Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1901-05-01
A WEArhERcock POLITICIAN.

A WEATHERcock POLITICIAN.
The republican papers are sounding
the praises of Sen. McLaurin of South
Carolina, and we'll they may, for he
has endorsed all that the republican
party stands for to-day. He only
lacks the moral courage to drop his
party name and announce himself a
republican. In his speech before the
manufacturers club at Charlotte, S.
c., the other day he advocated pro-
lection, sound money, and expansion.
If that does not make him republican
in fact what more is needed.
But the republicans are not over
anxious to have him take the step in
full. If he can succeed in bringing
the democratic machine of his state
into the hands of Resistant repub-
licans' like himself it will suit them
better. The money power would far
rather have both the old parties in
their service than to have only one to
rely on. They will thus have the sup
port of the mass of Bourbon democ-
racy who vote for a party name.
Those who really believe in the prin-
ciples McLaurin now advocates will
vote the republican ticket anyway,
and if the democratic party slaves
can be made to vote against the Bryan
democracy the republicans may break
up the solid south. By the time that
is accomplished McLaurin would
probably be ready to change his name,
as he has now changed his principles,
and be ready to share the spoils. He
has shown himself ready to change
his convictions because of one defeat.
He says the democratic party fought
expansion last fall and was defeated
and that settles it with him. AS if the
success or failure of campaign could
determine the question of right and
wrong.
Yet this is the same McLaurin who
two years ago Numbered out this
philippe against the very expansion
he now endorses:
''The real question now before the
American people is, are we ready to
swing loose from our constitutional
moorlngs? Are we prepared to aban-
don the peaceful policies of the past
century and drift amid the breakers
that have beset for ages the dynasties
of the old world? It is idle to speak
of Americanizing tropical country
5000 miles away. I am utterly OPP
posed, as matter of policy, to the
acquisition of any territory that can
not be Americanized and brought into
harmony with our institutions. +
X Government by force is, and al
ways will be, despotism. Can we af-
ford to abandon the doctrine of self
government and establish anywhere a
despotism? If so, then let us prepare
for the burden of large army and
navy, heavy taxation, and the unre-
Quilted sacrifice of the young men of
the nation. Hitherto our flag, wher-
ever it has hoated, has meant free
dom and self-government, battle only
for peace. But when raised over con-
quered territory, held as colonies, it
will mean tyranny and misrule, battle
for the sake of plumber. \ + I'm
perialism means self-building at the
expense of others. It's roots are en-
bedded in lust of power and Unsuitable
greed. The trusts and money power,
that now hold so many of our own
people in financial bondage, are cry
ing out for new fields to exploit.
Other nations have built and devel-
oped, and then tried expansion as a
remedy for domestic discomfort. If
you would know their history, read it
in the gray silence of Eastern lands,
in the wreckage of once mighty en-
pires Il \ If we embark in a
colonial system, it means the inaug-
uration of despotic power in Wash
army that will not only be used to
rule outlying territories, but that,
sooner or later, will be used at home
to overawe and override the popular
will. Better than wealth.
better than "a territory upon which the
sun never SETS, is the transmission
to our children of a Republic built
upon the understandable rock of con-
/ stitutional government.
And now. because of one defeat,
McLaurin is willing to shake down
his convictions, steal from the repub-
lican party the very policies he so
vigorously denounced, and attempt to
J win victory on this stolen issue. With
such men striving for control inside
the democratic party, does it not be-
come necessary for the peoples party
J to grid up it's loins and prepare to