Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1904-10-13
rr-pEoIALISM.
!os:-.: F3l;.--r p2'.:ts Cut q DANCE
TINT M.ca.ss tSe Republic.

WIT is i.rrcri-.i5n? 1t is rot meri
pst,.. s-ov. t;..c-,s. or crowns OF
s..e,trss. 1t is TIE spirit OF coercion
- coroues:. IL arbitrary power, OF
f-rcs of>w VIZ OF national aggrandlze-
nat Of military self-seeking, OF lingo
e;o,c;tatlon abroad among weaker
t,o. e. i-.ed with 10 regard for equal
rien,. in c2,onies and remote dependen-
c:cz.
To see Imperialism full blown one
must go to England. At home English
T. ,j.utions are free. The Cabinet is
committee of Parliament. The King
his not a thousandth part OF your
mower and patronage. He could not
hmm a doctor, even a very skiltul ana
agreeable one-not even FreVes' "ho
saved his life-into a major-general-
shin. or even lieutenancy. He cannot
appoint a fourth-class postmaster. nc
has none of the enormous powers over
cornorations which enable you, trst' 10
make an inquisition into the secrets oil
every combination Of capital; secono'
TO smash one such combination as an
sxamn,e and. third, to send that grand
;nouisitor Cortelyou, who was your
own private secretary and later Caoi-
NET member for commerce and corpo-
rations. armed with all his deadly Sc
crets, to pass the contribution box
among the others.
The members Of your Cabinet are
YOUR clerks, not your masters. you
Yourself are the actual head OF inc
Government, the actual COMMANDMENT
chief Of the army and navy, the Trainer
q, policies, the dispenser Of patronage
and the arbtter Of peace or war. You
appoint or control, directly or indirect
". 200 900 ofice-holders, most Of whom
hold their places at your pleasure You
name the judges who interpret the
very laws you treat with contempt OF
fagrantly violate. You dictate to 00n-
eress what measures 1t shall pass ana
what It shall kill. You would b
very great potentate. even II you Cd
served the constitutional limitations OF
YOUR Office. Probably you exercise
more actual, personal power than any
monarch on the globe.
The King Of England. by compafi'
son, Is merely fashion-plate.
But the United Kingdom, with 49,
900 900 Inhabitants, rules over SSN00O'-
900 people in non-selt-goperning crown
colonies and dependencies. The vel
fare Of e-quarter Of the population
of the globe is absolutely at the mercy
of the governing classes Of Great Ern-
ain. Three hundred million people In
India. under the compulsion OF quar-
ter of a million soldiers, live and work
to furnish Official berths to English
younger sons and profit for English
capitalists.
But ENGLAND has no written Consti-
tuition. But England has no Declare
ton Of independence. But England Is
not based upon the idea Of liberty and
equality. On the contrary, in England
everybody is q subject OF the King
even dukes. In America we have no
subjects-we have no room for either
subjects, serfs or slaves. We are free
men. Every citizen Is a sovo ,ign-
or was, in theory at least. Eng and Is
based upon the idea OF privilege, OF
birth, OF rank-yes. Of lawmakers not
elected by the people, not selected Tor
merit or fitness, but lawmakers by the
mere accident Of birth-all ideas odious
to Americans, all representing priVi-
legged classss, all dramatically opposed
to true Americanism. all antag0A1stic
to our own system.
Besidss, only one hour separates
England from the Conttnent OF Errops,
whose 4OO,oOo,Oo0 people have always
hated her, and would have destroyed
her but for her protecting moat OF salt
water patrolled by great navy. She
depends for life upon food brought
across the ocean, and sea power Ia the
condition Of existence Of her widely
scattered empire.
With our own vast continent to be
developed; with political and business
corruption gnawing at our national
life; with the gravest social and po-
Iitical internal problems pressing for
solution; with the foundations OF the
Constitution undermined by lawlsss
Unions on one side and lawless trusts
on the other; with law and order and
prosperity threatened by labor wars;
with the yeast of socialism apd an
archy fermenting in the public mind;
with nine million negroes to be edu-
Gated and fitted into some sort Of toll
erable living relations with their white
neighbors, you propose to divert the
nations thought and energy from the
duties that crowd upon 1t at home TO
a career Of rowdy adventure abroad.