Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1900-10-04
GOVERNMENT BY
BRUTE FORCE.
BY T.. S. Supreme Court Justice David
J, Brewer.

hoo u 1ON " 5ONNA 'Of |
that we are of that race, and that, there
fore, we could well govern the Philippine
Islands as colonies. l do not question
the capacity of the race well and wisely
to govern others. I object to the Phil
ippine policy because it -antagonizes the
principles upon which this Government
was founded, which have controlled its
life up to the present time, and the per-
lection 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 our life, and we have
striven to make it more and more real.
Now, government by fo<ce is the very
antipodes of this, and to introduce gov
eminent by force over any portion of the
nation is to start the second quarter of
the second century of our life upon prin-
ciples which are the exact opposite Of
those upon which we have hitherto lived.
1t is one thing to fail of reaching your
ideal; it is an entirely different thing to
deliberately turn your back upon it.
Government by consent and govern
ment by force, no matter how we'll the
government may be administered, are
two essentially ~antagonistic principles.
Doubtless no immediate conflict will fol
low. 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 a harvest of trouble for our
children and our children's children?
A necessity of colonial possessions is
an increase in our regular army, and the
6rr+ i,craeca nropOSa1 jc from 20 0M) tn
LOG 1000 men. 1t is a strange commentary
thai at the close OF the nineteenth cen
fury the head of the most arbitrary
government in the civilized world, the
Gar of the Russias, is inviting the ma
tons of the world to a decrease in their
arms, while this, the freeSt land, Is pro-
posing an increase in its. Yet such seems
to be the imperative need, if we enter
upon the system of colonial expansion.
Now, the great economic problem in
this country is not how can a few men
make more money and pile up larger for
tunes, but how can the great body of the
people make a fair and comfortable iv-
ing? 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 furnish work to all who
cannot obtain it elsewhere.
Are we likely to aid in solving this
problem by bringing into our national
life 10, 000, 900 or 100000 of unskilled
Malay Iaborers? We nave shut the
doors against the Chinese. Are they any
worse than the Malay? Shall we intro
duce in this nation more cheap labor? ]
do not wonder at the action of the Fed
Grafton of Labor in protesting against
a new competition of cheap labor as well
as an increase of the army, with its con
sequent 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
in the proposed reaching out after tbs
islands. OF the Orient. The wealth O
Ormus and of Ind is to-day, as in thu
days of Milton, the expectation and th'
dream of many. Possession of tn,
Orient, with its accumulated wealth o
centuries, dazzles the imagination AM
confuses the judgment. The haze 0
mystery hangs over that vast domain
Wealth untold is believed to be there
ready to be appropriated by any doml
nant power.
The problem we have sought to wor
out in this nation is that of government
of and by and for the people. \ grea
nation upon that principle seems poss
BILE only under d federal system, a sys
TEN which relegates all matter of locs
interest to the several States, and exel
cises through the national goyernmer
only those powers and functions whic
We are told we have become so gres
make for the general welfare.
and powerful that the world needs u
but what the world most needs is N
the touch of our power, but the blessing
of our example. 1t needs the bright e.
ample of a free people not disturbed /
any illusions of territorial acquisitlo
of p~ecuniary gain or military glory, b
content with their possessions and stri
ing through all the abilities, activiti
and industries of their Wisest and mo
earnest TO make the life of each inc
vidual citizen happier, better and mo
content.
Two visions rise before me:
One of a nation growing in populatio
riches and strength; reaching out t
strong hand to bring within its domini'
weaker and distant races and land
holding them by force for the raj
wealth they may bring-with perha
the occasional glory, success and sac
fee of war; a wondrously luxurious Il
into which the fortunate few shah entt
an accumulation of magnifcence viii
for a term will charm and dazzle, a
then the shadow of the awful questi
whether human nature has changed, q
the old law, that history repeats itse
has lost it's force, whether the ascend
splendor of imperial power is to be t
owed by the descending gfoona OF luzH
decav and ruin.
The other of a nation where the spi
of the Pilgrim and the Huguenot
mains the living and controlling for
fhrming that the Declaration of In
pendence, the Farewell Address of
Father of his Country and the Mon
doctrine shall never pass into innocu'
lesuetude; devoting its energies to
development of the inexhaustible
sources of its great continental terrific
solving the problem Of universal and