St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1900-09-22
Latest Intelligence Concerning At
fairs of National Interest
at the Capital.
EFFECTS or IMPERIALISM CROPPING OUT
Signs of Subsidized Merchant Ma
rfne-The Navy Department. Favers
Trust ArmOr Plate-Imperialisti
Control of the War Department.
Hanna's Fat-Frying.
[special correspondence.


us larger and better merchant ma
rine, but that it meant encouragement
to American seamen. The seamer
themselves very promptly puncturec
this argument and predicted that own
ers of vessels would do in the future as
they are doing now, that is, employ the
cheapest seamen that could be found
The ship subsidy bill didn't pass, but
the war department has just received
protest from the American seamen
of the Pacific coast against manning
the transport Hancock with Chinese
sailors. This transport sailed few
days ago from San Francisco for
Shanghai.
The citizens of the coast object TO
having sailors employed who might
think it an act Of patriotism to scuttle
a ship when we are practically at war
with China. The Chinese sailors were
employed because they were cheaper
than Americans.
1t can easily be Imagined that ifthe
United States army authoritiessmake
cl1eapness the first consideration in
selecting crews for war vessels or those
carrying troops the masters of a sub
sidized merchant marine wou.dn't t
waste any of their profits paying good
swages to American seamen unless they
were obliged to by law.
Trust Armor Plate
The unsettled condition of matters
in the orientsencourag ges those who be-
1ieye in. big navy to urge that the
vessels now ordered be hurried to COM
pletion.
The secretary of the navy recently
received bids for armor plate upon the
n'5w vessels authorized by congress.
The Carnegie and Bethlehem COM
panies bid S490 per ton for Krupp ar
NOR and little less for other kinds.
The bidders stipulated that the maxi
ing of the Krupp armor should not be
subject to scrutiny by government Off
cials, claiming that the process is a
secret one and could only be procured
by an agreement that it should be kept
SO.
What a lot of nonsense. There is no
special secrecy about the Krupp meth
cd and the record of The Carnegie and
Bethlehem companies is lot such that
they can be trusted to- produce stan
dard armor without wa ching. 1t viii
be RENE mbered that at the time of the
great Homestead strike this labor dis
from about the most defective lot of
armor plate ever made for credulous
government. s
Some coniding people wonder
whether the secretary of the navy will
accept these bids or build a govern
ment armor plant Of course he will
accept them and see that perquisites
enough are allowed to bring the price
up to the original $545, for which the
armor plate trust fought SO hard in
congress. The democrats knew what
the republicans meant when they
talked about leaving the whole matter
to the discretion of the secretary of
The navy. That meant leaving it at
the mercy of the trust. There will be
no government armor plate factory
under a republican administration.
War Department imperialism.
The activity of the war department
shows that practical imperialism is do
ing its level best to involve the country
so deeply in unauthorized wars that
Bryan would have difficulty in straight
ening out the entang1ements.
We are supposed to be on peace
footing. The war department ignores
the Philippines completely. Yet mil
lions of dollars worth of war supplies
are being shipped to Manila. There
are all sorts of things that our army
cannot possibly want during the wet
season.
Secretary Root hints that the sup
plies are being sent in anticipation of
further Chinese trouble. The admin
istration has no moral scruples about
helping to partition China as seon as
it has the campaign off its hands and
can get all the troops it wants.
The Russian government. it is said,
has aset the example bysadvising its
minister to accept an escort from Pc
king. 1t is said that the Russians in
tend in this manner to short circuit the
whole incident. This does not sound
like Russia. for she is in better posi-
tion than any other country to force
China to give up territory.
The Chinese government maintains
a scornful silence in relation to Nc
Kinley's demands for free eommunica-
ton with our minister and his safe
delivery TO our forces.
The administration is hoping that
Chinese affairs will drag along until
after election. If defeated Mckinley
can leave the consequences ofshis bad
management to Bryan TO repair and if
reelected there viii still be an oppor-
tunity to combine with Great Britain
in grabbing port or two. The Brit
ish have landed troops at Shanghai
without protest from this government.
This means that Nc eKinley and his
friends of the Anglo-{American alliance
are looking to the future and that inn
perialism will have even wider scope
than before.
Mark Hanna's Skillet.
Hanna is busy frying fat" and scar