NOVEMBER 5, 1903.
12
THE NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT
COST OF IMPERIALISM
tn Million Dmndd for Com Dfac
' ad"Oor InmUr roMeloB"
When we annexed Hawaii, and later
Porto Rico and the Philippines, our
cock-sure imperialists everywhere
welcomed their inclusion within our
territory as being eo many strong out
posts in the national defense. Hawaii
was to ward off the -fleets of Japan
from San Francisco since no squad
ron would dare to sail by it just as
Porto Rico was in some mysterious
way to defend our southern coasts
against all attack. The Philippines,
too, were to be a great source of mili
tary strength to us. Everybody ad
mitted this except a few warped anti
imperialists and "little Americans,"
who took the ground that such ter
ritorial outposts would necessitate
great fleets and vastly expensive forti
fications for defense. But their point
of view is now fully confirmed by the
chief of engineers, General George L.
Gillespie, in his annual report pub
lished lately. There are, be says, not
only harbors in the Philippines, in
Hawaii, in Porto Rico, and the new
aval atatlrtna In Cnha to hA rortinea.
Guam, upon our Samoan island, ana
upon the many coallpg stations, large
and Email, which we have been grad
ually establishing all over the world.
As a small beginning, General GJlles
pie asks only 2A millions of dollars
for insular defenses m addition to 8
millions for our home defenses. He
also advocates a general board to ap
portion the millions to be squandered
In this way. upon our insular posses
sions, similar to the Endlcott board,
in following the recommendations of
which we have already spent hundreds
of millions at home. Of all methods
of wasting public money which have
yet been devised, this fortifying of
harbors we do not need seems to us
pre-eminent by reason of its utter
wantonness and folly.
' Bishop Huntington of New York
calls the Wall street promoters "pa-
..gans." The Independent must insist
that that ecclesiastical term is not
nearly so accurate as the ones used
by this paper for the last three or
four years. The Independent has al
ways called them "pirates," "thieves,"
and "robbers," and that is just what
they are. '
Labor Crystals
Editor Independent: At the risk of
being again "side-tracked" for want
of "availability," or because of the
terseness of the question. I desire to
point out your error in the denial that
land and labor are the only prime fac
tors in production and that the term
"'stored up labor," or "crystallized la
bor," is not so much of an economic
aphorism as you are prone to imagine.
If a person earns $2 a day working
in or upon the ground and consumes
, but one, laying the other dollar by,
the dollar so laid by is, in legitimate
choice of expression, "stored up" or
"crystallized labor," because of its be
ing the result of labor applied to land
and it does not become capital until
it is used or set apart for use in the
production of other wealth, nor is it
any stretch of imagination of the so
ciahst to say that that this dollar when
paid out for a hoe with which to aid
the labor of his hand and by which
.greater wealth is produced is still, as
a noe, me result of labor first exerted
by the bare hand and is also capital
because it is an aid, or in use, for the
production of other wealth. If this
was the only error of socialism we
single taxers would at once join hands
with them. In this the socialist Is ab
solutely right.
Not so. however, in your statement
that ail three factors, land, labor, and
capital, are alwaya necessary and al
ways enter into production of all
forms of wealth. Here are two canes
In point, of whkh there are many
more:
A littlo girl went to the sand hills
and picked two quarts of wild nam
Mil plums In her apron and sold thorn
for 10c what capital wax employed?
Again, While aboard ship lying off
Portugal, a nude Portttguewe. divine
for shell for the pnsacncpr. brought
up on for whkh I rove her $1 what
raplt.il entered In this exploit?
If you will kindly answer then pro
position. Knowing the employment o
capital, there are mmv of your reid
era who will bo glad of having lerne
something. K. C. Cl-AUK.
8rrania. Neb.
(The veiled xfft In Mr. Clark'
communication, sHlf'illy conveyed by
t of quotation mark. ned rl be
potlcd further than to ay to him an
all other lmrlint one, who gcem to
think their vrv rnmmMnlf.it Inn ourht
U ap;r lmmdhtev. that th HI
tor of The Independent try to ae
cord every contributor fair treatment
The Independent is aware that Mr.
