Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1903-08-27
THE WAGESOF SIN
ROOSEVELT WRITES
THE GOVERNOR OF INDIANA.
Nations No More Than individuals Nav Com.
nit Crime With lmpunity. According to
franklin and jefferson This Nation Has
Committed 4 Crime.

Those who are opposed to imperialism
doubtless read with great interest the
concluding paragraph Of Mr.. r osevelt's
letter to the governor of Indiana. In
that paragraph Mr.. Roosevelt said:
1.-THE nation, like the individual, can.
not commit crime with impunity. If
we are guilty Of lawlessness or violence,
whether our guilt consists OF active par
ticipation therein or in mere connivance
or encouragement, We shall! assuredly
suffer later on because OF what We have
done. The cornerstone Of this republic,
as OF all free governments, is respect for,
and obedience to, the law. Where We
permit the law to be defied or evaded,
whether by rich man or poor man, by
black man or white man, We are by just
so much weakening tine bonds of our
civilization and increasing the chances OF
it's overthrow and the substitution there
for OF a system that shall be violent al
ternations of anarchy and tyranny"
Mr. Roosevelt here stated proposition
that has frequently. been put forth by
those who criticise the republican party's
policy toward our new possessions. Yet
republican orators and republican organs
have had many sneers for such state
ments as these when they were made by
those who do notsubscribe to republican
doctrine.
Jefferson wrote: II know but one
code Of moi ally for men, whether acting
singly or collectively"
Franklin wrote: "Justice is as strictly
due between neighbor nations as between
neighbor citizens. A highwayman is as
much robber when he plumbers in
gang as when he plumbers singly, and
nation that makes an unjust war is only
a great gang"
Men may dare 10 do in crowds what
they would not dare to do as Individuals:
but the moral character of an act is not
determined by the number OF those who
join . Force can defend right, b, t
fore. has never yet created right. If it
" dc tIUc dS uCCIdICO III tliC ICSViutiOi vi
Intervention that the Cubans care and of
right ought to be free and Independent"
it is equally true that the Filipinos care
and OF right ought to be free and nde-
pendent"
As Mr.. Roosevelt says: The nation,
like the individual, cam commit a
crime with impunity." To be sure, the
nation like the individual, can commit a
crime. 1t can by its acts repudiate its
best traditions and it may violate the
great principles to which it's founders
appealed for their own liber-
ties; but just as Mr.. Roosevelt says,
1--WE shall assuredly suffer later on be.
cause of what we have DONE"
The young man upon reaching his ma
iority, can do what he pleases; he can
disregard the teachings OF his parents;
he can trample upon all that he has been
taught to consider sacred he can disoboy
the laws Of the state, the laws OF society,
and the laws of God ne can stamp failure /
upon his life and make his very existence
I curse to his fellowmen, and he can
bring his father and mother in sorrow to
The grave, but he cannot annul the sen.
tence "the wages OF sin is death"
And so with this nation. 1t is OF age
and it can do as it pleases; it can spurn
The traditions of the past it can ,epudi-
ate the principles upon which the nation
rests; it may employ force instead OF
it can substitute might for right
it can conquer weaker people; it can
exploit their lands, appropriate their
money aud kill their people, but it cam
not repeal the moral law or escape the
punishment decreed for the violation OF
human fiuhfS