The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1900-04-12
written letter to him and told him that

written a letter to him and told him thai
the crest cause of the war was the ne
cessity of preventing the American trade
from passing into foreign channels.
The men who died in the revolution
died victims of a war prosecuted for
trade; the result of their bloodshed was
the establishment of independence, but
the cause of the war was the effort of
England to buy trade with human blood (;
and in his reply to this letter Franklin
said that 1.-THE we'll founded esteem. and /,
permit me to say, affection, which |
shall always have for your Lordship
makes it painful to me to see you en-
gagged in protecting war, the mere
groundwork of which is described in
your letter as interest and gain. To me
it seems that neither the obtaining or re-
tanning of any trade, how valuable So
ever, can be cause for which men can
Justly spill each others blood Repub-
licans, have read to you the language
of Benjamin franklin and l want you
when you 70 home tonight to ask OF
your conscences this qnestion--is the OBJ
tanning or retaining Of trade thing for
which men can justly spill each others
blood? Do you think that one man can
Justly shoot another man III order to get
his trade? Do YOU think that seventy
men can afford to begin war on ten men
in order to get their trade; and do you
believe that seventy millions can declare
war against ten millions in order to get
their trade? And yet the man who says
it will pay has got take the position that
the obtaining or retaining OF trade is a
cause for which men may justly spill
each others blood. Franklin says that
tie profits of no trade can ever be equal
to the expense Of compelling il and hold
ing it by fleets and armies. Are you
willing to assert that the profits of any
trade can be equal to the expense OF COM
polling and holding by fleets and armies =?
l challenge you to find an example in
the history of the world where it has
paid to compel or hold trade by fleets or
armies. l know what you can find.
You can find where some men have had
the trade and somebody else has paid
the expenses. You can find here it
has been profitable to few and destruc-
ton to the many; and you can find in
stances where few who have made
money out of trade have controlled the
government and compelled it to carry on
the expenses and make the people pay
the expenses but you cannot find AN IN
stance in history where the men who
paid the expenses have ever made BACK
as much as they spend in trying to pur
chase or hold trade by force. And then
Franklin says, II consider this war
against us, therefore, as both unjust and
unwise, and am positive that cool and
dispassonate posterity will condemn to
infamy those who advised it," Repub-
licans, there was the prophecy that Ben
iamin Franklin made month before the
declaration was signed. He believed
that cool and dispassionate posterity
would condemn to infamy the people
who advised the war i'll order to hold the
American trade. His prophecy was full
filed and you for more than hundred
years have met on the Fourth of July to
praise the memory of the men who gave
their lives to prevent that wrong and
overcame the British forces and you can
not find where England has met to cele-
brate the birthdays of the men who led
the English people into that war; and
am willing to say now what lin
said then, that cool and dispassionate
posterity will condemn to infamy the
men who advise the war and the she'd
ding of human blood in order to purchase
trade that syndicates may exploit the
Philippine Islands, and l don't believe
that you people OF this Western coast
will advise the continuance of the war
for that purpose. l know that some
times people get excited by war; we
were excited Just after the Spanish war
why the people used to meet on the
streets and they would look at the bulle-
tin boards and they would hurrah as the
report of some engagement by land OF
sea was read. We were excited, we had
whipped Spain; we were excited and
we'll we might be, because there were