The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1901-02-21

! oSoou u OoIu6 ,6OVcTucu ny strangers
who do not understand them.
There is no code Of ethics that so
completely contradicts itself, as the acts
OF government that hangs a man for
murder, and then sends troops half
round the world to butcher brown men
who, with uplifted hands. ask only for
peace and the right to live their lives in
| their own way.
! There may be something said in az
tenuatiOn OF the slaughter of an insOlent
enemy; there may be reason in the as
! sassination of an unjust ruler; the trade
of highwayman Is respectable; the thief,
the robbers preying upon society,", are
only petty retail offenders as compared
with the serried ranks of law-created
mobiles and outlaws who sell their man
hood to the state, and 60 forth to plum
der and slay in the name of patriotism.
Judged by the standards of morality
man who enlists as a hired soldier in
| any army in the world, the man who
sells his manhood and places his con-
science in the keeping of petty officer,
the man who is bound by the terms of
! his contract with the military despot
who governs him, and orders him to fire
| at the breast of his brother-that man
is greater criminal than can be found
in any prison in the whole world. If he
| enlists to make name, to climb the
! stair of glory, to rise with bloody hands
and a callous conscience, SO that he may
make show of himself in a street pa
| rade, in the carnival of Vanity Fair,
| how small he is, compared with the man
( who barred his breast and died in de-
| Tense of his home in the rice fields of
LuzOn. At best, even in self-defense,
! war is beastly business sometimes it
| is unavoidable.
! All honor to the men who fell at Lex
! ington and Bunker HILL All honor to
the men of 1875. All honor and glory
| to the men of 1912, who struck against
! the seizure of our seamen beneath the
| flag of the Union. All honor to tie
| men of the COS, who in death grapple
| strove for principle; on one side for the
| unity of the republic and freedom; on
| the other side for states rights and in
| iquitous law. All honor to the men who
struck for the cause of freedom in Cuba.
There-let the curtain drop. Caesar has
passed the Rubicon. Imperial Caesar is
sending his legions into Africa, the
British lion rampant to the fore. Our
imperator (by the grace of God. usurpa-
ton and the consent of the subservient
Curiae at Washington, is ending)our
legiOns and eagles into the Orient I'M
perialism is the same under a republic
or under a monarchy.
All honor to the Afrikanders who are
| making a Thermopylae of the veldt. All
honor to the brown men who are trying
to uphold the principles of 1776, the
Declaration of independence. Shame
upon the blue and relocated or khaki
clad legions of despotism. Shame upon
the hired assassins who are splitting
innocent blood, the blood of men who
! only ask to be let alone. Can we pur-
chase a people with their lands? That
is serfdOm; it is a monstrous assumption
of power; it sets at defiance all the
teachings of the fathers of the republic,
to assume that we have the right to
dictate to an alien race what form Of
government they shall live under Let
us bring the matter home to our native
heath. What if England and Germany
should decide that our people were in
capable of self-government and pro-
coed to blockade our ports and land
troops in New York and Washington, as
the allies have done in China? Suppose
they should insist upon their troops re-
| naming in our capital and seaports
because mob had maltreated some of
their citizens? There would be no di-
vision amongst our people. Such an up
rising would occur as would, by the
mere weight of numbers, force the in
vaders into the sea. That would be q
holy war; that would be patriotism,
even though the beastly slaughter would
pile mountains of dead on our hilltops
and swell red torrents to stain the sea-
There will soon be a call for hired myr-
midons to fill the depleted ranks of our
army. The government no longer wants
volunteers; only hired men are wanted,
men who will pull 1.-The trigger at the
command, Fire" even though his ia
ther and mother stand in front of the
rifle.
Will freeborn Americans sell their
souls and manhood, as hired soldier
in the ranks of the regular army of the
United States? This talk is not treason
it is the voice of humanity If you
could see the young men who are sent
home from across the sea, mental and
physical wrecks; they have paid the
penalty for the fun of soldering in a
tropical climate.
Think before you take the fatal STEP
We will soon have the legions of Caesar,
the PretOrian guards of later Rome
The imperialists are jublilant They
have the authority to enlist 100000
myrmidons of power: it will not be long
before another 100000 will be needed,
and then-the future is dark with omi-
| nous clouds The true republic is dead,
and on its ruins the imperial standard
of conquest, glory, carnage and national
madness
ic Int h,.i0h