The age-herald., 1900-06-24
GOVERNMENT BY
 BRUTE FORCE
BY JUSTICE BREWER.

It is said that the Anglo-SaXon race has manifested a capacity to govern well; that we are of that race, and that, therefore, we could well govern the Philippine islands colonies I do not question the capacity ot the race well and wisely to govern hers. I object to the Philippine policy because it antagonizes the principles upon which this government was founded, which have con trolled it's life up to the present time, and the perfection of which has been the hope and aspiration of every true American.
 Very few nations, very few individuals, live up to their high ideals, but surely the Declaration of Independence has been the ideal of life, and we have striven to make it more and more real. Now, gov ernment by force is the very antpodes of this, and to introduce government by force over any portion of the nation is to start the second quarter of the second century of our life upon principles which are the exact opposite of those upon which we have hitherto lived It is one thing to fail of reaching your ideal; it is an entirely diff ferent thing to deliberately turn your back upon it.
 Government by consent and government by force, no matter how well the govern ment may be administered, are two essen tially antagonistic principles. Doubtless no immediate conflict will follow. We may see a large measure of prosperity; but are we not sowing the seeds which in the days to come will grow up into d harvest of trouble for our children and children s children?
 A necessity of our colonial possessions is an increase in our regular army, and the first increased proposed is from 3O,0oO to 100000 men. It is a strange commentary that at the close of lne nineteenth century the head of the most arbitrary government in the civilized world, the czar of the Rus sas, is inviting the nations of the world to decrease in their arms, while this, the freest land, is proposing an increase in it's Yet such seems to be the imperative need, if we enter upon the system of colonial ex- pansion.
 Now the great economic problem in this country is not how a few men make more money and pile up larger fortunes, but how can the great body of the people make fair and comfortable living? The right to work is again and again insisted upon as more important than the right to vote, and the cry of the right to work is supplemented by the cry that the state fur nish work to all who cannot obtain it else where.
 Are we likely to aid in solving this prob lem by bringing into our national life 10,- GOO, 900 or F, 900 unskilled Malay laborers? We have shut the doors against the Chin csc. Are they any worse than the Malay? Shall we introduce in this nation more cheap labor? 1 do not wonder at the action ot the Federation of Labor in protesting against a new competition of cheap labor as well as an increase of the army, with its consequent increase of burden and taxation on the employed laborer.
 But there is money in it. And, after all this is really the most potent factor td the pI opposed reaching out after the islands of the Orient The wealth of OrmuS and of Ind is today, as in the days of Milton, the expectation and the dream of many PS5- session of the Orient, with its accumulated wealth of centuries, daZZles the imagination and confuses the judgment. The haze of mystery hangs over that vast domain Wealth untold is believed to be there ready to be appropriated by any dominant power.
 The problem we have sought to work out in this nation is government of and by and for the people. A great nation upon that principle seems possible only under a fed eIal system, a system which relegates all matter of local interest to the several states, and exercises through the national government only those powers and func- tions which make for general welfare.
 We are told that we have become so great and powerful that the world needs us, but what the world most needs is not the touch of our power, but the blessings of our eX- ample. It needs the bright example of free people not disturbed by any illusions of territorial acquisition, of pecuniary gain or military glory, but content with their possessions and striving through all their abilities, activities and industries of their wisest and most earnest to make the life of each individual citizen happier, better and more content.
 Two visions rise before me:
 One of a nation growing in population, riches and strength; reaching out the strong hand to bring within it's dominion weaker and distant races and lands; hold ing them by force for the rapid wealth they may bring-with perhaps the occa- SiOnal glory and of a wonderously luxurious life into which the fortunate few shall enter; an accumulation of magnifcence which for term will charm and dazzle, and then the shadow of the awful question whether human ma ture has changed, and the old law, that history repeats itself, has lost its force, whether the ascending splendor of imperial pow CT is to be followed by the descending gloom of luxury decay and ruin
 The other of a nation where the spirit of