Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1901-03-21

struction, but l beg to state that we
have no evidence Of that fact. Au con-
traire, as the French would say, all the
facts go to show that we are only hui
man. Indeed "Uncle" Shelby NJ. Cul-
confidence that even United States sen
ators are human.
1t will be observed that in the SEN
tence which have quoted Mr.. Nc
Kinley speaks of unlimited expansion
No pent up Utica confines our powers;
The whole, the boundless continent is ours
Not only the continent is ours. but
the graceful presidential orator Sc
renely informs us that ''our institutions
tension anywhere. extension every
where. What rosy spectacles our chief
magistrate must wear! What warrant
has he for such a sweeping statement
in the face of the sober but unpalatable
facts of history? Yet l hope he is
correct, for we are now entered upon
policy of all devouring extension.
We are committed to the doctrine, un-
heard of till now, that we can't trade
profitably with man unless we own
him.
Does History Lie:
Our presidential optimist says. "Our
sense of justice will not abate under
tropic suns in distant seas" If 1t
does not, all history is lie. Alexander
must certainly have been a gentle and
tender father to the Asiatics when he
conquered, Roman proconsuls never
plundered vassal peoples. and England
has been kind, nursing mother to the
East Indians and the Beers!
undertake to say that no more skill
full or tactful rhetorician ever stood
before an audience than Mr.. Mckinley.
The sentence which | have quoted is
universal in application, positive in as
sertion. gorgeous in the policy fore
shadowed. 1t appeals to American
pride, to our inherent, ineradicable lust
of land, to the old buccaneer spirit of
Sir Francis Drake, which is not dead
within us, and to our overweening ego
tism. The Greeks went to the deuce
on the road mapped out by the presi-
dent. But the president would have us
Greeks and therefore can do with per
feet impunity what caused the down
fall of Greece. The Romans degener-
ated and were made the slaves of bar
barians for following the plan advo
Gated by the president of universal ex-
tension. Rome became the Niobe of
nations by adopting the Mckinley
/ pII< rot RI
for we are superior to thcm. We are
a peculiar people. They were job lot
of dagoes. They had such scrub poets
as Virgil and Horace. such inferior
orators as Cicero. Mark Antony and
Cato, such obscure scribblers as Taci-
tus, such one horse generals as Julius
Caesar. Pompey. Scipio Africanus and
Belisarius, such statesmen as Octayius
| Caesar, Justinian and Trajan; they had
! such patriots as Brutus and the Anto-
mines. but we have General Shafter
and Rear Admiral Sampson and can
therefore afford to despise the Romans
and all their works!
Promises to Cuba.
/ One sentence in the inaugural must
cause every honest man in America to
feel good, and it is this: THE declara-
ton Of the purposes of this government
in the resolution of April 20. 1898,
must be made good" That is the Gu
ban resolution in which we declared
our disinterestedness In beginning the
| Cuban war. 1t is sometimes called the
Teller resolution AS to whether it
was q wise resolution men differ and
will continue to differ. Individually !.
| think it was. But. wise or unwise.
what is writ is writ. We must live up
| to it or earn worldwide. deserved and
enduring reputation for Punica fides.
May God grant Mr.. Mckinley the cour-
age, resolution and fortitude to live up
| to that one of his inaugural declara-
tions to the end that the honor of this
| great republic may be preserved! He
| will need vast store of courage. res
| olution and fortitude to withstand the
| pressure which will be brought to bear
upon him by spectators. stock jobbers
and rascals who trade in patriotism.
| or course all sane people would like
| to see Cuba a part of this country.
| have no doubt that it will be sooner or
| later. and the more completely we live
| up to the Teller resolution. the more
/ fairly we treat the Cubans. the sooner
| will that desirable end be accom-
| plished.
Mr.. Mckinley says and truly: 1--WE
! face at this moment a most important
| Question-that of the future relations
| Of the United States and Cuba. With
! our near neighbors we must remain
| close friends" The first of those two
sentences contains great truth. The
last states a sound policy. If the pres
| ident uses his utmost endeavors to car
~ out that policy in good faith. he will
deserve we'll of his countrymen, and
| they will with one accord rise up and
| call him blessed. To few men that
ever lived in the food of time have
such powers and honors been given as
| President Mckinley now possesses.
The prayer Of every true patriot is
that he may use them In the fear df
God and in the love of our country.
dortaIities and Fatalities.
In November, 1885, there were elect
ed to the house of the Fifty-sixth con-
gress $50 men supposed to be in good
health, mentally and physically and to
be in the full possession of all their
faculties. Most of them were in the
prime of life-in the flower of their
years. Yet now Is of them-one out of
every 24-are in their graves-a as
founding mortality! Let us hope that
'after life's fitful fever they sleep
| we'll" Sadder still, two Of the 800
Boutelle Of Maine and Sprague of Mas
sachusetts- are in 9iunatic asylum.
Rejecting on these facts, one feels like
quoting Abraham Lincoln's favorite po-
| EN-, ''Oh, why should the spirit of NOR
tai be proud?"
Boutelle had served in congress for
Is years. Counting the two he has spent
in the asylum while nominally a men,
| Der of the house, his congressional
service extended over a period of 20
years. He was elected in 1900 for two
years more, making 30 years in all
The strangest thing that ever happened
in the politics of this country or of any
other was his election to congress in
1900 while he was confined in a luna
| tic asylum. Parallel that who can.
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