The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1902-03-01

uAuCA OhN AhAOc 6c'~c
foreign snobbery in this country and
Of so-called senatorial courtesy, but
it viii hardly be considered the proper
thing by the American people. Hid
den away in perfect security in the
exalted Office which he holds it vas
cowardly in the nations president to
offer an insult to a representative of
one of the sovereign states Of this
union which the chief executive knew
could not be effectively resented.
The condition under which the
president assumes to have acted in
this matter is that Senator Tillman
is held in contempt of the senate Of
the United States by virtue of the
fact that he slapped in the face
McLaurin, of South Carolina, who
denounced him as a liar upon the
floor of that chamber. While a pro-
cedure surely out of the ordinary in
the senate, Tillman's action was
assuredly a just, righteous, and GER
tainly not unexpected rebuke to a
BLACKBOARD and a bully who by some
mischance has been elected by a
southern state to a place on the floor
of the upper branch of congress
Senator Tillman had been pre-
viously invited to the Prince Henry
dining at the white house as the
ranking minority member of the com-
mittee on naval affairs, but after
r~esenting McLaurin's insulting Ian
guage Mr.. Roosevelt, in a curt note,
withdrew the invitation, with the
side statement that the presence of
Senator Tillman under the circum-
stances at the Prince Henry dinner
would be an insult to his royal high
ness.
The incident bears all the ear
marks of unamericanism- Ia step back
ward from the position this country
has held in the past as IN independent
government, made up Of people who
bow at the shrine of no foreign nation
but adhere to digniied treatment of
all men and love of personal liberty,
and we find in it a lesson which we
must heed lest dire calamity befali
us. We must be quick to return to
American doctrines and American
love Of country if we would not see
our institutions totter and fall from
the destroying effect of imperialistic
rust that is manifesting itself to eat
away our cherished hope Of maintain
ing the worlds greatest republic.
This %pernicious influence is not
only asserting itself In the executive
branch Of our government but is
plainly visible in our legislative halls,
Patriots who preach Americanism
from the floors of both house anC
senate are howled at as fools and
knaves, while the government rushes
ahead in the requirement Of pompand
dollars, Transforming craftsmanship
into commercialism and patriotism
into legalized loot.
When Tillman was so grossly in.
suited by McLaurin he was making a
speech on the floor of the senate II
opposition to the infamous Philippine
tariff measure. His logic was 81
forceful and his shafts of expressed
truth were sent home so tellingly t
the doors of the republican party il
that body that Spooner resorted t.
the cowaTdly device Of twitting th,
/. South Carolinian into the telling OF
/, great truth about his renegade fellow
r senator from the same state which
led to the alterations Spoone
knew it would-that led to the hna
/, humiliation of an American senate
by the president of the United State
because, forsooth, the presence of tina
senator at a certain dinner nigh
, offend a foreign prince who happeneC
| to be dining at the capitol builded b,
, the people of this country at Wash
+ ington - Tillman's alleged offenc
r being that he had violated this ques
ton of much discussed ''senatoria
courtesy, behind which many
coward has lmked, many a politica
job Of unsavory import has bee
hidden, and many a legalized robber
committed unknown to the America
people.
A Cutting Paragraph.