The Tupelo journal., 1904-06-24

IA NaAo S.1
ought to secure. in as far as We can,
by treaty or by reciprocal relations,
amicahle, rather than retaliatory,
trade relations with the nations of
the world. giving and taking for mu-
tual benefit; obtaining and maintain
ing. as. far as we can, broader and
more profitable foreign and home mar
kets for our agricultural, mining, man
ufacturing and forest productions.
We ought especially as Democrats,
having the interest of the entire peo-
pie in view. in contradistinction to
the policy of the Republican party,
which has made No sincere effort in
that direction. to secure more friendly
and mutual trade relations with the
Dominion of Canada and with our
children. who. driven by taxation at
home. and induced by fertile lands
and liberal laws there. are daily flock
ing to her fields. 1t is as absurd to
have a high protective tariff wall be-
tween the American State of Wash
ington and the Province of British
Columbia as it would be to have one
between the States of Vermont and
New Hampshire. insofars at least, as
llSlS vial III
suits are concerned.
Seyenth-The maintenance OF the
Monroe Doctrine in its full integrity as
conceived by jefferson, announced by
Monroe and s%ignally' executed by
Grant. .In this connection we think
it our duty to guard against European
oppression and colonization and
superimposition of monarchial in
situations the countries of the west
ern hemisphere; but we do not think
it our duty, nor did Jefferson. Madison,
Monroe of Jackson imagine it our
duty. under the Monroe Doctrine, as
the acting president of the United
States seems to conceive it to be, to
administer the affairs of Central and
South America.
We believe that the utterances OF
the acting president of the United
States in his letter to -ex-Secretary
Root upon the second anniversary OF
Cuban independence. in which he init
mated that we were, as a govern
ment. in some way Gods vicegerent to
correct and control those who do not
conduct themselves WE'LL" and those
who do not pay their Obligations
would have been reckless and unwise,
even if they had emanated from a pri-
vate American citizen, but coming
from one acting as chief magistrate
OF the American Republic. they are
rep~rehensible in a yet higher degree.
His yet more reckless assertion that
we have a duty" in the western hemi-
sphere, which I'VE can not ignore
to intervene governmentally wherever
there is brutal wrongdoing, or i'm
potence which results in a general
lcosening of the ties of civilized So
ciety, meets with our earnest disappro-
baton. Such a position would be in
itself a general loosening' of those
tiles of civilized society" which bind
the nations in times OF peace, at least
i'll a common brotherhood. We espe-
cially resent the doctrine, which was
not born of Mr.. Monroe, but was born
of Mr.. Roosevelt, that it is, or can be,
the duty of the United States to con-
vert it's army and navy into a constab-
ulary for the purpose of collecting
debts due by Central and South Amer
lean nations to European countries, or
even to the citizens of the American
republic. If Imprisonment for lndl-
vidual debts be wrong and barbarous,
then surely the bombardment of cities.
inhabited by individuals, for the pur-
vidual debts is still more wrong and
barbarous. Commercialism, when TAX
ing its chance in countries with un-
stable governments, does so with its
eyes open and generally fixes for itself
a profit proportionate to the risk, the
chief risk beng indeed these same
unstable political institutions and ir-
responsible local governments. If it
chooses to make for itself that sort of
a bed, let it lie in it. When the act
ing president says concerning our
dealings with other nations, "all that
We ask is that they govern themselves
we'll and be prosperous and orderly.
Where this is the case they will find
helpfulness from u.s." we answer. that
we are not the guardians of the pros
Derity and domestic order of other peO-
pies and that so long as they neither
directly, nor indirectly, injure us, nor
by their conduct drag us into interna-
tional entanglements of their own
creating we have no more to do with
the internal administration of their
affairs than they have to do with that
OF ours.
Eighth-The preservation. insofar
as we can, of an open door for the
worlds commerce in the Orient, with
out unnecessary entanglements in ORR
entail and European affairs, and with
out arbitrary, unlimited, irresponsible
and absolute government anywhere un-
der the Stars and Stripes, or the juris-
diction of the Union. We oppose, as
fervently as George Washington him.
self did. an indefinite, irresponsible,
discretionary absolutism and policy of
colonial exploitation, no matter where
or by whom invoked or exercised; we
believe with Thomas Jefferson and
John Adams that no government has
a right to make n set of laws for
those "at home" and another and a
different set of laws, absolute in their
character. for those Gin the colonies"
All men under the American flag are
entitled to the protection of the insti-
tutions whose emblem the flag is; if
they are inherently unfit for these in
situations then they are inherently un-
fiji to be members Of the American body
polite. Wherever there may exist a
people incapable of being governed
under American laws, in consonance
with the American Constitution, the
territory of that people ought not to
be part of the American domain. Be-
Iieving this, we believe that we ought
to do ultimately for the Filipinos what
we have already done for the Cubans.
The example is there; it is a worthy
one: it constitutes a bright page in
the history of our country; it tells the
story of American courage, magma