The Savannah morning news., 1904-12-07

mere truism to say that every nation.
whether in America or anywhere
else. which desires to maintain its
fl eedom, its independence. must ulti-
mately realize that the right of such
independence can not be separated
from the responsibility of making
good use of ii.
Assertion of the Monroe Doctrine.
In asserting the Monroe doctrine. in
taking such steps as we have taken
in regard to Cuba, Venezuela and Pam
anna, and in endeavorlng to circum-
scribe the theater of war in the Far
East. and to secure the open door in
China, we have acted in our own in
terest as well as in the interest of hu
manity at large. There are. however,
cases in which, while our own inter-
ests are not greatly involved. strong
appeal is made to our sympathies. Or
dinarily it is very much wiser and
more useful for us to concern our
selves with striving for our own moral
and material betterment here at home
than to concern ourselves with trying
to better the condition of things in
other nations.
We have plenty of sins of our own
to war against, and under ordinary
circumstances we can do more for the
general uplifting of humanity by striv-
ing with heart and soul to put a stop
| to civic corruption. to brutal lawless-
ness and violent race prejudices here
at home than by passing resolutions
| about wrong-dong elsewhere.
Occasions for Interference.
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 mani
fest duty to endeavor at least to show
our disapproval of the deed and our
sympathy with those who have suf-
fered by it. The cases must be ex-
IRENE in which such a course is justi-
fable. 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 extreme cases
| action may be justifable and proper
What form the action shall take must
depend upon the circumstances of the
case; that is, upon the degree of the
atrocity and upon our power to remedy
it.
Times for Interference Few.
The cases in which we could inter-
fere by force of arms as we interfered
to put stop TO intolerable conditions
ii Cuba are necessarily very few. Yet
1t is not to be expected that a peo-
pie like ours, which in spite of GER
tain very obvious shortcomings, never
theless as a whole shows by it's con-
sistent practice its belief in the prin-
ciples of civil and religious liberty and
of orderly freedom, a people among
whom even the worst crime, like the
crime of lynchng, 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 it's horror on an occasion
like that of the massacre of the Jews
in Ktshenef, or when 1t witnesses such
systematic and long-extended cruelty
and oppression as the cruelty and OPP
preston of which the Armenians have
been the victims. and which have won
for them the indignant pity of the
civilized world.
Rights of Americana Abroad.
Even where it is not possible to Sc
cure in other nations the observance
of the principles which we accept as
automatic, it is necessary for us firm
ly to insist upon the rights of our
own citizens without regard to their
creed or race; without regard to wheth-
er they were born here or born abroad.
1t has proved very difficult to secure
from Russia the right for our Jewish
fellow-citizens to receive passports and
travel through Russian territory Such
COAuuCl Is not only UNJUST ana IT.
ritating toward u.s. but 1t is difficult
to see it's wisdom from Russia's stand
point. No conceivable good is accom-
plished by it. If an American jew
or an American Christian misb laves
himself in Russia he can at once be
driven out; but the ordinary American
Jew, like the ordinary American Chris
tian, would behave Just about as he
behaves here, that is, behave as any
good citizen ought to behave; and
where this is the case ii is a wrong
against which we are entitled to pro-
test to refuse him his passport with
out regard to his conduct and char
acter, merely on racial and religious
grounds. In Turkey our difficulties
arise less from the way in which our
citizens are sometimes treated than
from the indignation inevitably excit-
ed in seeing such fearful misrule as
has been witnessed both in Armenia
and Macedonia.