The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-12-31
THE NEW DOCTRINE.

XnB NEW
 The more one studies the speech of Secretary Root on the Monroe doctrine. the more paipabie does 1t become that he oht-Roosevelts the President himself in the big stick policy. Take this par agraph as an example:
 We do not<undertake to say that the republics of South and Central Amer ica are to be relieved of their interna- tiopal obligations. or that the powers of Europe shall not undertake to en- sner s,ea Is sSt gny wnes o the point of taking territory that we say that Is Inconsistent with the peace and safety of the United States. And powers of the world. you shall not push your remedies for wrong against these republics to the point of occupying their territory. we are bound to say that whenever that wrong cannot be otherwise redressed. We ourselves will see that 1t Is redressed.
 ePerhaps the nations of Europe will feel surprised that the Secretary did not go further. or that he did not say that ali the Republics south of us might repudiate their obligations aito- gether if they choose to do so. They will wonder why he did not go the whole animal while he was about it and tell the other powers that all the States and countries on this continent should have absolute liberty to repudi- ate everything they care to. That would have been going but little fur ther than he actually went.
 It is the second proposition that will efv kA prise. if nothing more. Tn plain words. the Secretary says that the United States Government will take 1t upon itself to force all other countries on this continent to keep their engage l ments and to make good all their obil- gations Uncle Sam Is to become the general supervisor of the new world, the overseer of all its rulers and the guardian of its various sovereignties. To each and every one of them he will say: Behave yourself like a good child, or I'll spank you.''
 Let us say. for example. that England has a claim against Venezuela that the latter refuses to satisfy. England de- clares war, sends her ships and sailors l and soldiers over and begins hostilities That is allowable. Root says, but Eng | land must not occupy Venezuelan ter ritory, permanently or transientIy, for | the purpose of enforcing her claims. If she does, our Government will tell her to get out and if she refuses, we will drive her out. At the same time we will say to the offending State: You make good your obligations or we'll wipe up the earth with you"
 The same program will be carried out with all the Central and South American Governments. All of them are to be nominally subject to the su- pervision of the United States, and If they refuse to conduct themselves as we think right and proper, they are to be disciplined and taught how to be- have themselves In the words of The Chicago Tribune: Tt is important that Haytians and Dominicans should be made to understand precisely what the Monroe doctrine means as far as they are concerned. It protects them abso- lutely when they are in the right. When they are in the wrong 1t guarantees them against becoming the subjects of a foreign power, but makes the United States temporarily their master"
 And this is the madern Republican idea of the Monroe doctrine. Under the old constru otion our interference
 went only to the extent of declaring that foreign Governments must not take and hold the territory of any American country, great or small, but it was never supposed or intended that we should take it upon ourselves to boss all the American continent. In the language of The Boston Herald: struction has been given in Washing ton to this time -nonored policy. This new construction cOmpels our Govern ment to interfere to secure not only for our own people, but also for for | eigners, the speculative profits which they have not been able to obtain in these American States in conse- quence of political misrule. If this is a role upon which we are seriously to enter. we shall need not only a much larger navy than that which We now possess, but an army augmented by the addition of scores of thousands of troops. We have not been looked upon for number of years past in a spe- cially friendly way by the people to the south of us. but If this change in our policy takes place negative dislike will be changed to active hostility in nearly all of the States south of the Rio Grande River. We cannot conceive of a national undertaking better calcu- tage at the maximum of annoyance, | expense and disappointment