Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1904-12-06

ImAny or bne repuD1cS IN DOIn Amefl
cas- are constantly and brilliantly show
: ing, all questions Of interference by thi
! Ination with their affairs would be a
an end. Our interests and those of on
.. southern neighbors are in reality iden
tical. They have great natural riches
and if within their borders the reigl
of law and justice obtains, prosperity
lis sure to come to them. While they
thus obey the primary laws Of civilized
society they must rest assured that they
Twill be treated by us in a spirit of cor
dial and helpful sympathy. We would
interfere with them only in the last re
lsort, and then only if it became evident
THAT their inability or unwillingness to
do justice at home and abroad had vio-
lated the rights of the United States OF
had invited foreign aggression to the
detriment of the entire body of Ameri.
can nations. II is a mere truism TO say
that every nation, whether in America
or anywhere else, which desires to
maintain its freedom, it's independence,
must ultimately realize that the right
of such independence cannot be sepa-
rated from the responsibility of making
good use of it.
In asserting the Monroe doctrine, in
taking such steps as we have taken in
regard to Cuba, Venezuela and Pana-
ma, and in endeavOring to circumseribe
the theater of war in the far east, and
to secure the open door in China, we
have acted in our own interest as well
as in these interest of humanity at
large. There are, however,, cases in
which, while our own interests are not
greatly involved, strong appeal is made
to our own sympathies. Ordinarily it
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
condition of things in other nations. We
have plenty of sins of our own to war
against, and under ordinary cireum
stances we can do more for the general
uplifting of humanity by striving with
heart and soul to put stop to civic
corruption, to brutal lawlessness and
violent race preiudices here at home
than by passing resolutions about
wrong-doing 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 |
ut least to show our disapproval of the
Iced and our sympathy with those who
nave suffered by it. The cases must be
extreme in which such a course is justi-
liable. There must be no effort made
% remove the mote from our brothers.
,ye if we refuse to remove the beam
rom our own. But in extreme cases
Iction may be justifiable and proper.
What form the action shall take must
lepend upon the circumstances of the
ase; that is, upon the degree of the
trocity and upon our power to remedy
t. The cases in which we could inter.
ere by force of arms as we interfered
o put stop to intolerable conditions
n Cuba are necessarily very few. Yet
is not to be expected that a people
Ike ours, which, in spite of certain very {
bvious shortcomings, nevertheless as I
'hole shows by it's consistent practice q
IS belief in the principles of civil and [
eligious liberty and of orderly free /
ON, a people among whom even the /
orst crime, like that of lynching, is {
ever more than sporadic, so that indi- e
iduals and not classes are molested in {
leir fundamental rights-it is inevita- /
10 that such n nation should desire .
lgerly to give expression to its horror Y
4 an occasion like that of the massacre u
the Jews at Kishenef, or when it wit o
,sses such systematic and long extend (
cruelty and oppression as the cruelty il
I'd oppression of which the Armenians 81
I'VE been the victims, and which have II
on for them the indignant pity of the Il
vilized world. 81
Ights Of American Citizens Abroad. fl
Even where it is not possible to Sc W
re in other nations the observance of al
Q principles which we accept as axio- et
attic, it is necessary for us firmly to lla
sist upon the rights of our own citi- nj
ms without regard to their creed or Il
ce; without regard to whether they 81
ere born here or abroad. It has proved OF
ry difficult to secure from Russia the il
yht of our Jewish fellow citizens to a,
ceive passports and travel through W
ly unjust and irritating toward us, Ii,
t ii is difficult to see its wisdom from ii
lssia's standpoint. No conceivable I'M
cd is accomplished by it. If an at
neriean Jew or an American Chris m
m misbehaves himself in Russia he st
n at once be driven out, but the or iey
nary American jew, like the ordinary IuI
neriean Christian, would behave just dr
out as he behaves here; that is, be- ie
We as any good citizen ought to be- be
We, and where this is the case it is en-
wrong against which we are entitled cl,
protest to refuse him his passport wi
thOut regard to his conduct and char of
er, merely on racial and religious an
FUNDS. In Turkey our difficulties arise
3 from the way in which our citi- te,
Is are sometimes treated than from ca
J indignation inevitably excited in no
ing such fearful misrule as has been DR.
messed both in Armenia and Mace ten
MA. MS,
The Navy. Tn
'he strong arm of the government in a
oreing respect for its Just rights in ho
matters is the navy of
United States. most earnestly
ommend that there be no halt in the col
TX of upbuilding the American navy. exi
Are is no more DatriOtic dutv hafora a..