North Park union., 1900-06-15
VOLUME Nv.
Government BY
Brute Force.

4
1t is said that the Anglo-Saxon
race has manifested capacity to
govern we'll; that we are OF that race,
and that therefore, we could well gov
ern the Philippine islands as colonies.
/ do not question the capacity of the
race we'll and wisely to govern others.
l object to the Philippine policy be-
cause it antagonizes the principals
upon which this government was
founded, which have controlled its
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 individ-
uals, live up to their high ideals, but
surely the Declaration of Indepen-
dence has been the ideal of our life.
and we have strlven to make iu more
and more real Now, government by
force is the very antipodes 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 principals
which are the. exact opposite to those
npon 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 gov
ernment by force, no matter how well
the government may be administered,
are two essential antagonistic princi-
pals. Doubtless no immediate con-
aic. will follow We may see large
measure of prosperity. but are we not
sowing the seeds which in the days
20 come will grow up into 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 first increase proposed is from
10000 to 100000 men. 1t is
strange commentary that at the close
of the nineteenth century the head of
the most arbitrary government in the
civilized world, the car of the Russlas,
is inviting the nations of the world to
decrease In their arms, while this,
the freest land, is prop osing an in.
crease 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 few
men make more money and pile up
larger fortunes, but how can the great
body Of the people make u 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 furnish work to all who cannot
obtain it elsewhere.
Are we likely to aid III solving the
problem by bringing into our national
life 100000 or 100000 OF un-
skilled Malay laborersG We have
shut the doors against the Chinese.
Are they any worse than the Malay?
Shall we. introduce into this nation
more cheap labor? do not wonder
at the action of the Federation Of La
Dor in protesting against new com
petion of cheap labor as well as an
increase in the army, with its conse-
4uent increase of burden and taxation
on the employed labor.
But there is money in it. And |
after all this is really the most potent
factor in the proposed reaching out
after the Islands of the Orient. The
wealth of Ormus and Of Ind is to-day,
as in the days of Milton, the expecta-
ton and the dream of many. Pos
session Of the Orient, with its accrm-
ulated wealth Of centuries, dazzles the
imagition and confuses the Judgment
The haze OF mystery hangs over
that vast dominion. 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 that of gov
ernment of and by and for the people. !
A great nation upon that. principal
seems possible only under a federal
system, system which relegates all
matter of local interest to the several
states, and exercises through the na-
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