The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1902-12-06
SIandering King Oscar.

HUMAN NATURE is alike the world
over. In events of grave impor-
lance, no less than in trivial af-
fairs, men are controlled by passion
and prejudice rather than by sober rea-
son. The tramp sentenced to Jail as
vagrant lays it all to the prejudice of
the judge. Litigants are never salts
fed with court decisions against them.
The judge is either friendly to the other
side or he is ignorant of law. We are
forever right, the other fellow is eter-
nally wrong.
Not long ago the international court
OF arbitration at The Hague decided
for the United States and against Mex
leo in the suit brought to recover the
Pious Fund. A portion Of the Mexican
press bitterly assailed the tribunal and
the methods adopted to arrive at a
judicial decision. 1t is the result of
prejudice against the weaker republic,
they said, and a willingness to curry
favor with the nation that is strong.
Almost the same argument the tramp
uses against the judge who consigns
him to prison. Elated over our victory,
we laughed the Mexican press to scorn.
Not long after this decision was rem
dered at The Hague, news came from
the capital of Sweden about another
decision submitted for arbitration.
King Oscar decided against the United
States and England and in favor of
Germany. Lol and behold, the Walls of
our wrath were turned upon King Os-
car. a king is not fit to pass upon
questions in which d republic is con-
cerned. A king always sides with 9TH
er kings. If he decided against Ger
many, he would make an enemy of
neighbor, and the United States is in
another hemisphere. The long and
short of it is, King Oscar is prejudiced
The same old argument OF the tramp
Substantially the same argument used
| by the Salt Lake Tribune in discussing
the matter of the Samoan award.
Let us first examine the arbitrator
with the knowledge derived of his char
acter. Who is King Oscar? This Swed-
ish king readily passes as the most
enlightened monarch of Europe, a per-
son given to deep study and philoso-
ply rather than to court trumpery-a
man of literature, poet and author
| He is of the Protestant faith, and Prot
estant Sweden is more intolerant than
Catholic Peru. We mention this be-
cause of a religious feature in the Sa-
moan controversy. King Oscar, if not
a secret enemy of Germany, has not
| forgotten Germany's loot of Schleswig-
Holstein in the war with Denmark,
| Sweden's Scandinavian ally We men
ton this, also, because Germany reaps
the fruit OF the Samoan award decided
by King Oscar. In the face of such
facts, what foundation has the Trib-
une for its charge of prejudice?
The king of Sweden, as arbitrator,
has decided that we are indebted to
the people of Samoa in the sum of
| 81, 600 for the acts of Admiral Kautz
in Smelling some Samoan villages in
1889. All this has been brought about
by that lunattc from indiana, Judge
Chambers whose wife hoodwinked him
into complying with the demands of
the London mission people, and whose
foolish decision in favor of Protestant
pretender was the ground of the bonn
bardment now declared unnecessary
unlawful and inhuman. These mis-
sionaries have put US into a very ugly
mess.
Father Phelan, in the Western
Watchman, calls attention to an arti-
Gle appearing in that paper thirteen
years ago on the subject of the trou-
bles in Samoa. He quoted from let
ter written by German Protestant
resident, Kaust, to the New York Sun:
"At the bottom of the whole trouble