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The Commoner.
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WILLIAfl J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR.
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r Lincoln, Nebraska, July 18, 1002.
Whole No. 78,
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Fifty years" ago Japan was a heathen country
.without trade or commerce. Her people "vyero un
acquainted with the outside -world, artd utterly
ignorant of Christian civilization. Without tho
firing of a shot or the shedding of a drop of bipod,
Japan was rescued irom her isolation, her people
made acquainted with ,the world at largo and
helped on tho road to. liberty. No nation pre
sumed to teach the Japanese self-government.
No nation assumed to control them under tho
specious plea of benefitting them. No nation, de
clared its purpose to govern tho Japanese and
grant them as much freedom as their conditibn
.warranted and the interests of the controlling na
tion dictated. On the contrary, Japan .was left to
-work out her own salvation, and although an
oriental island and occupying a vantage point
for oriental commerce, no nation seized the island
;During the fifty years since Commodore Perry
opened the ports of Japan and made a treaty with
the Japanese, tho people of Japan have made
progress unparalleled in tho history of tho world.
Today Japan is a world power. Hor people are
classed among, the intelligent and progressive peo-
,$les.of the earth. Autocratic and arbitrary, ppwer
is' fading away before 'intelligence, 'and 'trade'' and - '
, f n O OU O.UU V
.bayonet.
For three hundred years the Philippines have
been peopled by Christians. Tho Filipinos have
bullded schools and universities. The people havp
sent representatives to the leading uniyersities uf
Europe. They-havo worshiped the true God, erected
homes, founded cities and struggled for freedom.
Yet a Christian nation seizes the islands under
.the specious plea of acting under Divine provi
dence, drenches the islands with blood, lays waste
towns and cities, devastates fields and makes sport
of yearnings for liberty and freedom and self
government Peace marked tho dealings with tho
heathen Japanese; slaughter and sword mark the
"dealings with the Christian Filipinos. No one
sought to interfere with the government of Japan
by the Japanese, although they were ignorant of
Christianity and knew nothing of civil liberty.
But a people yearning for liberty, worshipping
God, and eager to take a place among the nations
of the earth, are coldly told that they must sub
mit to arbitrary government, relinquish the dream
of centuries and be shot if they oppose their
conquerors.
Which is the better way, tho one pursued n
Japan or the one now being pursued 'in tho Phil
ippines? J 4 j?
Ipplnds depends either upon conquest (which is
forco) or upon purchase from Spain, and Spaln -held
by forjje-alone. Unless some f one can"show
special' revelation' from the Almighty those who
oppose Imperialism have a right to insist that
those who defend the war in the Philippines on
tho ground' that it is Providential shall show
scriptural authority, and so far no one has been
able to quote a lino of Bible in support of a war
of conquest, such as has been waged in tho Phil
ippines. It is'nojt sufficient to say that good has come
out of some wars, for oven if we could find in
stances, where tho people have turned a war to
some .advantage we must consider, first, whether
more goPd than evil has come from the war, and,
second, whether a person who does an evil can be
credited with a good that afterwards grows out
of it Tho injustice of tho English government led
to the revolution, and yet we cannot place tho
good that has come from it to the credit of those
who were responsible for tho evils that led to the
war. Neither can wo say that it was better to have
won independence by a war than to have secured
it without the sacrifices made necessary by an
armed conflict.
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The reorganizes were then
iii full control and they led the
party to overwhelming defeat.
Bringing Good Out of Evil.
r In criticising the testimony of Bishop Tho
fcurn before the senate PhllippJ :e committee,
..The Commoner said that he assumed a tre
mendous responsibility when he commended or de
fended the shedding of human blood in the name
of the Creator. A minister replies that good
sometimes comes out of a war, but ho must dis
tinguish between a war in defense of a right and a
war for the creation of a right While war may
boresorted to in defense of a right, war cannot
create a right Rights which depend merely upon
force are not rights at all. Our title to the Phil-
Why Not. Proceed?
