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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (May 11, 1899)
< ' > ( I /if ' the Conservative * THE PUESENT WAK. Mr. Valentine Upon Practical Expansion. [ Thowhito race and the extermination doc trine. Arc there tun millions of Europeans living in Oriental lands ? ] Em-roil CONSERVATIVE : In the San Francisco Evening Bulletin of the 19th appeared an excellent contribution from Mr. John Aubrey Jones , propounding some very pointed questions to a cleri cal expansionist of Oakland. i For the information and edification of your readers I beg your indulgence for quoting the concluding portion of Mr. Jones' article , which , to my mind , is extremely pertinent : "Dr. Coylo makes light of 'tradition alism' as a safeguard to the perpetuity of the republic. In reply , I would re mind him of what James Russell Low ell said when asked by a distinguished foreigner : 'How long will the republic of the United States of America endure ? ' 'So long as its people adhere to the tra ditions of its founders , ' replied the emi nent scholar , litterateur , statesman and diplomat. Speaking of traditionalism , I would warn Dr. Coyle that in advo cating departure therefrom and ignor ing thereof , he is treading upon very slippery footing. What is apostolic teaching as handed down to us but tra ditionalism ? What would become of Christianity ; nay more , civilization , if the world should forsake the traditional ism of the New Testament ? Let Dr. Coyle answer if ho will. " At this point I will call the attention of the expansionist clergy to the mater ialism of expansion. First , General Shafter's view : "I have said before that it may be necessary to kill half the population of the islands in order that the remaining half may be lifted from their semi-bar barity to the civilization wo are ready to give them. " To which I will add the following from the Topeka Gazette : "The An glo-Saxon has entered a world war of extermination of savage races , just as the lion several million years ago eu- * tered a world war to kill oif the un gainly beasts whose bones nosv adorn museums of natural history. The sur vival of the fittest must operate in men ' as in brutes. It is the same old war , 'bloody with tooth and claw , ' that be gan when the first protoplasm multi plied itself by two. Now brains are weapons , not muscles ; mind , not mat ter ; soul , not body ; heart , not hand. The Malay is an inferior race ho must die just as the Indian died. Expan sion is the inevitable. It was ordained in the beginning. " Now for an example of the outcome of such expansion doctrines : Captain Albert Otis , giving the results of his own experience at Santa Ana , near Manila , writes : "I have six horses , and three carriages in my yard , and enough small plunder for a family of six. The house I had at Santa Ana had five pianos. I couldn't take them , so I put a big grand piano out of a second-story window. You can guess its finish. " This is only one of many such inci dents mentioned in the letters of sold iers to their friends in the United States. The Enquirer of the 19th contained nearly a column and a half of excellent editorial comment setting forth in a very suggestive way the fallacies of compulsory civilization , and among other things , touched upon the extra ordinary dictum , above quoted , of the United States general. I will here ap ply a query from the Sacramento Bee : "Have the Filipinos any rights ; have they any business on earth ? " It would also bo gratifying to have an answer to two other questions : What do the expansionists think the rights of dark races are ? Are they of the opinion that the Almighty in the creation ap plied his hand exclusively to the white race , and left others to be formed by apprentices or journeymen ? As expansionists deem Washington , Jefferson , Adams , and other of the fathers "back numbers" it may be well , in this connection , for them to ponder the following enunciation of republican doctrine of this generation : "No man is good enough to govern another without that man's consent. I say this is the leading principle , the sheet anchor of American republican ism. ism."When "When the white man governs him self , that is self-government ; but when he governs himself and also governs another man , that is more than self- government , that is despotism. "All honor to Jefferson to a man who in the concrete pressure of a strug gle for national independence by a sin gle people had the coolness , forecast and capacity to introduce into a merely revo lutionary document an abstract truth applicable to all men and all times , and so to embalm it there that today and in all coming days it shall be a rebuke and a stumbling block to the harbingers of tyranny and oppression. "Oar reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in us. Our de fence is in the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men in all lands everywhere. Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves , and under a just God cannot long re tain it. " It appears that at a meeting of Pres byterian ministers in Sail Francisco on Monday , the 17th inst. , Dr. Coyle being the chief speaker , there was a compara tive unanimity of sentiment in favor of President McKiuley's benevolent assim ilation policy. If Dr. Coyle's interpre tation of Christian civilization be correct it merely means the law of or ganic evolution the survival of the fittest ; in this particular case the sur vival of the strongest of the stronger in point of engines of war , but for a time eventually of the weaker , because - cause of his better adaptation of the climate of his native tropical country. I say , if his interpretation of the process of Christian civilization sanctioned by the Bible is correct as applied in this case , what need was there of the coming and of the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind ? In short , is not the reverend gentleman giving himself over com pletely to materialistic science rather than adhering to the elevating and refining principles of Christianity the love of God and of man , as taught by Christ ? I ain informed that Dr. Coyle as serted in his remarks before the Presby terian ministers that there are ten mil lions of Europeans in Oriental tropical lauds. If so I would be glad to learn where they are located. Dr. Coyle , as reported by the press , has said : "To back out of tin Phil ippines now would lead the nations of the earth to laugh at the great repub lic of the West , and cause us to lose faith in ourselves. " Think of offering that at the judgment bar of Christ as an excuse for swerving from the path of duty. The same ex cuse is not infrequently offered in another form , namely , that to withdraw would disgrace us in the eyes of the world. Now the term disgrace thus used be trays a wrong-headed and obstinate pride persisting in perpetuating a woe ful injustice because , forsooth , some people in the world might indulge in gibes and sneers , whereas no right- minded , liberty-loving person on earth but would experience a thrill of joy that the United States of America , hitherto the exemplar of democracy and liberty , should have the courage to own itself wrong in this business and fear lessly reverse itself and do what is right. People who talk of disgrace attending our withdrawal from the Philippines before having subjugated the natives are but putting themselves on the level of the small boy who is afraid to do right because his companions may laugh at him , or , with that of the cow boy who allows himself to be egged on to commit a stage-robbery because he hasn't the moral courage to withstand the taunts of his confreres. JOHN J. VALENTINE. San Francisco , Cali. , April 22 , 1899. There are a thousand men with physical courage to moot bullets on the battle field , where there are a dozen with moral courage to tell the truth and stand up for it when the multitude are all on the side of error. To tell the truth against odde , when truth is antagonistic to public prejudice , and public senti ment , requires a brave and self-reliant man. More truth-tellers are needed in the political life of America.