The Independent. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1895-1905, 1902-07-28
yrue Democracy Defined.
Continued from Ist pdae.)

cellence, and those Americans who rever
ence it as the immortal declaration of in
alenable and universal monument of hui
man progress"
However it may have been in the past
this distinction to-day marks the separa-
ton between republicansm and democrat
cy. The history of this country for
century and quarter is the record of the
fruits borne by strict loyalty to the origin
al or democratic Interpretation of the
Declaration of Independence. We need
not enumerate them, they are abundant
on every side and conspicuous through
out the world. l do not know how we can
better celebrate the day than by consider
ing what must be the result of adopting
this new Interpretation which by localiz-
ing the Declaration of Independence,
would restrict at once the field and weight
of its authority.
assume nobody will dispute that the
pursuit of happiness is the end of life,
and that the pursuit of happiness is the
effort of prosperity. All men and all
parties in every country agree in de-
string prosperity, but they differ widely
as to the means by which it should be
sought, Men are apt to persuade them
selves that there are various paths. to
prosperity, but as q matter of fact there
are only two, one is by production and
the other by plumber. Whatever man
possesses must be the product of his own
labor or the labor of some other man, and.
therefore, he has but two ways of getting
property; he must make it or he must
take it, of course, the thing ne may OBJ.
tain by exchanging it for the products of
his own labor is practically produced by
himself; 1t is the product of his own pro.
duct. Whatever he obtains by violence
OF fraud in time of peace, by pillage or in
demnity in time of war, is the fruit of
plumber. From the very beginning of the
world down to this day. the masses of men
have been divided into those who seek
prosperity by industry and those who
seek it by pillage
The Declaration of Independence pro-
claiming all men entitled to equal oppor
tunities in the pursuit of happiness is the
chart for reaching prosperity by industry.
III is q gospel of democracy. Every de-
parture from its principles springs from a
desire to secure prosperity by plumber.
Every attempt to impair its authority.
however disguised, is imperialistic. pre-,
datory, NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. anti
American, anti'Christian And this, NV
friends, stated in the narrowest composs
and in the planest terms is the vital dis
tinction to-day between the Democratic
and the Republican parties"
Now, L don't mean to saw that tbe
many millions of upright men who vote
for Republican candidates and support
Republican platforms, or any appreciable
number of the politicians who manage
Republican campaigns, are brigands in.
tent upon the pillage of their fellow citi-
zens; but do mean to say that the whole
body of political doctrines to which the
Republican party has become finally COM
mitted aims at producing, or ut least in
creasing, prosperity by plumber.
of course, nobody would pretend that
In this country bold proposal of naked
robbery would be cOuntenanced by anv
body of Americans outside of a penal es.
Establishment. Nowhere in the world Mt
TINS day would proposal be tolerated
arbitrarily to seize the property of some
men and deliver 1t openly and directly to
other men, Even in countries still mon.
archical and nominally autocratic, gov.
ernments nowadays seek to indicate their
own right to existence by claiming tho
greatest efficiency in protecting every man
in the enjoyment of what he produces nv
his labor.
While the essential inalienable human
rights are now everywhere conceded.
WINE every man is now reasonably secure
IRON arbitrary or forcible confiscation of
MS property, Efforts to deprive him of Che
fruits OF his labor still continue but in a
diHerent and more dangerous form. be-
cause by assuming the pretense of meas
ures TO benefit MIN they often enlist his
own and In carrying them out"
Men who would take up arms to resist
an open and avowed scheme of confisca-
uon' will not only permit it, but often
actually aid it when it is disguised as
plan of benevolence.
The division then, between men who
support Republican policies and those
who oppose them Is not a division be.
tween the peaceable aud the violent, be.
tween the honest and the dishonest, but