THE COUBIER
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OBSERVATIONS
BY SARAH B. HARRIS
"Plutocracy ia lMtructk"
In "The Commoner" of April 11 the
editor says In regard to the appoint
ment of Mr. Alleyne Ireland by the
authorities of the university of Chi
cago to study the problem of the
United States in the Philippines:
"Attention is called to this matter
because it is one of the many evidences
of the studied and concerted efforts on
the part of plutocracy to change pub
lic sentiment and substitute the doc
trines of Europe for the doctrines of
America. Here is a great university
endowed by the chief stockholder in
one of the greatest and most extor
tionate of trusts. The Standard Oil
company Is the most open and notori
ous law-breaker in the United States
beside which petty criminals who are
in the penitentiary seem insignificant.
It not only controls the oil business
but is reaching out for the control of
other branches of business, and al
ready its New York bank exerts a po
tent influence on national finances.
The institution endowed by this prince
of trust magnates sends to England
for a champion of the colonial idea,
publishes the fact that he is to be sent
to Asia to study the colonial problem
and then is to occupy a chair and give
to American students the advantages
of his natural bias in favor of mon- .
arcbial institutions. ll
"It is not necessary for us to wait
until his return to know what his in
struction will be. The whole tenor of
it will be to cultivate a contempt for
the doctrines set forth in the Declara
tion of Independence and to inculcate
a love for the doctrines of conquest
and spoliation. He is to yrite articles
for American magazines and his views
will be spread broadcast as the views
of a learned' and 'unbiased' man.
"The readers of The Commoner are
urged to bring these matters to the at
tention of their republican neighbors
in order that the rank and file of the
republican party may know of the in
sidious and persistent attacks which
are being made upon American ideas
and the fundamental principles of free
government."
To the subscribers of The Commoner
who have read Mr. Ireland's book,
"Tropical Colonization," the absurdity
of the foregoing warning is apparent
without further comment The fore
most authority on this phase of na
tional development says:
"The general sentiment in regard to
colonies during the period of the old
colonial system was that they existed,
merely for the bwefit of the sovereign
state; that they were a national asset
which should be made to yield as much
profit as possible to the mother coun
try but the revolt of the
American colonies struck the .death
knell of the system and taught Eng
lishmen a lesson which slowly but
surely carried the nation Into the sec
ond stage of the colonial idea."
The second stage the author names
"lalssex alter." The American victory
made Englishmen doubt if any of the
colonies could be retained and English
men questioned if the cost were re
paid by the returns.
The third stage was reached in 1887
In the year of the queen's golden ju
bilee, when the fervent loyalty of the
colonies was first largely expressed by
representatives in London.
Since the first period a great change
has taken place in the attitude of the
mother country to her colonies. In
pre-revolution days England adminis
tered the affairs of the colonies for the
benefit of the inhabitants of the island
of England. Ireland's trade was re
pressed and her industries extinguished
for the benefit of Englishmen in Eng
land. Feudalism was dosed and kept
alive when It was dying both in Eng
land aaCimaao.
But Albion has come a long way
since then. There is corruption and
selfishness in the British foreign office
still, but the avowed and working
principle by which all the colonies are
held and administered is the develop
ment of colonial Interests first If
Australia and Canada were for only a
few months administered solely In the
Interests of England, the Island gov
ernment would have a war to wage
simultaneously in two quarters of the
globe.
As a matter of fact these two coun
tries manage their own affairs. An
attempt on the part of England to in
terfere in any internal development of
trade or with advantageous commer
cial relations with other countries
would be Immediately resented. The
connection Is somewhat formal and is
as much a matter of pride and of his
torical habit to the Australians and
Canadians as to Englishmen. This Is
the third stage which colonial develop
ment has reached. "No country can
hold another peaceably by operating
any other system. To hold a country
by force of arms for any length of
time is no longer ' the answer to the
question.
I This is a day of combination. The
United States has taken a new partner.
Just as soon as the partner develops
the power of initiative and of execu
tive ability the Filipinos can run their
own affairs. The connection with the
United States will be for mutual profit
and reputation. Otherwise the United
States can not bold the islands. A
business that does not pay has a short
life.
i All that the United States proposes
to do with the Philippines Is to hasten
evolution, to force the islanders to skip
or curtail some of Its first stages.
What man has done man can do. The
children of Israel were successively
brought into Intimate relations with
the civilizations of several nations.
They extracted the best and most per
manent parts of these civilizations and
went their way. Their development
from the nomadic stage was very
rapid. And partly in consequence their
legacy to humanity Is the richest leg
acy of all.