Clark has a national reputation as a
writer on the single tax. but that is
no reason why all his communications
should be printed, to the exclusion of
worthy articles from the pens of oth
ers who, regardless of reputation, have
the rare quality of common sense
and a fair command of the English
anguage. In a word, the editors are
straining every nerve to make The
ndependent worthy or a large circu
ation: they accord liberal space to
contributors but have not yet abdi
cated, and have no intention of do-
ng so.
Mr; Clark's "two cases in point
nresent no difficulty. Why did 'the
girl use her apron in' the production
of the sand hill plums? And why
wasn't the apron just as much capital
in that case as a tin pan would have
been? The naked Portuguese maiden
certainly made use of the ship on
which Mr. Clark was aboard, as a
starting point for her dive probably,
and certainly as a'place to market the
"labor crystals", formed as the result
of applying "Portuguese energy to
Father Neptune's dominions. Her pro
duction of shells was not completed
without the use of capital. It is Im
material that the ownership of that
capital was not vested in her. Doubt-
ess the captain accented the enter
tainment in lieu of rent or profit not
thA "economic" sort that Mr. Clark
wants gathered up for communal use.
The Independent does not object to
the metaphor of "crystallized labor"
except where' an attempt is made to
call the "labor crystals" "value" or the
source or foundation or basis or vaiue.
If one wants to indulge in figures of
sneeeh and refers to a chair, for ex
ample, as "stored labor" or "crystal
lized labor," no harm is done; but U
he then proceeds to give the impres
sion that the "value" of the chair Is
identical with the "stored up labor"
or "crystals," then The Independent
does object; because It involves tne
ftbaurditv of 'value" being "intrinsic"
or within the thing containing the
"labor crystals."
The same reasoning by which Mr.
Clark arrives at the conclusion that
"capital" is nothing but "labor" could
be used with equal or greater, force in
brovine caoital to be nothing more
than ' a different manifestation of
land." As a matter of fact, all three
land, labor-power, and capital in
varying proportions , must be present
in the production of wealth; and as
the ownership of each factor may. be
in a different nerson. we have rent,
wages and interest to reckon witn. Mr.
Clark would have interest "and wages
identical; but it is just as easy to re
gard rent and interest as Identical.
Associate Editor.)
Once agaiu the talk begins about
this great Anglo-Saxon race. A year
or two ago it was pushed in the in
t( rest of imperialism to an extent that
became disgusting. It was hoped that
the thing had had its day, died, and
that we should hear no more of . it.
Put Gorman has tried to resurrect it
and all the hired ignoramuses of the
imperial and negrophobia sort, who
vrite, are hard at work along that
line. If some of these writers would
stop to think for a moment they would
be driven to the conclusion that the
greatest levins forces in the literature
of today are all outside of the Anglo-
Saxon and English-speaking races,
Among Anglo-Saxons there are no
Tolstois, Ibsens, Sienkiewiczs or Mae
terlincks.
Senator Hoar Inconsistent
Editor Independent: At a banquet
given in Boston. October 5, 1903. by
the Ancient and Honorable Artillery
Comnanv of Boston to the Honorable
Artillery Company of Ixmdon (a ban
ouet which the press stated cost $63,-
000 and whose preparation and ar
rangement consumed eight month or
time). Senator Hoar is reported as
"When you go back to old motner
England, tell her that her boys are
contented and happy and growing.
Give hor our best love. Tell her we
think of her with nothing but friend
lines and good will."
And again:
"We mourn with you for the long
of your gracious queen, alike the type
of gentlest womanhood and the mot
lllttatrloiitf sovereign In hhtory. We
look to you with confident antlclpa
Hon and desire for n Jong and happy
reiKu or her mnt essor.
One KfAltatea an to the fit character
Izatton of giich utterances. Hut, If
there li unwIlllnnnrM to titmlt that
they are the n marks of a man in hi
dotaro (whhh la the rwt charitable
view possible), the senator must be
reirnrdrd a a recklean flatterer.
