The independent. [volume] (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907, 1903-07-16
HOW 1T AFFECTS US

gether in peace, with only slight dis
turbances just after the war. Now
there seems to be a race problem of
tremendous dimensions facing the ma
ton. The most serious disturbances
have occurred in Indiana and Della
ware, two republican states, although
they extend over large part of the
union.
There can be no doubt that this trou-
BILE is the direct result of the abandon
ment of the Declaration of Indepen-
dence and the substitution for them
the evasions and subterfuges of mod
ern toryism. II the United States gov
eminent had been true to the prin-
ciples of Lincoln and Jefferson, had
not gone into wars of conquest and re-
Trained from the official talk about
inferior races" and giving them as
full a measure Of liberty as they are
capable of enjoying" with all the rest
of the shibboleth of Imperialism, no
such state of affairs would exist in
the United States as we at present
deplore.
IT this government had been true
to those principles of equality of all
men before the law which have made
this nation great, il we had carried the
constitution and the Declaration of In
dependence to the Philippines and set
up government there deriving it's
powers from the consent of the gov
erned, wave of enthusiasm a love Of
liberty and an acknowledgment of
the brotherhood of man would have
swept over the land that would have
made the recent acts of savagery inn
possible.
Very often The Independent has
said that it fought Imperialism more
because of the curses that it would
bring to this nation than for the suf-
ferings it might cause the conquered
peoples. The effect upon us of our
imperial policy in the Philippines has
so far been much more disastrous than
to the conquered people. The destruc-
ton of high ideals of this government
which urged, for a hundred years. ey-
cry man on toward demanding Justice
and liberty for all men is a thing so
incalculable in it's evil effects that it
clouds all the future.
SSS<$SS&
SLAVES NEVER FREE THEMSELVES
= The effort of the socialists to round
up the "prolateriat" and get them to
vote the socialist ticket will end in
failure. Those are the chaps who fur
rlsh the republican majorities They
term the gangs that the ward heller
brings in on election day to vote 'er
straight" A glass of beer, a drink
of whisky, the promise of some little
office, a dollar or two in money. Sc
cures them. 1t is now and has always
been the ''propertyless class" that plu-
tocracy has relied upon. They do the
mental work, they vote for their mas
tiers, they are the privates in the arm
les who fight the battles of the rich.
The socialists may succeed in making
few of them "class-conscious" and
induce them to join some of the Sec
tions, and The Independent hopes that
they will get more of them than have
ever heretofore rallied to Marxism. for
every time they get one of them to
vote the socialist ticket there is one
less republican vote. Under the mon
erchies of the old world there is a
very large propertyless class. Here it
is very small. 1t will continue to grow
it the trusts have their way The
workers who own their homes and the
farmers who own their farms will con-
stantly become fewer. Just as they
do, plutocracy will become stronger.
1t is not this class that will ever eff
feet anv reforms Slaves npver freo