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 Comprehensive revi-
sion Of the naturalization laws The courts
| having power to naturalize should be
definitely named by national authority; the
| testimony upon which naturaiizati, 1 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 a 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-
ceive the protection OF our passport,
whether any degree of protection should
| De extended to one who has made the
l declaration of intention to become a citi-
zen of the United States but has not Sc
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. 1 recommend that an examina-
| tlon 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 it's
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-
| tends or excuses corruption, and II 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 it 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-
ceiyes bribs intended to influence his
1 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, it is alb
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
dividual, 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 unmaniy 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 its 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
1
| 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. 1t is our duty to remember that 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 1t 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, and 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