The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-06
The Foolish Attack Upon the Monroe
Doctrine.

EIolcrSoI DOnouob, III wluCu NO tOtoIICu
disparagingly to the Monroe Doctrine.
The money so expended will be worse
than wasted. The speech was mis-
chievous, because II tended to foster in
Germans the delusion that they may
find in Latin America q field for coloni-
cation and conquest. As q matter Of
fact, the Monroe Doctrine wa never 50
firmly rooted In the minds Of the Ameri-
can people or 70 r~esolutely upheld by
their Government as it 10 to-day.
Professor BURGESS started with the
premise that the Germans possess q
civilization OF q higher order than that
which Latin Americans have attained,
and he drew the deduction that to sup
plant the latter by the former would
prove for the benefit Of mankind. We
scarcely need point out that q similar
argument might have been employed
by Loyslists during our Revolutionary
epoch to justify their resistance to our
Declaration Of Independence. It would
be absurd to deny that in the eighth dec
sde of the eighteenth century the civ
ilization Of England was, from some
points Of view, superior to that which
was exhibited in her American colonies.
There is ground, indeed, for asserting
that in the practice Of local self-govern-
ment and in the application Of the prin-
ciple Of genuine as opposed to sham
representation the colonists were more
advanced than the masses OF the English
people were to be for fifty years. 1t is
also true that in the northern and middle
Colonies, at all events, there was less
illiteracy than existed at the time in the
mother country. The cemmon school
system Of New England preceded by
more than two centuries the Forster
education law. II was possible,
theless, for Loyalists to contend that,
with reference TO universities and scien-
tiic associations, in respect Of Libraries,
museums and collections Of works Of art,
and as regards the culture and refine
ment prevailing in the upper circles Of
society, the transatlantic dependencies
could not pretend to vie with the parent
State. Yet there are few E~nglishmen
who do not acknowledge that mankind
has not lost. but has gained immensely,
by the determination OF the American
~colonists to work out their own desti-
MES and to keep their self-evolved civ
ilization, with all its deficiencies and all
it's virtues. For the relatively rude
social and educational apparatus which
their struggle with a harsh environment
had permitted them to create, the on
querors Of the American wilderness felt
and We honor them for feeling-the
affection which WEBSTER expressed for
Dartmouth: "A small college-and yet
there are those who love it,
The Latin Americans feel to-day for
their respective countries and charac-
teristic institutions a love no less intense
than that which impelled our own fore
fathers to risk their fortunes and their
lives for liberty. BY the youth Of Latin
America the names Of BOLIVAR, OF
SUcRE, of SAN MARTIN and other heroes
OF their long war for Independence are
cherished with the same veneration in
which our " children are taught to
hold the memory Of WASHINGTON. Nor
can it be disputed that in the course OF
their desperate and often foiled uprising
for freedom the Spanish Americans have
made greater sacrifices than those to
which ancestors submitted, and we
should bear in mind that they eve
had the open assistance of the fleets
and armies Of the greatest Power on the
European Continent. II they did not
Immediately Turn or have not yet turned
everywhere their hard earned liberty TO
full account, it was because they lacked
the traditional training in local self-rule
without which representative govern
ment Is difficult. Yet, when due quail
fications have been made, we must rec
ognize that Latin Americans. during the
three-quarters Of a century which span
their brief national life. have made
astonishing progress. They possess in
Santiago de Chile a city Of which any
European country might be proud, in
Rio de Janeiro a metropolis that alto
gether eclipses Lisbon, and in Buenos
Ayres an urban centre which for size,
opulonce and msgnihcence outshines the
Berlin Of fifty years ago. Each Of the
cities named, moreover, is possessed OF a
great university which for resources and
appliances and for proficiency in learn
ing and science outrivals any In Spain,
where bigotry still trammels the progress
Of education. In a word. Latin Amer
leans may justly resent the shur cast
upon their civilization by the assertion
that they would profit under the tutelage
Of Germany. They have a right TO be
proud Of the immense advance they have
made in spite Of many and grave disabiI-
tiles. and they have the inalienable right
Of freemen TO keep tho freedom that their
fathers won. They will never be deprived
Of Il 30 long as the United States retains
power to aid them in o fight for indcpen-
dence. They viii never BE- subjects
D