The news dispatches indicate that tho packers
intend t organize a great single corporation by
forming a one billion dollar trust Referring to
this report, the Kansas City Journal, republican,
says:
If the American Meat company is formed,
as predicted, it will bo one of the, most power
ful and, if we may judge by past experience,
most arbitrary concerns of this kind. With
its immense capital, and its agencies in ev
ery land, it will be able to dominate both
tho live stock business and the meat trade, at
home and abroad. The problem of devising
laws to control these gigantic organizations is
one of the most delicate, serious and urgent
that confronts modern statesmanship.
It is something of a problem to devise laws;'
bu the republican administration might undertake
a serious enforcement of the laws already on the
statute books. The Journal might explain to a
curious public why the republican administration
has failed to proceed against tho packers by way
of a criminal prosecution, a proceeding clearly
provided for in the federal anti-trust law.
This does not present anything of a problem.
All that Is required is that Mr. Roosevelt shall
make up his mind to use every weapon within
his grasp in order to crush out an organization
of men who conspire against tho very life of
the publip. One simple criminal indictment,
backed by competent lawyers and vigorous prose
cution will' go i far toward solving the trust ques
tion ;
" ' ' !!- . ! "' ' '
The Price of Harmony
MMiani"HHaMMaMHMHMWNHMIiaHIMaaHKaBHS
"Tho crying need of the hour is harmony,"
shout the reorganfzors. If wo answor that thy
are tho ones who tlestroyed tho harmony of the
party wo aro accused of recalling by-gones. If
wtf ask them what they will charge for harmony
wo aro accused of boing disturbers of the peace.
There can bo no satisfactory harmony that .does
not rest upon an honest understanding. What
have tho reorganizers to offor as a basis of har
mony? First, that tho party will adopt their
ideas on tho money quostion the idoas that led
them out of the democratic party into tho republi
can party or into tho Palmer and Buckner party,
which on tho money question was even worso
than tho republican party. This does not mean
merely tho suspension of tho advocacy of free
coinage, it means tho complete turning over of
tho financial system to the financiers. If wo dare
to condemn the Fowler bill wo aro Interfering with
harmony; if wo object to banks of Issue wo are
alienating tho bankers; if wo protest against
branch banks we aro disturbing the confidence
of the monled interests; if wo point out the
dangers of. tho bill making the silver dollar rc
lfd6emaftQin gold eQ,puttingtumMmgJilockJU.
in -the way of j?ettinrtogether. $$&:
It may as well be understood now as learned
hereafter that harmony means full and complete
surrender to the financiers. The next concession
demanded is that the nominees for office, national,
state, county and precinct, shall have the confi
dence of the "business interests," which tho reor
ganizers construe to mean men who opposed the
platforms of 1896 and 1900 and lent either active
or passive aid to the republicans. Out of tho mil
lions of men who earnestly supported the demo
cratic ticket in 189G not one can be found who suf-'
ficiently enjoys "the confidence of the business in
terests" to make him an acceptable candidate to
tho reorganizers. Wherever they aro in power
they insist that candidates for congress, for the
United States senate, for the state legislature and
for all state and local offices shall bo men who are
themselves connected with the corporate interests
or men dominated by those who are connected
with the corporate interests.
But Is this sufficient? Not quite. The organi
zation must be turned over to them and corpora
tion men must be put in charge men who secure '
campaign funds by mortgaging the party to the
corporations and who then employ the campaign
funds to corrupt votes, purchase election officials,
etc., etc.
When the money question was subordinated to
imperialism in 1900, the few gold democrats who
came back insisted .that they and men like them
should be given prominence In the campaign, and
they resented the activity of men who were Jcnowa
to be identified with the fight for bimetallism. If
that demand was made when the Chicago plat
form was not only reaffirmed, but reiterated, what
can be expected if the party consents to the sup
pression of Its views in order to secure harmony?
The reorganizers constantly refer to the vic
tories of 1884 and 1892. To say that they do so
honestly would be a reflection upon their intelli
gence, for they know that the situation was en
tirely different in those years from what it Is now.