The enator In a well informed man,
but, with regard to hh reference to
the Ut MrltUh queen a the mot U
luittrlmis sovereign In history, the urn.
stor know m well a the writer that
her failure to contribute any appre
ciable portion of the wealth of the
richest woman in the world to educa
tion, industry, or charity, in a coun
try whose pauper list is perhaps the
greatest of any nation, together with
her lack of initiative or serious prac
tical interest in any important social
or political reform, and her failure to,
protest against any of the political
crimes which continued to stain the
British escutcheon during her reign,
render Victoria utterly unfit to rank
among the great or truly good sover
eigns of history.
And when the senator confidently
anticipates a long and happy reign for
Victoria's successor, he anticipates
what he knows to be an impossibility,
for he knows that the reign of a no
torious gambler and profligate, though
it may be long, cannot be happy, eith
er for himself or for the people whom
he officially disgraces. -
But the senator's offense Is not
wholly a personal one. When he says,
Tell her we think of her with noth
ing but friendliness and good will,"
does he forget the atrocities of Crom
well in Ireland? Does he forget the
opium trade forced on China by Eng
lish battleships? Does he forget the
live coolies blown from the mouth of
British cannon in India? Does he
forget the destruction of the Boer re
publics? Does the senator have noth
ing but friendliness and good will for
a nation capable of a long line of such
infamies? "
Does not the senator remember who
was our antagonist in the revolution
ary war? Does he not remember who
fought us in the war of 1812? Docs
he not remember what nation it was
that first recognized the southern con
federacy? Is he not aware that the
great preponderance of evidence in
dicates that at the outbreak of the
Spanish war it was our "friend" Eng
land that attempted to form a diplo
matic coalition against the United
States? .Does he imagine for a mo
ment that 'England's present alleged
friendship for America is anything
but purely selfish? Does he not know
that if England believed she could
gain commercially by it, and dared
to do it, she would today seize upon
liie slightest pretext to turn and rend
us?
The senator knows that his reckless
talk of friendship and good will for
England has a direct tendency to ex
tenuate, in the American mind, those
crimes against the political rights of
man which have made England notor
ious for three hundred years? He
knows that such talk distinctly oper
ates to encourage the present-day im
perialistic practices and tendencies of
this republic.
In his Boston speech, Senator Hoar
presented himself in an unworthy, not
to say un-American light; and it is
hoped by all who have admired his
noble advocacy of Irish home rule,
Boer independence, and Philippine
self-government, that he will not re
peat his inconsistent and demoralizing
Boston performance. '
JOHN SAMPSON.
Washington, D. C. ',
Full of Information -
Editor Independent: Find a dollar
enclosed and will even up for current
year as soon as the means enables to
do so. I can't get' along without The
Independent I get ten times more
"sound" information from it than all
the other papers combined.
JOHN GUTHERLESS.
North Platte, Neb.
The Presidential "I Am"
The opinion that Roosevelt has of
himself in comparison with all the
presidents who have preceded him
may be gathered from his books. He
says of Jefferson: "He was constitu
tionally unable to put a proper value
on truthfulness," and Jefferson "was
perhaps the most Incapable executive
that ever filled the presidential chair."
He called President Tyler "a politician
of monumental littleness." Pope was
"the very smallest president." "Mon
roe was as much of a failure a his
predecessors and a harsher crlth lm
could not 1 passed upon him." Van
litirca and Buchanan were "do'iph-
faces" and "fit representatives of tho
sordid and odious political organisa
tion of New rfc and Pennsylvania"
while Oliver Ellsworth, one of the
early chief Justice, "should be brand
ed with Infamy. An. General Scott
was "a holly absurd and flatulent
persona.;," When their present
presidential Idol talked that way about
the men eminent In A merlon history.
The Independent l puixM to know
on what ground mm read?rs of thl
taper bae their complaint com ern
Ing the erltkUms that are sometimes
mad of republican and republican
polk le la it column.
Mention The Independent.
