The Commoner.
IpjT
?t3HOTMSBH3WBtt!W x 9 i ji Hii'iir--! j x jfi ihk i- "vuvraHPrn jv. S:T7ML. X" 1 I ft II ,.. - f 1 t 111 S' X f II A i J
1801?" ''" f ' '- "
' Sleeping:, I dream love." t . ... . . ,
r-T- T5" - . V thl ' S M J lte" " . mit (c1' 7 i 'T- v'
4901.
v
Ukclb 3ak '.Gentlemen. bank this game V
Sam is made to say Gentlemen,' I bank this
game.' Under the first picture write 1801,
under the other 1901.'?
By the kind permission of Judge this car
toon is reproduced above and the reader
will see that Judge's artist" has faithfully car
ried out Mr. Watterson's instructions. It
would he difficult to illustrate more forcibly
the change that has taken place within the last
two years. It is hard to conceive of a more
scathing condemnation of the innovation
wrought by the republican administration.
From the child dreaming of love to the suc
cessful gambler is a transition, indeed! The
remarkable thing about it all is that men who,
like Mr. Watterson, recognize .the change,
should attempt to defend it or should counsel
democrats to accept it as final. The question
that must occur to every reader is: Is this
change necessary? And if not necessary, why
should it be submitted to as a matter of des
tiny? Is freedom only a toy cannon, and in
dependence a noisy drum? Is there no other
future for baby Jonathan than the career of a
fortunate gambler? Is it not possible to con
ceive of a republic developing and expanding
without the abandonment of ideals or princi
ples? This doctrine, that virtue and morality are
good enough for a child but out of place in a
man is a monstrous one, and one unworthy of
the great brain and big heart of the man who
seems to have fallen into the advocacy of it.
It is impossible to exaggerate the demoralizing
influence of such a doctrine; it paralyzes all at
tempts to instruct or restrain youth. When
you say to a young man that a nation when
full grown must throw off restraint, ignore
well-settled principles, and plunge into the ex
citing but uncertain career of a gamester, you
cannot blame him if he tells you that the same
doctrine applied to him would lead him to dis
card all the good advice given him in his boy
hood The imperialistic doctrine lays the axe at
the root of the tree and attacks every vital
tent of our government and of our religion,
and we already begin to see the evil effect of it.
The embezzlement at Havana and the crooked
ness at Manila are only illustrations of what
, may be expected under a colonial system. If
this nation adopts the principle that helpless
races can be exploited because we are strong,
carpet-bag officials will not be slow to adopt
the same principle and appropriate everything
within their r,each. Mr. Watterson knows
something of the corruption that developed
under Je carpet-bag reign which followed the
civil war, and ought to be able to make some esti
mate.of the mal-feasance and mis-feasance which
can be expected when this nation denies self
evident truths and encourages infidelity ' to
moral precepts.
As an individual can better afford to re
tain his character rather than grow rich by
dishonorable means, so the democratic party
can better afford to appeal to the conscience of
the people, even though it remains out of power,
than to enjoy power at the expense of its prin
ciples. "What shall it profit a man if ho gain
the whole world and lose his own soul?" What
shall it profit the democratic party if it gain
power and lose the spirit that has made it in
distructible? What shall it profit a nation if
its flag floats over every sea and its garrisoni
terrify every land if, in the language of Lin
coln, it loses "the spirit which prizes liberty as
the heritage of all people in all lands everywhere?"
51
