f \
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8 Cbe Conservative *
ployed to furnish support and susteu-
mice to the unemployed.
The problem is a serious one. We
have 10,000,000 or 12,000,000 of unskilled
colored laborers south of Mason and
Dixon's line , and wo find the governor
of a great Northern state threatening to
stand at its borders with Gatling guns
and 8hoot down those laborers if they
attempt to enter to compete with its
white laborers , and this in the face of
the constitutional provision that "the
citizens of each state shall be entitled to
all privileges and immunities of citizens
in the separate states. " Are we likely
to aid in solving this problem by bring
ing into our national life 10,000,000 or
12,000,000 of unskilled Malny laborers ?
We have shut the doors against the
Chinese. Are they any worse than the
Malay ? Shall wo introduce in this na
tion more cheap labor ? For labor is
cheap where the cost of living is cheap ,
and the Malay needs but a little rice
within his body and a little cotton cloth
outside , and a very little rice and a very
little cloth is sufficient. I do not won
der at the action of the Federation of
Labor in protesting against a new com
petition of cheap labor as well as an in
crease of the army , with its consequent
increase of burden and taxation on the
employed laborer.
There is a frequent expression of the
thought that 'this proposed expansion
will fill the mind of the nation with new
problems and new questions , and there
fore , turn its attention away from the
problems and troubles which now em
barrass us. I concede it , and if turning
attention away from these interior prob
lems would solve them it were well , but
I am sure it will not bring solution.
Giving liquor to a man may for the
time being cause him to forget his trou
bles , but it does not end them , and when
the period of intoxication is over the
troubles reappear , and generally with
added force. Wo cannot-escape these
difficult problems of our internal life by
looking out ou the distant world. They
are here and must be met and solved by
patient , faithful , earnest attention.
We cannot get away from them. We
must overcome them. We may post
pone , but we only add to the diffi
culties thereby.
But there is money in it. And after
all this is really the most potent factor
in the proposed reaching out after the
islands of the Orient. The wealth of
Ormus and of Tnd is today as in the
days of Milton the expectation and the
dream of many. Possession of the Ori
ent , with its accumulated wealth ol
centuries , dazzles the imagination nut
confuses the judgment. The haze oi
mystery hangs over that vast domain.
Wealth untold is believed to bo there
ready to bo appropriated by any domi
nant power. All the nations and tribes
come within Lord Salisbury's definition
of dying nations , and must soon be di
vided between and appropriated by the
iviug and growing nations. China is
icld out as a dying nation , filled with
inexhaustible wealth , and why should
not we share in its appropriation ? What
a picture this is ! The eagle of liberty
standing like a buzzard to grow fat over
an expected corpse. When a Washiug-
: ou doctor of divinity the other day in
conversation with the Chinese minister ,
in reference to the possession taken by
Germany of part of her territory , said
that it seemed to him that Russia and
England were likely to follow the same
example and appropriate some Chinese
territory , the sarcastic reply was , "Yes ,
that is the way Christian nations do. "
This matter of wealth has two sides to
it. The poet says :
1 111 fan > s tlio land to hastening ills n prey
Whore wealth accumulates and men decay. "
[ t is not true that a mere increase of
wealth foreshadows ruin and decay. It
is not the possession of riches but the
way in which they are accumulated that
makes the menace. We have exported
from this country in the last year
$1,200,000,000 worth of our products.
They were the fruit of our toil of hand
and brain , and the increased wealth
which flows into the land as a reward
for such toil carries with it no menace ,
but the wealth which comes without an
equivalent in toil of hand or brain is the
wealth which threatens. Who is in
jured by money ? Not the one that
ears it day by day , dollar by dollar , and
saves until he accumulates a fortune ,
but he who by the chance discovery of a
mine , or an accidental speculation in
stocks , finds himself changed from pov
erty to sudden wealth ; and that which
is true of the individual is true of the
nation. Whatever it accumulates by
honest toil is not a curse. Whatever it
obtains without giving value may be
fruitful of injury. Exchanging bright
colored but cheap calicoes for furs and
jewels may rapidly pile up wealth , but
such wealth is more apt to curse than to
bless.
The idea of the nation going into the
midst of races and people where things
of value have been heaped up during
the centuries , and are possessed by those
ignorant of their value , and appropriat
ing those things , either by force or in
exchange for cheap trinkets and gew
gaws , is one filled with danger. The
Cajsars saw the spears of their victorious
legions flash in the sunlight of every
known laud , and in their triumphant
return they brought with him the ac
cumulated wealth of all the nations
they had subdued. The splendor of
imperial Rome outshone the world , but
the wealth thus obtained without value
given undermined the empire and the
glory of Rome is simply a memory.
Napoleon beheld the shining star of des
tiny ; and then ? Does human nature
change through the centuries ? We
stand today facing the temptation which
comes from the possibility of rapidly
accumulated wealth. What right have
we to anticipate that the same result
will not follow if wo pursue the same
course of taking what wo have not fully
earned ?
Again , this reaching out to the Orient
s an implied repudiation of the Monroe
doctrine , and exposes to additional per
ils and complications and possible wars
with European nations. The scope of
that doctrine I have already indicated.
We have shouted ourselves hoarse in its
Braise and declared our willingness to
fight in vindication of its principles if
necessary.
It declares that we oppose any inter
ference by European nations with states
on this continent , any appropriation
: iere of additional territory by those
nations ; in other words , we practically
said that the powers of the Eastern
Hemisphere must keep off the Western ;
that in this continent the problem of
government of and by and for the people
ple was being worked out , and that any
attempt by European nations to take
territory and thus introduce or perpetu
ate European ideas of government here
must be resisted. And this declaration ,
it must be borne in mind , was not sim
ply in reference to the states of this
Union , but to all the states and nations
on this continent. When we thus for
mally'and positively assert that the
Eastern nations must keep hands off
from this continent , there is an implied
promise that we will keep our hands off
from the other. It would be absurd to
suppose that either this country or other
nations understood that declaration to
mean you must not come on to this con
tinent and take any possessions , but we
may come onto your continent and do as
we please. The independence of one was
a guarantee of the independence of the
other. Now , entering the Orient to pos
sess it is a repudiation of that doctrine ,
for the moment we enter there and ap
propriate territory , that moment it
ceases to become us to insist that Euro
pean nations shall keep off from this
continent. We cannot either rightfully
or successfully pose as a supreme dicta
tor of the world. If we ask other na
tions to respect the separation of this
continent , we must also respect the sep
aration of that. Indeed , the forcible
taking possession by us of islands in
the West Indies or portions of South
America , while not inconsistent with
the Monroe doctrine , seems a good deal
like a slur upon it. When we insist
that the problem of government by the
people must have free course on this
continent it seems hardly consistent to
say that no European nation shall in
fringe upon that proposition , but we may.
Not only will the fact of a departure
from the principles of the Monroe doc
trine provoke challenge on the part of
European nations , but the possession of
outlying territories will add to our com
plications with such nations. It is a
matter of common knowledge that Enr-