shrined in the hearts, sustained by the
free people. shall remain invincible,
indestructible, inseparable. forever and
forever.