Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1904-12-20

corruption of the electorate. NO one de-
tends or excuses corruption, and it would
seem to follow that none would oppose
vigorous measures to eradicate it.
recommend the enactment of q law d.
rected against bribery and corruption in
federal elections. The details of such
law may be safely left to the wise dis
erection of the congress, but 1t should 20
as far as under the constitution it is pos
sible to go. and should include severe
penalties against him who gives or re-
ceives a bride intended to influence his
act or opinion as an elector; and pro-
visions for the publication not only of
the expenditures for nominations and
elections of all candidates but also Of
all contributions received and expendi-
lures made by political committees.
Our Foreign Policy.
In treating of our foreign policy and of
the attitude that this great nation should
assume in the world at large, 1t is abb
solutely necessary to consider the army
and the navy, and the congress, through
which the thought of the nation finds it's
expression, should keep ever wildly in
mind the fundamental fact that 1t is i'm
possible to treat our foreign policy
whether this policy takes shape in the
effort to secure justice for others or
justice for ourselves, save as conditioned
upon the attitude we are willing to take
toward our army, and especially toward
our navy. 1t is not merely unwise, 1t is
contemplate, for a nation, as for an in
dividual to use high-soundng language
to proclaim its purposes, or to take posi-
tons which are ridiculous If unsupported
by potential force, and then to refuse to
provide this force If there is no inten-
ton of providing and of keeping the
force necessary to back up a strong at
titude, then 1t is far better not to assume
such an attitude.
Striving for World Peace.
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. There are kinds of
peace which are highly undesirable,
which are in the long run as destructive
as any war. Tyrants and oppressors have
many times made a wilderness and
called it peace. Many times peoples who
were slothful or timid or shortsighted,
who had been enervated by ease or by
luxury, or misled by false teachings,
have shrunk in unmanly fashion from
doing duty that was stern and that need
ed self-sacrif1ce. and have sought to hide
from their own minds their shortcom-
ings, their ignoble motives, by calling
them love of peace. The peace of tyran-
nous terror, the peace of craven weak
ness, the peace of injustice, all these
should be. Stunned as we shun unright-
eous war. The goal to set before US as
! nation, the goal which should be set be-
/ fore all mankind, is the attainment Of
| the peace of Justice, of the peace which
| comes when each nation Is not merely
| safe-guarded 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. IN
| righteous wars are common, and un-
righteous peace is rare; but both should
! the responsibility for the exercise Of that
right cannot be divorced. One of our
| great poets has we'll and finely said that
| freedom is not a gift that tarries long
| in the hands of towards. Neither does
| 1t tarry long in the hands Of those too
4 slothful, too dishonest or too unintelli.
| gent to exercise 1t. The eternal vigilance
| which Is the price Of liberty must be ex-
| ercised, sometimes to guard against OUT
| side foes; although Of course far more
| often to guard against our own selfish
or thoughtless shortcomings.
Not Ready for Disarmament.
II these self-evident truths are kept be-
fore US, and only II they are SO kept before
| US, we shall have clear idea OF what our
foreign policy In its larger aspects should
| be- 1t Is our duty to remember that q ma
| ton has no more right to do injustice to
another nation. strong or weak, than an
| individual has to do injustice to another
individual; that the same moral law applies
| In one case as in the other But we must
| also remember that 1t is as much the duty
| Of the nation to guard it's own rights and
its own interests as 1t is the duty of the
Individual so TO do. Within the aetino the