The Bourbon news., 1904-12-09

AFFAIR OF every honest voter, wherever born,
to see that no fraudulent voting is allowed,
| that no fraud in connection with natural
ization is permitted.
Naturalization Laws Need Revision.
There should be a somprehensive revi-
sion Of the naturalization laws. The courts
having power to naturaliZe should be
definitely named by national authority; the
testimony upon which naturalizatie may
be conferred should be definitely prescribed; !;
publication OF impending naturalization
applications should be required in advance
OF their hearing in court; the form and
wording Of all certificates issued should be
uniform. throughout the country, and the
courts should be required to make returns
TO the secretary of state at stated periods
OF all naturalizations conferred.
Not only are the laws relating to
naturalization now defective, but those
relating to citizenship of the United
states ought also to be made the subject
OF scientific inquiry with view to prob
able further legislation. BY what acts
| expatriation may be assumed to have
been accomplished. how long an Amer
lean citizen may reside abroad and re-
| celVe the protection Of our passport
whether any degree of protection should
| be extended to one who has made the
declaration of intention to become a citi-
| zen of the United States but has not~se-
cured naturalization, are questions of
serious import, involving personal rights
and often producing friction between this
| government and foreign governments.
Yet upon these questions our laws are
silent recommend that an examina-
| tion be made into the subjects of citizen
| ship, expatriation and protection of
Americans abroad, with view to ap-
| proprfate legislation.
Protection Of Elections.
The power of the government to pro-
tect the integrity of the elections of its
! own officials is inherent and has been
recognized and affirmed by repeated
declarations of the supreme court There
is no enemy of free government more
! dangerous and none so insidious as the
corruption of the electorate. No one de-
| fends or excuses corruption, and it would
seem to follow that none would oppose
vigorous measures to eradicate it
| recommend the enactment OF a law di-
rected against bribery and corruption in
/ federal elections. The details of such a
law may be safely left to the wise dis
/ cretion of the congress, but 1t should go
/ as far as under the constitution 1t is pos
| sible to go, and should include severe
penalties against him who gives or re-
ceives bribe intended to influence his
| act or opinion as an elector; and pro-
visions for the publication not only OF
the expenditures for nominations and
elections of all candidates but also of
all contributions received and expendi-
lures made by political committees.
Our Foreign Policy.
In treating of our foreign policy and of
| the attitude that this great nation should
assume In the world at large, 1t is abb
| solutely necessary to consider the army
and the navy, and the congress, through
which the thought Of the nation finds it's
| expression. should keep ever vividly in
mind the fundamental fact that it is i'm
possible to treat our foreign policy,
whether this policy takes shape in the
effort to secure justice for others or
| justice for ourselves, save as conditioned
upon the attitude we are willing to take
| toward our army, and especially toward
| our navy. 1t is not merely unwise, it is
contemplate, for a nation, as for an in
| dividuai, to use high-sounding language
| to proclaim its purposes, or to take posi-
| tions which are ridiculous If unsupported
| by potential force, and then to refuse to
| provide this force If there is no inten-
ton of providing and of keeping the
force necessary to back up a strong at
titude, then it is far better not to assume
| such an attitude
Striving for World Peace.
The steady aim of this nation, as Of all
| enlightened nations, should be to strive
/ to bring ever nearer the day when there
shall prevail throughout the world the
peace of justice. There are kinds of
peace which are highly undesirable,
which are in the long run as destructive
as any war. Tyrants and oppressors have
| many times made a wilderness and
called it peace. Many times peoples who
were slothful or timid or shortsighted,
who had been enervated by ease or by
| luxury, or misled by false teachings.
have shrunk in unmanly fashion from
doing duty that was stern and that need
ed self-sacrifice. and have sought to hide
| from their own minds their shortcom-
! ings, their ignoble motives, by calling
| them love of peace The peace of tyran-
nous terror, the peace of craven weak
ness, the peace of injustice, all these
should be Stunned as we shun unright-
| eouS war. The goal to set before us as a
nation, the goal which should be set be-
fore all mankind, is the attainment of
the peace of justice, of the peace which
comes when each nation is not merely
| safe-guarded in it's own rights, but
| ScrupulouSly recognizes and performs it's
duty toward others. Generally peace tells
| for righteousness; but If there is conflict
between the two, then our fealty is due
first to the cause of righteousness I'm
| righteous wars are common, and un-
righteous peace is rare; but both should
be Stunned. The right of freedom and
the responsibility for the exercise of that
| right cannot be divorced One of our
great poets has well and finely said that
freedom is not a gift that tarries long
in the hands of towards. Neither does
it tarry long in the hands of those too
slothful, too dishonest or too unintelli-
gent to exercise it. The eternal vigilance
which is the price of liberty must be ex-
ercised, sometimes to guard against out
side foes; although of course far more
often to guard against our own selfish
or thoughtless shortcomings.
Not Ready for Disarmament.
II these self-evident truths are kept be-
fore us, and only if they are so kept before
us, we shall have a clear idea of what our
foreign policy in its larger aspects should
be. It is our duty to remember that a ma
ton has no more right to do injustice to
another nation, strong or weak, than an
individual has to do injustice to another
| individual; that the same moral law applies
in one case as in the other But we must
also remember that it is as much the duty
of the nation to guard its own rights and
its own interests as 1t is the duty of the
| individual so to do. Within the nation the
individual has now delegated this right
to the state, that is. to the representative
Of all the individuals, AID 1t is a maxim
of the law that for every wrong there Is a
remedy. But in international law we have
| not advanced by any means as far as we
have advanced in municipal law. There
- HI.