Willmar tribune., 1900-09-19

ing them the right to participate in their
own government. He said:
Many politicians of our time are in tho
haDit OF laying it down as a self-evident
proposition that no people ought to be free
until tney are fit to use their freedom.S The
maxim Is worthy of the fool in the old
story who resolved not to 90 into the water
I'LL ne had learned to swim. If men are to
walt Tor liberty till they become wise and
ever
When say that those who distrust tho
capacity of the people for self-govern-
ment tend directly toward monarchy, I am
only repeating what Lincoln deliberately
declared in his first annual message. He
said:
Monarchy itself is sometimes hinted
at as possible refuge from the power of
the people In my present position I could
scarcely be justified were to omit raising
warning voice against this approach Of
returning despotism. 1t is not needed nor
nttlng here that a general argument should
be made in favor of popular institutions;
but there Is one point, with its connec-
tions not so hackneyed as most others, to
which ask brief attention. 1t is the effort
TO place capital on an equal footing with,
II not above, labor, in the structure of gov
ernment. No men living are more
worthy to be trusted than those who toll
up from poverty; none less inclined to take
estly earned. Let them beware of surren-
dering political power which they already
possess and which. If surrendered, will
surely be used to close the door Of ad-
vancement against such as they, and to
fix now disabilities and burdens upon them
till all Of liberty shall be lost
THE warning is even more needed now
than 1t was 40 years ago. The Army and
Navy Journal is already justifying the
colonial idea, and declaring that fate has
decreed for us destiny in which an i'm
perial executive, free from the restraint.
of written constitution, will govern SUBJ
Jects according to his own pleasure. The
United States Investor, published at Bos-
ton in its issue Of July %, says:
Only blind person can fail to see that
remarkable transformations of one kind
or another are In store for the race; hence
the folly of asserting that the policy Of this
country, which is destined to play such a
leading part in human affairs of the future,
shall be governed for the most part by
political maxims uttered more than 100
years ago. The greatest evil which now
confronts this republic is the clamor raised
by a certain faction for settlement of our
problems of state by just such/a method
as We have been deprecating. Consider
ably more than century ago certain
notable declaration was made in this coun-
try to the effect that all men ought to be
free and Independent. This is merely a
generalization of the French school Of
Voltaire and the encyclopedias. 1t is q
dictum absolutely lacking foundation in
history and incapable of syllogistic justifi-
cation. 1t was, however, a handy phrase
for us to employ when asserting our right
to break away from the mother country;
it suited the exigencies of our situation
in -1776 admirably, though in itself but bit
of sublfmated demagogism. The declara-
tion was serviceable means to the end
that was at that time desired. To bring
forward this declaration in this year, 1900,
In connection with our treatment of the
Filipinos and the Cubans is as gross an
absurdity as ever was practiced. To do
SO Is to offer an insult to the intelligence
of the people who first subscribed to the
declaration In question:
'But why quote from newspapers as to
what may be done hereafter In the pres
ence of a law already enacted which makes
subjects out of Porto Ricans, withdraws
from them the guarantees of the constitu-
tion and asserts the power of the pres
tdent and congress to govern them without
their consent and tax them without rep
resentatton-a power as unlimited and
tyrannical as was ever asserted or exer-
cised by any ruler in all the history of tn
human race. This doctrine has not yet
been approved by the people: it furnishes
the supreme question of the present cam
paign. In the presence of these perils the
labor1ng man has a responsibility COM
mensurate with his opportunity. Without
large percentage of the. laboring vote
no party can win an election in the United
States. The men who work for wages can
by throwing their votes on the one side
or the other determine the policy of this
country. They need not march in parades:
they need not adorn themselves with the
insignia Of any party, but on election day
their silent ballots can shape the destiny
of this nation. and either bring the govern
ment back to its ancient land marks or turn
it into the pathway followed by the en-
pires of the old World'