Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1904-12-07
be definitely prescribed, publication q

Be definitely prescribed, publication OF
impending naturalization applications
should be required in advance Of their
hearing in court. the form and word
ing of all certificates isesled 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 SUBJ
ject of scientific inquiry with view to
probable further legislation. The pow
err of the government to protect the in
tegrity of the elections of its own off,
Gals is Inherent and has been recog-
nized and affirmed by repeated dec
larations Of the supreme court. There
is no enemy of free government more
dangerous and none so insldious Us
the corruption of the electorate. l rec
ommend the enactment of a law direct
cd against bribery and corruption In
federal elections.
Delays In Criminal Prosecutions.
No subject is better worthy the at
tention of the congress than that por.
ton of the report of the attorney gen.
eral dealing with the long delays and
! the great obstruction to Justice expert
enced in the cases of Beavers, Green
and Gaynor and Benson. Were these
isolated and special cases should not
| call your attention to them, but the diff
ficulties encountered as regards these
men who have been indicted for crimi-
nal practices are not exceptional. They
are precisely similar in kind to what
occurs again and again in the case of
criminals who have sufficient means to
enable them to take advantage Of
system of procedure which has grown
up in the federal courts and which
amounts in effect to making the law
easy of enforcement against the man
who has no money and difficult Of en-.
forcement, even to- the point of some
times securing immunity, as regards
the man who has money. At present
the interests of the innocent man are
amply safeguarded, but the interests of
the government-that is, the interests
Of honest administration; that is, the
interests Of the people-are not recog-
nized as they should be.
1.-THE president discusses the progress
of the territories of Alaska, Hawaii
and Porto Rico, with Recommendations
for changes in the present system Of
government of the first named. Hc de-
sires to see delegate from Alaska in
cGngress.]
/ Foreign Policy.
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, but
there are kinds of peace which are
highly undesirable, which IRE in the
long run as destructive as any war.
The goal to set before us as nation,
the goal which should be set before all
mankind, is the attainment of the
peace of Justice, of the peace which
comes when each nation is not merely
safeguarded in its own rights, but
scrupulously recognizes and performs
Its 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. Unrighteous wars are
common and unrighteous 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
q gift that tarries long in the hands Of
towards. Neither does 1t tarry long in
the hands of those too slothful, too dis
honest or too unintelligent to exercise
1t. The eternal vigilance which is the
price of liberty must be exercised
sometimes to guard against outside
foes, although, of course, fur more Of
ten to guard against our own selfish or
thoughtless shortcomings.
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 an
other individual; that the same moral
law applieo 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 inter-
Us as it is the duty Of the individual
so to do. Until some method Is devised
by which there shall be degree of in
ternational control over offending ma
lions it would be wicked thing for
the most civilized powers, for those
with most cense of international obll-
cations and with keenest and most gen.
erous appreciation of tile difference be-
tween right and wrong to disarm. If
the great civilized nations Of the pres
ent day should completely disarm, the
result would mean an immediate re-
crudescence of barbarism in one form
or another. Under any circumstances a
sufficient armament would have to be
kept up to serve the purposes Of inter
national police, and until international
cohesion and the sense Of international
duties and rights are far more adj
vanced than at present nation desir-
GUS both Of securing respect for itself
and of doing good to others must have
force adequate for the work which 1t
feels is allotted to it as its part Of the
general world duty. Therefore it fol-
lows that n self respecting. just and
farseeing nation should on the one
hand endeavor by every means to aid
in the development Of the various
movements which tend to provide SUBJ
stitutes for war, which tend to render
nations in their actions toward one an
other and indeed toward their own
peoples more responsive to the general
sentiment of humane and civilized
mankind, and, on the other hand that
1T should keep prepared, while scrupu-
lousy avoiding wrongdoing itself, to
repel any wrong and in exceptional
cases to take action which in more
advanced stage Of international rela-
tons would come under the head of
the exercise of the international police.
Arbitration Treaties.
We are in every way endeayoring to
| help on, with cordial GOOD will everv