The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1900-03-17
SATURDAY, MARCH Ii, 1900.
SOME CONGRESSIONAL IDIoCY.

=, +hc kindergarten exercises that daily
fake Mace On the American Congress
Mr.. Cowherd. of Missouri, made the fol-
lowing speech on Wednesday last:
Mr.. Chairman, there was time when
we boosted not of the money we could
make. not that yondcr flag carried trade
In its wake, but that 1T carried liberty.
To-day its proud boast is that trade 1ol-
lows the flag
Nir. Chairman, I hope the day will
never come when any man can rise in
any land and point to yonder banner as
a commercial asset tApplause) l trust,
sir, that something will survive OF the
days when that banner 1loated above
Washington and his barefooted, bloody
parriots at Valley Forge; j trust some
thing will still live OF the spirit that AMI
mated those who upheld that banner
when they stood with stubborn old An
drew Jackson at New Orleans.
And Mr.. Chairman, If the day ever
comes when that banner is nothing but
a commercial asset, then. sir, every
stripe OF white upon its folds should
be dyed in the blood of the men who
were killed and conquered and from
wonder ground of blue You should take
every star that represents an indcpend-
,ent State.
1T would be identifying these rawlings to
apply to them the English soldiers cha
is Tommy rot
Mr.. Cowherds text will be at once
recognized as Mr.. Cecil Rhodes express
ions at Kimberley when the meeting was
held to celebrate the relief of the place,
and in his speech Mr. Rhodes said that
4, J,a tact
lncrcial asset in the world.
This gives Mr.. Cowherd canniptlon MS.
and means nothing to his mind but q
sordid suggestion that commerce and
fraudulent trading and consequent eesTa-
dation are synonymous.
Argument with a. man of this sort is
time and breath thrown away. But a
newspaper which has independence
enough to do its own thinking may be
pardoned for asking where has her Ma
jesty's flag gone, promoting and en-
couraging commerce. that the Christian
religion does not prosper? Where does
her Najesty's flag fly that justice as not
lmpartially administered and trade is
not free to all? The very essence of a
is that trading and free intercourse
that enables every man to seek for his
own advancement follow wherever 1t
goes. Some has happily remarked
that Christianity and civilization follow
In the track of the English bullet, and
the man who can cast his eye over the
face of the globe and fail to perceive the
absolute truth OF this statement may
commend himself to his fellow-men as a
blind man. but will still be rated by in
fe!lisent men as a man of little sense.
And why may not the American flag
still have something of the day surviv-
Ing In it when it floated over Washington
Valley forge. even If 1t is pointed at as a
commercial asset? II that flag forces
the other Powers of the world to leave
China with an .open door, to all nations,
shall the steamers that bring back under.
Il Chinese tea given in exchange for our
dishonored by the ensigns that floats from
its peal2 II the Nicaragua Canal bears
upon its bosom the galleons OF the world
transmitting the surplus products Of the
Atlantic to the Pacific in exchange for
the surplus products of the Pacific. shall
this worlds highway be thought a
a,laeue-infes,cd ditch because the Ameri-
can nag. that promotes and protects
commerce. floats over it?
Uttenances like those OF Air. Cowherd
are 70 foolish that we can hardly treat
them seriously.
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