New-York tribune., 1900-07-15
TIR4N y

The attention Of Colonel Bryan ana Mr. James
II. Richardson. or whatever Democratic states
man it is who has copyright on the Decla-
ration of Independence, should he turned 10
Alaska. There the latest exhibition OF the way
the militariSm Of The imperial Mckinley in
crrases by leaps and bounds is 10 he seen.
There one Of the tyrant'S satraps has just put
thriving town of sixteen thousand people under
the yoke Of military authority and rules them
arbitrarily regardless Of the constitutional guar
antces according To his despotc will, under
the gUise of martial law
How long. oh. AmcricanS shall this he en-
duredE Here on our own continent within our
own tariff h0undar IS find Of those
dreaded officers Of the Tenacng standing army
which jhc hloodthrsty Mckinley has enlarged
to destroy our liberties. exercising his tyrannouS
sway. and sixteen thousand people must obey
his beck and nod, How truly did the anti
mperialiSts predict that the thunderboltS we
forged to strike down liberty in far off corners
OF the globe would soon he turned against our
selves. and we would ruthlessly bc trodden
undPr foot hy the empire Of our own creation,
And how much sooner it has come to pass than
even they supposed, Soon martial law will he
invoked TO put down tine people. not in Alaska
only. but in New York. ana the time will he
ripe for the coup d'6tat and the proclamation of
the emperor whose throne shall he based on
bayonets pinned downward through the hearts
Of American frecmon. Truly, as William Lloyd
Garrison sings:
Back with stealthy footsteps fleet
Oppression rushes with its murderous knife.
Feigned its insensibility; unsan
Behold IL rising to its prey again.
Yes with stealthy footsteps it comes We
thought it far away, chasing poor Aguinaldo
over Luzons mountains, but suddenly it is back
with its murderouS knife that knife so care
fully concealed under SNUG pretence of duty
and benev0lence till the time TO strike has come
How plous are McKinley's Alaska minions,
General Randall the military usurper at Cane
Nome. of course acts from the best of motives
He recalls to us the lines TO a Tyrant' re-
Gently emitted by solomon Soils Cohen:
Master thou art of specious phrase,
Thy voice is plant the flute,
The oil Of piOuS parlance drips
MellifuOus from thy practised lips.
He is not to oppress but merely to preserve
order. He is acting for the benefit Of the people
just as Macarthur is doing at Manila. He re
ports that he has assumed control"-marb the
word. We who think there is no danger of an
emperor assuming the purple here,-at the
request of the Chamber of Commerce of Cane
Nome. Napoleon, too. assumed control by re-
quest. All far seeing tyrants take the precau-
ton to have n popular vote cast at least
counted in their favor about the time they be
come dictatOrs. General Randall merely shows
that McKinley's soldiers are getting trained for
their work of empire making and will do
professional job with amateur bungling
when the time comes. The General says he is
only acting as despOt until the arrival of the
Judge and the establishment of municipal
government under recent act of Congress-" a."
and adds: "Estimated this date sixteen thou
sand people in the town, and no effective
civil organization for protection of life and
property"
That is the old story. Disorder and lack of
civil government are always the tyrants Oppor-
tunity Free Americans know that is mere
pretence. Don't we have towns without munci-
pal government and judges, and doesn't lynch
law fill the bill? Good Democratic lynch law of
the Georgia brand. in which the sovereign
people do thei" own assuming of control instead
or letting some hirelng of centralized military
government assume control" is the thing we
want and are bound to have or the Declara-
tton of Indepe..S"@ce and the Chicago plat
fern of free riot VIII be a mockery. Anything