The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1905-07-06
Especial Washington Ietter.l

bosses-especially the Pennsylva
\ MIA Republican bosses of Philadel-
phia--catch it in the neck. That's what
has just happened TO them. When the
bosses selected Mayor Weaver for his
important post they seem to have
bought pig in poke. How he came
TO dc 1t nobody knows, and really no
body cares. Whether he acted from
fear, principle or ambition, the result
is the same-the Philadelphia Republic
an bosses noses are out of joint, which
is always and under all circumstances
a matter for congratulation all round.
If it ends in the disintegration of the
Quay-Penrose state machine, so much
the better. A corrupter institution
never existed.
At Last.
The Washington Post says editorl-
ally, "Our next war will be for our
colonies" That's u mournful declara
tion and true. 'Tis true, and pity tits it's
true. 1t has taken seven years for the
Post brilliant as it is, to discover what
some duller folks knew in 1898. When
the Hawaiian grab, forerunner of the
Philippine idiocy, was before congress
seven years ago this month, the Post
yelled at the top of its voice for the
senseless grab and denounced all Of US
who fought that un-American scheme
as "little Americans" etc. 1t says now
what we said then. Nothing short of
the roar of Togo's guns seems to have
aroused 1t to full realization of the
hole into which we deliberately plunged
ourselves. "Our next war will be for
our colonies" Yea, verify. And what
are those colonies worth to us? Moth
ing whatsoever They are milestone
about our neck and always will be un-
til they plunge us into our next war;"
when we will probably so out of the
colony business.
When the Hawaiian grab was in
haarante and reason was demanded
for annexing the lepers we were told
that we could not exist year in safety
unless Pearl harbor, at Honolulu, was
not only ours, but fortified-which was
palpablc fable, for we had existed
in safety for more than century with
out owning Pearl harbOr. What 1
want to ask the jingoes-and they are
all invited to answcr-is this: III our
safety depends ON owning and fortify-
ing Pearl harbor, how does it happen
that we have owned Pearl harbor for
seven years and have never done u
thing toward removing the bar, forti-
flying the harbor or in any way improv-
ing that harbor on which 1t was said
that the salvation of the republic de-
pended?" Did those who In June, 1893,
asserted that we could not live or move
or have our being without Pearl har-
Dor misrepresent the facts willfully or
by reason of ignorance? Our next
war will be for our colonies" That
is sickening prospect surely. The
Post is little late-seven years late, in
fact-but it deserves credit for waking
up and sounding the tocsin at last. 1t is
ahead of the other anneXationists in
getting its eyes open.
Here Is the whole paragraph from
the Post, which contains as much food
| for reflection as can be found in so few
words printed in the last ten years:
Japan's victory against Russia makes
| our duty plain. We must be rid of our
| colonies or get a navy second to none.
Our next war will be for our colonies.
England is t!clSled to death. She thinks
we will need her. Some of our own folks
seem to think SO too.
OF course england is' tickled to
DEATH" She's been tickled ever since
we played the part of Sut Lovingood's
daddy by turning ID fool and 60
ing into her line of business = land
grabbing. She has always boasted
that we negotiated the idlOtic treaty
of Paris under the protection of Eng
lish guns-a thing which tickled all the
Anglomaniacs in this country half to
death. It's n pity that it didn't tickle
them entirely to death, for of all the
addle pated marplots living under our
flag they are the worst.
England is tickled to death" OF
course. She is delighted to think that
she will use us to pull her chestnuts
out of the fire. She once had the Phil
lppines and gave them away-the only
land she ever voluntarily rellnquished
but she Is glad to see us load our
selves up with what she had sense
enough to abandon. She longs for u
hard and fast coalition between Eng
land, America and Japan. and she'll
get 1t II the Republican jingoes con-
tinue in power--thOse jingoes who rate
Washington, Jefferson and all the
statesmen prior to 1893 as old fogies
Since the Post published that bald
, md courageous paragraph above quot
ed Governor J A. L. Hull, representa-
tive in congress from Des Moines Ia,
ought to pluck up courage enough to
crawl out OF his hole and retract his
. retraction Of his interview about our
having war with japan unless we
sell her the Philippines. The original
Interview was the most sensible ut
terance by all odds that Hull ever
made, but at the first broadside from
lingo organ he took to cover, swear
Ing that he had been misquoted by the
reporter 1t was his only chance to get
u reputation for wisdom, and lie tbvew
that away because OF heart failure
II our colonies were necessary to us