Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1902-05-09
PERTINENT QUERIES.
CURRENT TOPICS, PROFOUND
ED BY THE SAGE OF YELM.

Christian Civilization is the hand.Maiden
oi Civil Liberty-He Cites the water.
Cure" Means of Extortion of Secrets From
Captured FiIipinos as a Parallel of Atrocities
! of the lnquisition as Evidence That the
Gcntler Impulses of the Soul Do Not Al
ways Respond to the Professions Of the
Revealed Word.
For what purpose were we created?
Was it that we might rob and plunder,
torture and destroy our fellow-man?
If so, we are certainly fulfilling our
destiny. This world has been a char
mel house Of death and destruction
during all the past centuries, and, not
withstanding the boasted claim OF
Christianity as peace and good fel-
lowship promoter. the work Of destruc-
ton, tyranny and oppression still goes
on. In the past two or three years,
Christian England has spent nearly a
billion dollars and sacrificed the lives
and happiness of hundreds of thou.
sands of human beings. During the
same time the Christianized republic
OF the United States, as if not to be
beaten in its share of the glory of ex-
termination and exploitation, has
spent half billion dollars and sacri-
feed almost an equal number OF lives,
and those of class of people who
never did us any harm other than try
ing to secure the same freedom for
which our forefathers fought century
and quarter ago and for which they
are eulogized and honored by all ma
tions. The atrocities that have been
committed by those two leading ma
tions of the world in the Boer and
Philippine wars would cause the blush
of shame and disgrace to mantle the
cheeks of Digger Indian, if all re-
ports are true. The treacherous
scheme involved in the capture of Ag-
uinaldo, is without parallel in the
history OF civilized warfare, and yet
this Christian nation poured forth its
laudation of that act in prodigal pro-
fusion. If Philippine leader had
been guilty OF the same act Of treach-
cry, hanging would have been too good
for him. He would have been given
the water cure" l used to read with
horror and indignation the treatment
OF heretics by the Catholic Inquisition,
and had hoped that manhood had
learned better, but since the applica-
ton of the water-cure process con-
clude that all that is lacking, in the
present age of Christian civilization, is
opportunity. If the church had the
same power to-day that it had in the
past, we would have the same system
of intolerant bigotry and oppression,
and the man who refused to subscribe
to the creeds and dogmas OF the church
would be subjected to the same indig-
mites as in the past, but thanks to
such noble patriots as Voltaire, Thos.
Paine, Thos. Jefferson, Benjamin
Franklin, and q host of other free
thinkers, the church is shorn of its
power in the United States by the di-
vorce of church and State and it must
henceforth stand on its own legs or
fall by its own folly. Query: Is
Christianity, as a peace and love pro-
motor. q success or failure? Don't
all speak at once. What would have
been the result if our government had
instructed Admiral Dewey, after the
taking OF Manila, to say to the Fill
pinos that we were "not waging war
of aggression but war of humanity
that our code OF ethics taught us that
"All men are created equal, endowed
by their Creator with certain inalien-
able rights, among which were life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness"
that we propose to liberate You from
the tyranny OF the Spaniards and show
to the world that We practice what we
preach; that We don't want you to
swap masters, as according to our code
OF ethics, no man or body of men have
any right to hold any man or body OF
men in subjection. You are at liberty
to organize your own government and
We will see that you are protected
from the aggressions of other nations. u
Result: The saving OF vast amount
OF bloodshed and hundreds of millions
of treasure; the consciousness of hav.
ing performed our duty as humanitar.
ians.
An example for the world to follow
and by our example elevating a race OF
people whose environments were linn
tied. Now, honor bright, my imper-
ialistic friends. Don't you think such
treatment would have won for us more
glory than the policy OF aggression.
Don't you think we would have re-
ceived and deserved the everlasting
gratitude OF these people? But some.
one says, they commenced the fight.
Some one lies like the devil, and l can
prove it. If there were no other rea-
son, the Philippine policy of the ad-
ministration ought to damn it forever
as a party of the grossest injustice.
J. C. Coo.
Same Fit