Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-12-09

SeHeTdi assembly three years as q demo.
| crat.
WILL EUROPE FIGHT US
FOR SOUTH AMERICA?
! In the Atlantic Monthly for Novem-
ber Mr.. Sydney Brooks, young Eng
lish journalist, writes the opening arti-
Gle. under the title Europe and Ameri-
ca" Mr.. Brooks protests that he does
not write from the standpoint of one
who would like TO fight the United
states for the right of entrance into
South America, but as an Englshman
who has learned to know and like this
country. Furthermore, he contends
that England Is not only without the
temptation to take aggressive measures
on account of the unfolding of the Mon
roe doctrine; he thinks his own country
has its best interests rather with the
unfolding of the Monroe doctrine, and
that England would be best pleased, on
the whole. to see us prevent any Euro
pean colonizing schemes in South Amer
lea.
However, he thinks Americans great
~ underestimate the feeling in CONT
mental Europe over what is styled our
dog in the-manger policy, and he thinks
We stillsanore greatly underestimate the
chances of actual conflict with Europe
when the old world feels a definite ne
cessIty of finding an outlet in South
America for her emigrants. He thinks
there has been marked change in the
past few years, especially since the
Spanish war, in the attitude OF conti-
mental Europe toward America, and
that there would be no disposition for
Germany and the Latin countries to as
sumo what Mr.. Brooks considers the
placable mood OF England when the
United States CONSTITUTES firmly and lib
eraly the terets of the Monroe doctrine.
What is South America? 1t is some-
thing more than land of revolutions.
1t is the only part of the worlds surf
ace that has escaped the modern rage
for colonization. 1t is the last and most
tempting field for the reception of over
crowded Europe. colossal. sparsely pop
ulated, much of it almost UNEMPLOYED,
nhabitable by Caucasians, It's interior
easily accessible by water, its soil Of
seemingly exhaustless fertility. its min
eral wealth barely tapped. And this
ed among corgerie of psaudo-repub-
lies the best of them unstable, the prey
of military adventures, as turbulent in
spirit as they are crooked In finance.
What prize to dangle before world
whose cesaeless endeavor 1t is to lower
the social pressure by emigration, and
secure for her workers easy access to
exclusive markets! One has to realize
what Europe would give to have South
America as defenseless as Africa before
one can gauge the spirit In which 1t
views the Monroe doctrine. To Europe
that edict is the most domineering man
date issued To the world since the days
of imperial Rome. 1t is an abridge-
ment OF her natural rights. enforced, as
she regards the matter, simply in the
interests of the dogs in the manger. The
United States will neither take South
America for herself nor let any one else
take 1t. She does not coloniZe the coun
try with her own people; she has no
trade with 1t worth mentioning; SHE adj
mits no responsibility for the outrages,
disorders, and financial freakishness of
her proteges. But she insists that South
America Is within her sphere of infiu-s
ence; that such European holdings as
exist there shall neither be extended nor
transferred; that immigrants who settle
on its sol! must make UP their minds
to leave their flag behind them, and that
in the event of trouble between Euro
pean government and one Of the half
breed republics under her patronage,
satisfaction must be sought, If at all,
In mere financial indemnity-never In
the seizure and retention of South
American territory.
do Americans seriously believe that
Europe will lie passive forever under
such an edict? Any one who has looked
into the bloody and tangled history of
South America, and kept an eye on the
steady stream of European immigration
into Brazil and Argentina, can imagine
at least score of incidents. any one of
which would bring the Monroe doctrine
to a decisive test. Put on one side the
implacable loyalty of Americans to their
famous policy, and on the other the con-
gested state of Europe, which would
make expansion a necessity even If 1T
were not all the fashion, the military
shirt of the continent which will never
show England's compliance to American
wishes, the extraordinary inducements
to colonization offered by South Ameri-
ca. and the spirit of revolutionary tur-
bulence that broods over the country
from Patagonia to Panama-and one
has a situation which it will take mir
Gle to preserve intact for another fifty
years"