The San Francisco call., 1904-12-07

expressed Dy the nrSt Hague conference
itself.
1t is not true that the United States
feels any land hunger or entertains any
projects as regards the other nations
OF the Western Hemisphere save such
as are for their welfare. All that this
country desires is to see the neighbor-
ing countries stable, orderly and pros
porous. Any country whose people con-
duct themselves we'll can count upon
our hearty friendship. If nation
shows that it knows how to act with
reasonable efficiency and decency in
social and political matters, II il keeps
order and pays its obligations, il need
fear no interference from the United
states. Chronic wrongdoing, or an i'm
potence which results in a general
loosening of the ties Of civilized society,
may in America, as elsewhere, ulti-
mately require Intervention by some
civilized nation, and in the Western
Hemisphere the adherence of the
United States TO the Monroe doctrine
may force the United States, however
reluctantly, in fragrant cases of such
wrongdoing or impotence, to the exer-
else of an international police power. If
every country washed by the Carib-
bean Sea would show the progress in
stable and just civilization which with
the aid of the Platt amendment Cuba
has shown since our troops left the
island, and which so many of the re-
publics in both Americas are constantly
and brilliantly showing, all question of
interference by this nation with their
affairs would be at an end. Our nter-
ests and those of our southern neigh
bors are in reality identical. They have
great natural riches. and If within their
borders the reign of law and justice
( obtains, prosperity is sure to come to
them. While they thus obey the prim-
ary laws Of civilized society they may
rest assured that they will be treated
by us in spirit of cordial and help
full sympathy. We would interfere with
them only in the last resort, and then
only If il became evident that their
inability or unwillingness to do justice
at home and abroad had violated the
rights of the United States or had in
vited foreign aggression to the detri-
ment Of the entire body of American
nations. 1t is a mere truism to say
that every nation, whether in America
or anywhere else. which desires to
maintain its freedom, its independence,
must ultimately realize that the right
Of such independence cannot be sepa-
rated from the responsibility Of making
good use of IL.
In asserting the Monroe doctrine, in
taking such steps as we have taken in
regard to Cuba, Venezuela and Pan
anna, anu III 6UQSdNOIllS 10 ClTCuIQ-
scribe the theater of war in the Far
East, and to secure the open door in
China, we have acted in our own inter
est as we'll as in the interest of human
ity at large. There are, however cases
in which, while our own interests are
not greatly involved, strong appeal is
made 20 our sympathies. Ordinarily II
is very much wiser and more useful for
us to concern ourselves with striving
for our own moral and material bet
terment here at home than to concern
ourselves with trying to better the con-
dition OF things in other nations. We
have plenty Of sins of our own to war
against, and under ordinary circum-
stances we can do more for the general
uplifting of humanity by striving
with heart and soul to put a stoD to
civic corruption, to brutal lawlessness
and violent race prejudices here at
home than by passing resolutions about
wrongdoing elsewhere. Nevertheless
there are occasional crimes committed
on so vast a scale and of such peculiar
horror as to make us doubt whether it
is not our manifest duty to endeavor at
least to show our disapproval of the
deed and our sympathy with those who
have suffered by it. The cases must
be extreme in which such a course is
justifiable. There must be no effort
made to remove the mote from our
brothers eye If we refuse to remove
the beam from our own. But in ex-
treme cases action may be justifiable
and proper. What form the action
shall take must depend upon the cir
cumstances of the case; that is, upon
the degree Of the atroc:ty and upon our
power to remedy it. The cases in
which we could interfere by force Of
arms as we interfered to put a stop to
intolerable conditions in Cuba are nee
essarily very few. Yet ii is not to be
expected that a people like ours, which,
In spite of certain very obvious short
comings, nevertheless as a whole shows
by its principles OF civil and religious
liberty and OF orderly freedom, a people
among whom even the worst crime, like
the crime of lynching. is never more than
sporadic, so that individuals and not
classes are molested in their funda-
mental rights. it is inevitable that such
nation should desire eagerly to give
expression to its horror on an occasion
like that of the massacre of the Jews
in Kishenef, or when it witnesses such
systematic and long-extended cruelty
and oppression as the cruelty and op-
preston Of which the Armenians have
been the victims, and which have won
for them the indignant pity Of the CIV
iized world.