The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-02-20
THE EARTH IS THE LORD
HARRISON ON THE TERRITORIAL
KET-PICKING.
What the Ex-President Says of Spheres
of Influence and My Country, Right
or Wrong"

The following from EX-President
Harrisons article in the North Ameri-
can Review acquires almost equal in
terest from the subject and from the
writer,
Is the morality vi the motto, My
country, right or wrong" susceptible
of defense? Is it not to say: 1T is
right to do wrong?'-for the sentiment
implies action.
a country at war is very intolerant-
the home guards more than the Vete-
rams and the politicians most of all.
To speak against the war to impugn
its justice, is to encourage the enemy.
Your magnanimity and sense of justice
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; and when you are dead they Will
now and then eXhume your skeleton to
brighten those who live after you.
Was there a duty upon Senator Hoar
to keep silence? His motives were un-
impeachably pure. All agree that he
was not seeking the applause of his
countrymen of this generation. All
agree that he has the old New England
conscience and the old American ferVor
for liberty and human rights. Possibly
he lacks the mercantile spirit. He may
not give sufficient consideration to the
metals and coal and forests of the
Philippines.
There is a semblance of unreason in
charging the man who is trying to stop
fight with the bruises and wounds
that ensue upon the failure of his eff
forts.
A patriot may, if his conscience can
not otherwise be quoted, oppose war
upon which his country has entered !;
but if he does so he puts his fame in
the keeping of a 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
fluence"-the modern euphemistic rem
dering of territorial pocket-p picking
we have denied its application to this
hemisphere and denied to ourselves the
use of it anywhere.
A world power seems to be a power
having the purpose to take over so
much of the world as it can by any
means possess, and having 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-
gram of civilization upon the theory
that the "Anglo-SaXOn'' has a divine
concession that covers the earth This
appeal to a divine decree is itself a
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 fulness thereof"
So much is of record. The next step is
more difficult for there is no prophet,
no sealed transfer no mention by name
of the Anglo Saxon. THE meek shall
inherit the earth''-but the boldest ad-
Vocate 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, I
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 a full
and the best use of all his gifts. Minor
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. Conclusion: The
Anglo-SaXon, therefore executes a di-
vine purpose when he subdues these
peoples and takes over their lands
If to be a 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 diVi-
nelly imposed duty. The question of the
disposition of them, when their people
shall have submitted to legal authori-
ty, is said to be still open. All OF which
Is to say that the acquisition of these
distant islands does not commit the
nation to a scheme of colonization.
Let us not be a world power in any
save the POOd old sanSa-that NJ q ma.