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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (July 13, 1899)
"Che Conservative. THIS SPANISH-AMERICAN IM- JJUOGL1O. The late war botwoou the United States and Spain and the postbollum re lations of the United States to the Cu bans , and especially to the Filipinos , liavo been and are so outside the limi tations of natural , international , and American constitutional law , as to offer problems of vital and momentous inter est to the statesman , the editor , and student of social science. To under stand the questions at issue one must go back to the beginning. They must be considered in a cold-blooded , scientific manner without sympathy for home , or prejudice to the alien. Justice tempered by sympathy is no longer justice. A certain degree of belligerency is common to animal lifo. It predominates in males. Man offers no exceptions. It maybe called the "war-spirit. " This spirit has been a dormant volcano in the American people ever since the war of the revolution. It is known as "the spirit of ' 70. " The American people have borne a striking resemblance to the traditional Irish tailor who was contin ually "looking for some blawsted Ing- lishman furl'mmouldorin fur a foight. " While this feeling has temporarily dis appeared from the national horizon it would take but an infinitesimal spark to set it blazing in full flame. This war- spirit in America is not limited to Bri tain. The United States seems to have a chip on both shoulders. The govern ment is morbidly anxious to hunch somebody. While over present there are times when the war-spirit acquires cumulative energy. Those who have commanded armies , ships , or bodies of men for a considerable period must be aware of it. It breaks out without ap parent cause. It loads to uprisings , mutinies , revolutions , wars. It isa form of progressive emotional insanity. The people of the United States have had a bad attack of this dangerous malady. They have not fully recovered. "Where Cleveland 111 ami tired. The war-spirit is often marked by acute exacerbations. Any social stu dent could have soon that the American people were undergoing an acute attack of Fabris belli. Its first public eruption was manifested by Mr. Cleveland in his uncalled-for interference between Great Britain and Venezuela. Fortunately for both nations the British lion did not permit himself to bo seriously disturbed by the buzzing of the American mos quito. The war-spirit then hovered about and perched upon the Monroe doctrine. The war-eagle of the United States shrieked that no European gov ernment should make further establish ment on the American continent. The proposal was insolvent and audacious. The earth is man's and the fullness thereof. He who can takes what he can. Ho assumes the risks also. Social ism lessens the risks. Since the United States has gone into Pacific waters ( wrongly named ) the Monroe doctrine is non est. If one fol lows it to its source this doctrine has a far different meaning than appears on its surface. It had its origin in the "spirit of ' 70. " That spirit was anti- king. Properly stated the Monroe doc trine should road , the people of the United States will not countenance the extension of monarchisrn from European to American soil. King-hatred is inbred in the children of the United States. The disease is contagious. It has ex tended over the majority of the later immigrants and their descendants. Without a comprehension of those con ditions it is absolutely impossible to ac count for the Spanish-American imbrog lio. The conditions leading to it in the United States were an acute attack of the war-spirit , supplementing the chronic spirit of ' 70 and aggravated by one of the most dangerous diseases to which individuals and nations are sub ject. This terrible infliction is often of a suicidal nature. It is technically known as Macro cranialis proijressiva uhroniua , siue acittinsima. It is a variety of egotistical insanity. It is not solf- coufldonce. Solf-coufldonco is the in telligent ability to do what one under takes and not to undertake that which one cannot do. This big-head insanity undertakes anything. It is quixotic in its nature. It charges windmills re gardless of their size or the velocity of the wind. There is nothing equal to its momentous conceit. It appears in its most aggravated form when it assumes to dethrone the Omnipotent and audaci ously assorts itself to bo doing "God's work. " Omnipotence needs no deputy. A peculiarity of the big-head is its boomerang proclivities. While terribly destructive to others in its insane career it is no less dangerous to the one pos sessed. Nothing but the most alarming experience can over cast this demon out of those possessed. The American people being thus af flicted it was not a difficult task for the government to precipitate the country into an absolutely safe war with an ef fete monarchy like Spain. Another im portant factor is not without interest. It is a now one in American political conditions. In Europe governments have found it necessary to go to war , or to keep up a very aggressive war-spirit in the people , in order to save them the governments from internal dissensions. The republican party was and is under the same exploiting necessity in the United States. The boomerang which it set in motion , to the destruction of Spain's pelagic possessions , will react in the formation of an American party "to form a more perfect union" on the basis of , ? io sacrifice of life ; no taxation except according to the constitution. That is , for the protection and welfare of the people of the United States. The Doctrine of Fatultum. This brings us to the humanitarian or altruistic arguments that have been brought forward in defense of this un justifiable war. Individuals may sacri fice themselves when they have none de pendent on them. Those entrusted with the welfare of public lifo and property have no rights over either only in so far as it pertains to the defense of the lives and property of those disputing the authority. Taken as a whole the people of the United States have boon strik ingly apathetic in regard to those affairs. There is a terrible fatalism paralyzing the people in political matters. "It is as it is and cannot be made any bettor" seems to bo common opinion. Under snch conditions the weeds of despotism take root and flourish. There was what may bo called a spasmodic medic flurry of patriotic irritation over the suspicious nature of the Maine inci dent. Acting as a jury the sober com mon sense of the people gives Spain the benefit of the Scotqh verdict "not proven. " Neither before , during nor since the war has there boon any uni versal sympathy for Cubans or Filipi nos. The most marked fooling is one of silent dread that the government has woven a skein of foreign entanglements out of which it cannot bo relieved save at the cost of valued lives and wasted treasure. Slowly but surely the heads of the people are shrinking to normal size. On the contrary that of the gov ernment is still expanding. The condi tion is dangerous ! The suspicion is growing that the war was entirely un called-for , the sacrifice of lifo unjustifi able , and the expense scandalous. The humanitarianism in the government for the Cubans and Filipinos is about as strong as the ton-thousandth dilution of a homeopathic tincture. So far as the people are concerned it is a vacuum. Even the government cannot coin it at . A illustrates 10-to-l. personal experience trates it. An enthusiastic humanitarian friend of Cuba and the Filipinos , and a great sympathizer with unfortunates living under a king , was holding forth before a local baud of admirers on the glories of being an American and the great work America is doing for human ity. On being told that an organization had been formed for raising funds to clothe and educate the poorest among the children in Cuba and asked to con tribute five dollars his sympathies dis appeared like fog before a rising sun. All ho said was , "the government is do ing that business , I have nothing to do with it. " That man is typical of Amer icans who love the Cubans and the cause of liberty among aliens. ISiiKltind mid America. These sympathizers , like the govern ment , are extravagantly generous with other people's lives and property and equally economical with their own. National vanity fluttered feebly at the few slight victories of an overpowering force over an inferior. In point of fact , the people have not been exceptionally
