Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1904-08-12

your lives. your liberty and your
property may be taken from you with
out due process Of law for all time.
and expect we will long glory in that
feature Of Magma Charta which has be-
come Incorporated in substance and
effect, into the constitution of every
state, as well as into the Fourteenth
Amendment to the constitution of the
United States? Can we hope for the re.
spect of the civilized world. while
proudly guaranteeing to every citizen
of the United States that no law shall
be made or enforced which shall
ahridge the privileges or immunities OF
citizens of the United States. or deny
to any person the equal protection Of
the laws. and at the same time not
only deny similar rights to the inhabit.
ants of the Philippines. but take away
! from them the right of trial by Jury.
and place their lives and the DISPOSE.
! ton of their property in the keeping OF
J those whom we send to them to be
j their governors? We shall certainly
rue it as a nation If we make any such
attempt. Viewing the question even
from the standpoint of national selfish
ness, there is no prospect that the
twenty millions of dollars expended
in the purchase of the islands and the
six hundred and fifty millions said to
have been since disbursed will ever
come back to us The accident of war
brought the Philippines into our
possession. and we are not at lib
erty to disregard the responsibility
which thus came to us, but thai
responsibility will be best sub.
served by preparing the islanders as
rapidly as possible for self-government
and giving to them the assurances that
it will come as soon as they are rea.
sonably prepared for it. There need
be no fear that the assertion so often
made of late, that we have now be
come a world power, will then be with
out support. Ours is a world power
and as such it must be maintained, but
| deny that it is at all recently that
the United States has attained that
eminence. Our country became a worid
power over a century ago, when, hav.
inG thrown off foreign domination, the
people established free government,
the source of whose authority sprung,
and was continuously to proceed, from
the will of the people themselves. 1t
grew as a world power as its sturdy
citizens, to whose natural increase
were added immigrants from the old
world seeking to obtain here the liber-
ty and prosperity denied them in their
own countries. spread over the face of
the land, reduced the prairies and for
ests to cultivation, built cities, con-
structed highways and railroads, till
now nation which at the formation of
the government numbered only three
millions in population, has become
eighty millions. and from ocean to
ocen and the lakes to the gulf, the
country is the abode of a free and
prosperous people, advanced in the
highest degree in the learning and arts
of civilization. 1t is the liberty, the
advancement and the prosperity of its
citizens. not any career of conquest,
that make the country a world power.
This condition we owe to the bounty
of Providence. unfolded in the great
natural resources of the country, to
the wisdom of our fathers manifested
in the form of government established
by them, to the energy, industry, moral
character and w-&biding spirit of the
people themselves.
VIZ ora not rntHfapv reannln Dnn1
on conquest, or engaged in extending
our domains in foreign lands, or de-
sirous of securing natural advantages,
however great, by force; but a people
loving peace, not only for ourselves,
but for all the nations of the earth.
The display of great military arma-
ment may please the eye and, for the
moment, excite the pride of the citi-
zen, but ii can not bring to the coun-
try the brains, Drawn and muscle OF
a single immigrant. nor induce the
investment here of a dollar of capital.
OF course such armament as may be
necessary for the security of the coun-
try and the protection of the rights
must be maintained. Any other course
would be not only false economy, but
pusillanimous. | protest, however
against the feeling, now far too prev
alent. that by reason of the command
ing position we have assumed in the
world, we must take part in the dis
putes and broils of foreign countries;
and that because we have grown great
we should intervene in every import
ant question that arises in other parts
of the world. l also protest against
the erection of any such military es-
Enlistment as would be required to
maintain the country in that attitude.
We should confine our international
activities solely to matters in which
the rights of the country or of our
citizens are directly involved. That
is not a situation of isolation, but of
independence.
The government of the United