The Alaska citizen., 1915-11-08
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4 FRAGMENT OF COMPARATIVE
 HISTORY.

rights of the American Colonies to maintain their right to repudiate a measure of special taxation which they regarded as tyrannous and subyersive of liberty
 What a picture is presented to the imagination as the Muse of History" unfolds her vision of that impressive scene Dr. Franklin was at that time Q766) the leading rep resentatiye in Ensla,d for the Cot onies. and had been summoned. in that capacity, before the House of Commons for examination as to the ability of the colonists to pay this special tax, also to enlighten Par liament as to why the Colonial peO Die so bitterly opposed the mea- sure; and, most important of al, he was expected to frankly state what would be the result in the event that England should ins upon the payment of this tax by force of arms
 Edmund Burke, the leading Engish statesman of that time. said the scene in the House of Commons wten Franklin was being interro- tied. reminded him very much of - master being examined by a parcel of school boys"
 Franklin was the best all round educated man of his day, possessing keen analytical mind-the faculty of quick inciSiye thinking. coupled with a rare degree of common sense. and no doubt the Hon. Geo, Gren. vile prop0ser of the Stamp Act and ether supporters of that epoca making statute, were glad enough when their ordeal with the old philosopher was over. The dramat- ie scene is full of most charming interest to every student of his tory, but it is not our wish, or purpose, to dwell upon it now. II is merely mentioned to show what strange mutations time can, and does work, in the destiny of Ma tionS
 At that period we were a people in measure poor and obscure: hardy and thrifty, it is true. but not of sufficient advancement to uti lize the boundless potential wealth nf the nrph q wild lay about us. Our poverty. how ever. was not the reason of our refusal to bear this tax, and Frank lin never did succeed in making it clear to English Prime Ministers what the real cause of rebellion was. They either would not, or could not perceive that. as a liber- ty-loving people, we must stenu- ously dispute the right of the moth CT country to impose an arbitrarv tax of any character whatsoever Our forefathers were brave and earnest in their opposition to the establishment of fatal precedent, and when they had made their protest stick, the curtain slowly descended upon one important scene in the evolvement of a great Com monwealth.
 But the curtain is up again. the scenes are shifting, the acts mov- ing on; and as other and more IL boards we of today are fascinated indeed by the wonderful and start ling changes in the play. From a measre aggregation of obscure Colo nies we have become a federation of rich and powerful states, co-or- dinated, homogeneous, unionized SO beautifully and tremendously that internal disaster seems impossible. We are not. however, so invulner- able to external disaster; and 1t is difficult to foresee just when some ill-advised movement on the part of the leaders of our nation may precipitate such external strife as will involve our people in irrepara- ble loss.
 Thus far We have been fortunate to be guided by statesman of such calmness and placidity, such self command and cool judgment as the Hon. Woodrow Wilson, but there are many sources of danger in our country today that have never de veloped before, and it would require rare wisdom to estimate their power to disturb the stability of the State As we all know, the representatives of modern English Parliament have recently come to our shores to solicit and negotiate for the loan of one billion dollars (s1 900 OOO, ,OOO> sum so inconceivable that no other nation at this time could en- tertain even thought of extending such an accommodation They must have this stupendous loan to aid them in the most dreadful fatricidal conflict the world has ever known; to tide them over a crisis that may mean the utter extinction of na- tion; and this time there Is an. ether cross examination of a differ ent character, and directed from an- other angle. This time it is not