Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1900-07-19
IMPERIALISM--WHATISIT?
Especial Correspondence.)


WASHINGTON, July 1S. S.-Imperialism
may serve as campaign scarecrow,
but before the harvest of votes is gar
nered next November, the people will
recognize that it is but thing of
straw.
Imperialism presupposes an en-
pire, and the magnificent domain over
which our lovely banner flies is i'm
perlal in its beauty, in it's products
and in its extent. Such wealth of
hill, mountain, plain and prairie, such
an abundance of crystal lakes and
such network of commerce-bearing
rivers were never before bestowed up
on any people. Every State is an en-
pire; every county is a principality,
for which, as true Americans, we are
proud, and for which, as Christians,
recognizing God as the God of na-
tions, we should be deeply grateful.
This domain has been given to US
by power that is higher than any
party or policy, though the Republic
an party was called into being in or
der to protest and battle against the
division of this mighty empire, which
Democracy declared, in the press, in
its platforms and on the bloody bat
tlefields, should be divided. TO this
extent the charge of imperialism can
with truth be made against the Re-
publican party. Abraham Lincoln
was the embodiment of that imperial
idea, and a martyr to the cause of
one flag, one country, and one i'm
perial destiny.
Imperialism, if it means anything
the Democracy would have the people
believe, implies an emperor, dynas-
ty, throne, crown and a scepter.
This feature of imperialism, by no
stretch of partisan Misrepresentation,
can ever be charged against our hon
ored President and candidate for the
Presidency. He was the choice of the
people; he was honestly elected in a
constitutional manner and has been
so loath to oppose the will of the peo-
pie, as expressed by legislation enact
ed by Congress, that in the four years
of his Administration he has vetoed
but four bills. He will serve his two
terms as many other good Presidents,
both Democratic and Republican,
have done, and will then give way to
his successor, chosen as he was chos-
en-, by the free votes of a sovereign
people. &z'@- -r.~s@~
The partisan accusation of imperi-
alism, when translated : into plain
everyday English, in the light of the
history made during the brilliant adj.
ministration of President Mckinley,
is simply this: The Republicans de-
clare that it is their policy not to
blindly abandon the islands trans
ferred from Spanish to American sov-
ereignty by the Treaty of Paris. The
Democracy, so far as it has a policy,
would have the master nation builder
of the world abandon it's plain duty,
furl our triumphant flag and hunt an
easy future rather than a working
future. Porto Rico, recognizing the
fact that she can not stand alone, does
not wish to become an independent
power, and the only thing possible is
for the United States to continue it's
sovereignty, which is Republican, or
to invite Spain to reenter the Western
Hemisphere and commence anew her
policy of misrule, of robbery and ex-
tortion from which we have delivered
Cuba. To plant the customs of the
seventeenth century in the dawn of
the twentieth century is Democratic.
This is the logical conclusion when
the Democratic cry of the Democratic
platform is analysed.
The same is as true of the Philip
pines as of Porto Rico. Will the
Democrats dare to fix a date for the
evacuation of either? They are under
the flag of the Republic, and there
they will remain. This means work
and thought and craftsmanship for
the people of the United States, but
it means blessing and liberty, justice
and opportunity for the islands placed
under our care by solemn treaty obli-
cations that were approved by the
Senate of the United States, and
urged by Mr.. Bryan. Methods of
administration and of government are
legitimate objects of party differences.
But annexation is a fact. It is for all
purposes as much an accomplished
fact as is the abolition of slavery, an
other Republican measure for which
that party was hated and misrepre-
sented. -
The people will learn that imperial
ism, as employed by the Democrats,
means that they would have the coun-
try shirk its duty, turn it's back on
destiny, count all bloodshed as lost,
furl the flag and withdraw its pro-
lection from people who need it to-
day more than ever before in all their
history.
The charge of imperialism, when
properly translated, means duty. And
the party of Lincoln, of Grant, of
Harrison, and of Mckinley, is willing
to be charged with doing it's duty no
matter how hard that duty may be.
Stripped of all its glamor, the Dem
ocrats have entered upon a flag -furl-
ing campaign. They condemn ex-
pansion, yet welcome Hawaii, because
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