The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1901-02-22

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ga country at war is very intolerant
the home guards more than the veter-
ans and the politicians most Of all.
ITO speak against the war, to impugn
Its justice, is to encourage the enemy.
Your magnanimity and sense Of JUS
dee will be praised by the alien people
in whose behalf your voice was raised.
They may even build monuments in
your honor, as we did to Pitt, but the
home newspapers will, while you live,
make you wish you had never been
born.
''Was there duty upon Senator
Hoar to keep silence? His motives
were unimpeachably pure. All agree
that he was not seeking the applause
If his countrymen of this generation;
all agree that he has the old New Eng
land conscience and the old American
fervor for liberty and human rights.
Possibly he lacks the mercantile spirit.
He may not give sufficient considera-
ton to the metals and coal and forests
of the Philippines.
''There is semblance Of unreason in
charging the man who is trying to stop
a fight with the bruises and wounds
that ensue upon the failure of his ef-
forts.
"A patriot may, if his conscience can
not otherwise be quieted, oppose war
upon which his country has entered,
but If he does so he puts his fame in
the keeping of distant generation Of
his countrymen or possibly of an alien
people.
''We must not forget that the soldier
who fights the war does not declare it.
He must not denounce it, nor must any
patriot denounce him.
"As to the doctrine of spheres of in
fuence'-the modern euphemistic rem
dering of territorial pocket picking-we
have denied its application to this hem
isphere and denied to ourselves the use
Of it anywhere.
"a world power seems to be g power
having the purpose to take over SO
much of the world as it can by any
means possess and having with this
appetite for dominion military strength
enough to compel other nations having
the same appetite to allow or divide
the spoils.
"There has been an attempt to asso-
ciate the United States with this pro-
gramme Of civilization upon the theory
that the 'Anglo-Saxon' has divine
concession that covers the earth. This
appeal to a divine decree is itself
concession to the Anglo-Saxon common
law rule that the plaintiff in ejectment
must show title
'"The argument runs thus: The earth
is the Lords and the fullness there
Of So much is of record. The next
step is more difficult, for there is no
prophet no sealed transfer, no men
ton by name Of the Anglo Saxon.
The meek shall inherit the EARTH but
the boldest advocate of expansion dare
not suggest, as the minor premise,
that John Bull and Uncle Sam are of
that class.
"We must get away from all texts,
fear. Perhaps this is the best that can
be done; certainly it is the best that
has been done-Major premise: Gods
purpose Is that men shall make q full
and the best use Of all his gift Mi
nor premise: Dominion Is one of his
gifts, and the Anglo-Saxon makes a
better use Of dominion than the Latin
or the Beers or the Chinese. Conclu-
sion: The Anglo-Saxon, therefore, exc
cutes divine purpose when he SUBJ
dues these peoples and takes over their
lands.
IF to be world power is to do as
the world powers do, then we must dis
claim this new degree which the Euro
pean college Of applied force has con-
ferred upon us. The taking over of the
Philippines has been declared by those
who should know to have been casual
of necessity-the acceptance Of a
divinely imposed duty. The question
Of the disposition Of them, when their
people shall have submitted to legal
authority, Is said to be still open. All
of which is to say that the acquisition
of these distant islands does not COM
NIT the nation to scheme Of COLOMBIA
ton.
"Let us not be a world power in any
save the good old sense-that of a ma
ton capable Of protecting in all seas
the just rights Of its citizens and In
capable everywhere Of a wanton in
fringement Of the autonomy Of other
nations"
l am fully aware that that is long
quotation to put into one Of these let
tiers. but I am persuaded that since
the days Of Voltaire no such elegant
and whitening irony as that has been
printed in any language or in any
country. It is worthy Of place in
every scrapbook in America and in