Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1901-06-07
Imperialism VS.. Democracy.
From Boston Herald

A writer commenting upon the recent
decision of the United States supreme
court in the Porto Rican cases has drawn
the curiously superficial conclusion that
this is blow at Imperialism, because it
eXalts the authority of the congress of
the United States at the expense of the
president, and makes the former, and
not the latter, determine In what direction
the Constitution shall be extended. The
conclusion which this writer endeavors
to have drawn is that our government
cannot be made an imperialistic one so
long as autocratic power is not accorded
to the chief executive. We suppose that
it is inevitable that the great mass Of our
people should persist in considering ques-
lions of this kind from an obviously sup
CRITICAL point of view. If il were ar
ranged that the president of the United
States should on state occasions wear a
crown and carry in his hand sceptre,
although his authority might not be in
the least increased, millions would, no
doubt, affirm that the end of American
liberty had been reached. On the other
hand, if, without the European para
phernalia of office, a radical anti-demo-
cratic change was made in our system OF
government, a great many of our people
would rest in entire ignorance of the
transition, simply because the crown and
the sceptre, the stars and carriers of an
old world imperial establishment, would
be wanting.
The system OF government established
by our forefathers was democratic to
this extent, that it proclaimed the doc
trine of human equality. 1t was not,
it is true, lived up TO, for the reason that
we had the problem of negro slavery
upon our hands, and it was no. easy to
reconcile the ownership of colored men
with the theory that all men were free
and equal. \ more logical people, the
French, for example, would not have toll.
crate such contradiction; and with US,
as we all know, it ended, after three gen
eratiols, in a terriable civil war. The
amendments made during the recon
struction period brought the Constitution
of the United States into harmony
with the Declaration of Independence, sc
far as concerned the theory of human
equality. But no one who watches the
great movements of public opinion need;
to be told that public enthusiasm for and
confidence in the theory of democratic
government have, in the last decade oil
two, undergone a sensible decline, par
ticularly among those responsible FOL
hepuullCdu party pOllCy.
1t is no doubt true that it was a mis-
take to give the ballot to the negroes
after the close of the war of the rebel
lion, but they are now gradually beins
deprived of it almost without protest by
processes of law which, if proposed
twenty-five years ago, would hav,
aroused cry of Indignation Throughout
the northern states from the Atlantic t,
the Pacific. 1t has been asserted that, /
the negroes can be prevented from vot
ing by statutory or constitutional limita
tons, the negro issue will be eliminat
ed from politics, and it will be possible
to build up strong Republican party II
the southern states. This latter result
is looked upon as so eminently desirable
that large number of leading Republi
cans are quite willing to ignore the fac
that their predecessors of a quarter OF
century ago would have considered sucl
acquiescence to be base betrayal of
sacred trust.
We are thus parting with the old-fash
Toned idea of democracy and advancing
toward Imperialism In our own country
/ for imperialism, as 1t cannot be too ofte
said, does not consist in having an EN-
peror, but in governing country on tn
well established basis that all men ar
r not free and equal, and, as some are BET
ter and wiser than others, the wisest ant
best should rule over their less favore
fellow-men. 1t does not matter whethe
the form of rule is that of car, or tina
of an imperial parliament which rule
( over subject peoples in the name OF con
, quering and governing nation. III
government of England is just as imper
ialistic as the government of Russia. Th
inhabitants Of Somali Coast Protectorate
, an English colony, have no more polit
, cal rights accorded to them by the Brit
ish parliament, representing the Englis
people, than the Gar accords to the In
t habitants of the Crimea. The govern