Socialist Books
Editor Independent:" Yon asked a
leading question when you inquired
from whence comes the money to pay
for the "hundreds of costly books on
socialism that are being constantly
put forth?" A glance at the list of
pew books mentioned eyery week in
the book reviews will show several
end sometimes many socialistic, or
ultra socialist by the well-known book '
publishing firms. But you will never
see one work of the individualistic
school nor a solitary attack upon the
fallacies of socialism. The great capi
talistic publishing firms will not con
sider works of that character. But a
socialistic work has the call. Again,
you will note a socialist column once
a week In daily and weekly papers,
paid for" at the rate of fl per week,
But you will not be permitted to ex
pose- the rank humbug on the same
terms. The whole trend of events is
toward the magnifying of the social
ist proposition, thus presenting it as
the solution. But it will not stand an- ,
alysis for five minutes. Millionaire
Wilshire has time and again refused
my criticisms of socialism. The Ap
peal to Reason "lost" my manuscript;
but they did not ask me to write
again. I was strongly impressed With
socialism in 1886 about the time Dr.
Aveling with one of his wives came
to Chicago on a lecture tour. But I
had to give up socialism because it
could not stand analysis. I am still
looking for a socialist paper that dares
print two columns from my pen.
H. J. WIBEU
Riverside, Cal.
Live Stock Insurance
Whv insure live stock for fire and
lightning only, when you can get in
surance that will cover death from
auy cause. Three-fourths of the mon
ey paid out for fire and lightning in
surance of live stock is money wasted
tor the simple fact that tnreerourtns
of the stock dies from causes other
than fire and lightning, and for which
such insurance is no good.
The Phoenix Mutual Live Stock In
surance Co. insures live stock against
death resulting from fire, lightning,
tornado, disease, or accident; in fact,
from all causes where due care has
been taken to save life and nothing
done to endanger it. Good, reliable '
&gents wanted in every township. For
lull particulars write or call on The
Phoenix Mutual Live Stock Ins., Co.,
316 So. 10th st., Lincoln, eD.
Mr. Drooley on Ancient and Hodern
Literature
"Ye see. Hlnessey, in the ole days
there was, first of all, the im'rors;
na-amin' anny wan iv the imp'rors
at random, we na-a-me the on'y wan
we raymimber, which is Julius Caesar.
Now Julius Caesar was not on'y a fine
imp'ror and fighter, but he was a
fithry man battin' in the first divi
sion. He'wr-r-ote a bunch iv ixclllent
and valyble, though teejous school
books still in use. This, iv course,
wud tind to fill with elation the
breasts iv them that feel it their pa
thryotic jooty to knock the prisint and
boost the dead past; howiver, the an
swer is aisy to find. In this, day iv
dvilyzation and the Mafia, in this land
iv the free and home iv the lynchin'
bee (get next to them little digs, Hin
essey) we have no effete imp'rors, but
we have a prisldent me ole friend,
Tiddy Rosenfelt that's got ole Julius
beat at the post in book wr-r-itin' as
well as fightin' and imp'rin'. Julius
says, says he, 'All Gaul.' says he, "all
Gaul is divided -into three parts, he
says; and Tiddy goes him slv'ral bet
ther, sayin', 'All gall Is divided,' says
he. 'into wafi part, he says, 'and I've
got a cinch on that! says he. No,
the Gallic wars was outdone at San
Joon Hill, and the book about 'em's
been beat to death In thirty-slven vol
umes. So much fr ye'r la-a-dln'
mln." Charlton Andrews In The
Header Magazine for November.
The Springfield Republican thinks
that the treatment of the Bennett will
case by the newspapers, and especial
ly by the gold democratic newspapers
of New Haven, la "suspicious." That
paper printed in some four colnram
the full text of Lawyer Stoddard's
kpeeth attacking Mrv Bryan In court,
while It printed only half a column of
Pryan'g reply, and hardly a line of
the arguments In hU defense.
IO.Mi:SKKKKU3 EXCURSIONS
via the : : :
IUK!K ISLAND SYSTEM
to Oklahoma and Texag point nt
preatly reduced rate, October 20 ard
November 3 and 17. The Rock Island
I the only line running throurh car
from Nebraaka to Oklahoma and Texag
j:lnt. Call or write for Illustrated
papers and f'tll Information.
1 II. IIAItNKtf, O. P. A.,
1015 O t., Uncolo, Neb. ,