The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1900-10-05
IMPERIALISM.
What Is, Where is 1t, and What Does It
Look Like.

The following we clip from the
Sioux City Journal:
Norwood, Neb., Sept II. 1900.
To the Editor You will no doubt be
surprised to hear from me at this late
day Your memory of me will go
back four years to a time when l was
as full of political arguments as a dog
is full of feas
Things have changed with me. In
stead of proclaiming that am Re
publican, l now merely confess it.
You will know there is sufficient
reason for this. You will remember
that we used to have our little gods
which while we did not sin by wor-
shipping, we yet revered We used to
have our Lincoln, but he has been stole
from us, and they who did it have
handed over to us in his stead the
greatest embodiment of Democracy and
its chief corner stone, the immortal
jefferson. We used to have as much
right to the uses of the declaration of
independence as the other fellows, but
they have stolen the original parch-
ment and declare that our names are
not written there Democracy needs
Jefferson no longer, nor yet jackson,
for it has Bryan. who stands for the
craftsmanship of Jefferson and whose
military glory sufficiently offsets that
of the hero of New Orleans
In days that are gone, Mr.. Editor, I
knew how to meet the Democracy of
Jefferson and jackson as it came to us
perverted and mutilated, but this new
political nondescript, without nomen-
clature, history or ancestry, is fear
full thing to meet when one is alone
and not prepared in mind to grapple
with the fantastic and disjointed rea-
lures.
But talk as one having the bolts
or any other old complaint. How
ever, be patient.
Bryan is man who seems to be
largely stocked with paramount things.
The one he is offering to the public
Just now is imperialism, whatever
that is. He knows what it is, sup
pose, but he won t tell He invented it
and he ought to know. Some of his
friends pretend to know, but I can 4
find out whether it is thing in the
abstract or concrete; whether it is a
vapor or a horse rake; whether it is a
dream belonging to our sleeping
periods, or something | could smash
with a neckyoke. 1 have no means
of knowing whether it is coming at
me or running from me; whether it is
up a tree or in hole in the ground.
You can easily imagine how one OF
my disposition may be unnamed al
learning that there is something OF
this kind loose. not knowing whether
it will strike me dead in a minute OF
just run up the leg of my pants. There
are two of these paramount shapes out
our way, but that doesn't seem tc
make it any easier to give it form in
ones mind. nor yet harder. The other
one is called militarism, and they
are pair to draw to.
My most thrilling experience with
it, or them, occurred the other day
when Bryanite was giving a tongue
down near the postofice. When he
saw me he pointed his finger at me
and yelled SO that you heard him foul
blocks away: you're an imperial,
istic militarialist You hate the Boe1
and you came out here thirty years
ago and lived on homestead five
years and then beat the government
out of it You carry horse chestnut
in your pocket to prevent rheumatism
and daren't deny it, and you used tt
be so poor you lived on lumpy-jaU
iackrabbits, and dollars to badger
holes your going to vote for McKin
ley y
Now what, Mr. E. ditor, could mar
of limited intellectual means like my
self do in the presence of such an in
dictmentf / was smothered with the
accusations. and for awhile | wal
much in doubt as to whether wa
guilty or innocent. But now tell me-
through the columns of your valuable
etc., is this politics or a game o.
football? Are we getting ready tt
elect president, or just playing hi
spy?
If what is percolating into our sec
ton of the country is the issue before
the people in this campaign, then 1 an
out of it as an argufer. If | got into
a. scrap wouldn't know whether
was afoot or riding in an automobile,
and discussing politics from the pre-,
misses furnished by the born an6
brought up idiots on the one hand, OF
smooth, soapy tongued confidence mer
on the other, would, l know, bring
me to grief or to imbecility. If you
can define imperialism as it is said tc
have being in the United States, dc
so, that we, the common people, may
know whether we are liable to meet il
in the road some night or are al
liberty, if we can cash it in, to spend
it for the necessaries of life.
Sincerely yours.
Winfield Flack.