As Dr. Lyman Abbott says in "The
Rights of Man": "InLJhe beginning of
the Christian era two' ideals of social
organization confronted each other, the
Roman and the Hebraic. In the Ro
man empire the entire organization,
political, social, educational. and"relig
ious, was framed and administered for
the benefit of the ,, few. The
political institutions of the Hebrew
commonwealth were framed on the -assumption
that the world is made for
all and the few are to be servants of
the many, a doctrine which has never
found a clearer definition than lntb.e
statement of the Great Prophet of the
New Judaism, 'He that is greatest
among you shall be your servant' The
history of Europe from the first to the
nineteenth century may be regarded as
the history of the conflict between
these two conceptions of life, and of, the
'social order, in which Jin successive,
epochs the Hebrew, conception, ter
talned originally by an '"insignificant
and despised people, has triumphed
over the Roman conception once enter
tained unquestioned throughout the
then civilized world."
Not a part of the world, but all na
tions strong enough to colonize have
adopted this view of government for
the benefit of the governed rather than
for the -governor. England, Russia
and the United States, either singly or
in alliance, are not strong enough to
force a return to an earlier stage.
The university of Chicago has as
sumed an expert's expenses and salary
for three years, during which time Mr.
Irelaad TrfH-atudy the sew subject of
the United States In the Philippines.
Is it for this rational course that the
university Is accused of subserviency
to wealth?
Mr. Bryan has been a lawyer and
knows that one of the first things the
young lawyer is taught is to investi
gate all the parts of a case in dispute.
Second-hand information and sur
mises, taking what a man says for
granted, et cetera, is not the way to
win cases. Such a method is accept
able enough at a tea-table or on a
campaign stump, but it is the last re
sort of the lawyer or scrupulous edi
torial writer. This careful, open-eyed,
close study of the subject by an ex
pert is scientific. It is in this way that
truth is discovered. By these means
Edison discovered the telephone; by
these means Columbus discovered
America. To learn all that other men
have discovered and 'verified and to
'start where they stopped, verifying as
you go on, is the scientific method.
On account of the general adoption of
this method we can telegraph, tele
phone, ride in a railroad train at a
speed of sixty miles an hour, and
finally communicate with a ship one
thousand miles from our coast Most
of the wonderful inventions and dis
coveries have been made by pursu
ance of the scientific method. Occa
sionally a lucky hobbledehoy has
stubbed his toe against a find, long
hid on the highway, stared a moment
picked it up and made his fortune.
But most of the great benefactors have
started to look for a definite thmg,
aided thereto by the hints and experi
mental research of other men.
In regard to the university's employ
men of the scientific method, Mr. Bry
an says: "The readers of the Com
moner are urged to bring these mat
ters to the Attention of7 their republi
can neighbors in order that the rank
and file of the republican party may
know of the Insidious and persistent
attacks which are being made upon
American Ideas and fundamental prin
ciples of free government"
As to the form of the editorial in
question, it fs no better and no worse
than the ones with which the read
ers of The Commoner are familiar.
Mr. 'Bryan is not in the habit of pay
ing any attention to even the ele
mentary rules of English composition
when he writes an editorial. As to the
rules of English adopted even by the
least distinguished among editors, Mr.
Bryan might be in a trance for all the
attention he pays to them. I can not
believe that even Mr. Bryan does riot
know that "it" can commit no crime;
"it" can not do wrong; "it" is neutral,
impersonal; "it" has not the dignity of
a quadruped, and, of course, can not
be considered in relation to the moral
law. rOne might as well say: "Why is
a brick' house?" .There is no sense In
it Yet thePeerless says; "The Stand
ard OH company is the most open and
notorious lawbreaker in the United
States, ' beside which petty criminals
who are in the penitentiary-seem In
significant 'It' not only controls the ,
oil business but 'it' is reaching- out for
the control of other branches of busi
ness." Fretktety cakfc
Predatory, according to Webster's
dictionary, means characterized by
plundering, practicing rapine, plllag
Mng, hungry, ravenous. We should
know the dictionary definition of this
word in order to compare it with the
-meaning attached to it by Mr. Bryan
inhls personal organ, the Commoner.
He cannot mean that all wealth is
predatory, because by-the judicious ex
ploitation of two nominations for the
presidency of this-country he has made
money enough to buy twenty-five or
thirty acres In the suburbs of Lincoln
and to erect there a large and pluto
cratic barn and dwelling house, an edi
fice which Mr. Morton of The Con
servative refers to as "The House that
Gab Built" But only a few have Mr.
Bryan's gifts and he can not mean
that the man who accepts his stric
tures must remain poor unless he can
secure a nomination for the presi
dency and enter the bristling ranks of
plutocracy by chjratag the party
LOUIS N. WENTE, D. D. S.,
OFFICE, BOOMS 26, 27, 1, BEOWNELL
BLOCK,
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Telephone, Office, 530.
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At oac,l to 4, sad Boaters, 12 to 1 p. m.
DR. MAY L. FLANAGAN,
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Saadays, 4 to i-M p. m.
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M. B. Ketchum, M.D., Phar.D.
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THK
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