Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1902-05-21
CURRENT COMMENT
Brief Discussions of Political and
Other Matters of Public Interest.
ANDREW I palm

The citizens Of Pittsburg have been
gold bricked from every point of the
political compass, until the intelligent
portion refuse to take stock in any
more deals or promises. They have
been driven to the conclusion, after a
long experience, that the official pat
ronage of the city has been traded
back and forth with as little concern
as boys trade jack-knives, and they
will put the stamp of their disapproval
on the whole business when they get
another whack at the gang that has
used the city, as Ben Focht says, for
the purpose of plunder
True to his antediluvian instincts
Roosevelt wants a man of blood for
governor of Pennsylvania. 1t is re-
ported that in speaking to Gen. Bing-
ham, of Philadelphia, recently, Roose-
welt said: You people in Pennsylvania
want to be careful this year, why not
nominate Gen. Brooke for governor"'
Anybody so it is somebody who wears
shoulder straps and pretends to be
| fighter is about Roosevelts size. He
ought to have lived before civilization
pretended to abandon the theory that
the great majority of men were made
simply to be murdered in war for the
glory of some military chieftain and
his satellites. He is doing all he can
| to encourage the brutal old principle
that might makes right and that
wholesale murder in the name of pa
triotism is glorious.
1t is remarkable how odious the pro
tective tariff is declared to be even by
the most radical tariff organ when i,
admits the truth through carelessness
or other cause. They all join in de-
manding the repeal of the duty or
wood pulp. They strenuously insist
that it is simply tax on intelligence,
as it increases the price of the paper
through which they teach their CON
| fiding readers the benefits of a protec-
| tive tariff. They are quite right in in
sisting that the tariff is a tax on in
telligence, for it must tax to the ut
SO monstrous doctrine. The duty on
wood pulp is not a whit worse than it
is on a thousand other things about
which one never hears whimper Of
complaint from the protective organs
that are so ready to squeal when they
are hit but are Indifferent to the
groans of others who are robbed sys
| tematically by the protective humbug
| The whole protective system is gi
gantic fraud, forcing money from the
many to put into the pockets of the
| few.
The damnable outrages perpetrated
| in the name of patriotism and for the
purpose of benevolent assimilation in
the Philippines are coming to light day
after day, and the record is enough to
make Il man ashamed of his race The
only sensible thing to do was to keep
entirely away from all such imperial
| istic ventures, but as that was not
| done the only sensible thing now is to
withdraw every American soldier at
once from the islands, for we never
| had shadow of right there except the
| title recognized by savages and bar
/ barians, that might makes right. What!
| leave them to kill one another? Ger
tainly, If they feel like it. They would
kill themselves cheaper and more hu-
namely than we are doing it for them.
Oh, but we want to make Christians of
/ them. But a live heather is better
| than a dead Christian, and if we are to
be judged by our army live heathen
/ is even better than a live Christian.
/ Yes, but some other bad nation would
go in and capture these poor people
that we have been treating so kindly.
1t isn't at all likely that any other ma
tion would be so foolish, but if it
should attempt such a thing it might
learn wisdom in the fools school of
experience, just as England is taking
a lesson in South Africa from the
Beers and as we are doing in the
Philippines. The military man whose
trade is killing, burning, wounding and
plundering and the trust magnate who
wants other worlds to conquer are in
favor of continuing the war in the
Philippines, bat all good people are
sick and tired Of the wicked folly of
trying to run the whole world.