The Conservative ,
A FIIKI : ritESS.
"Stop my paper ! I have taken The
Republican the past forty years and
until lately have over found it true to
republican principles , but these attacks
on the republican party and present
administration are more than I can
stand. The president of the United
States is one of God's anointed. " Thus
writes a subscriber to one of the strong
est and most independently edited papers
iu the United States. A paper that has
been notoriously on the side of the
"rights of man , " for the past forty years
and is sMl there. Had the present
administration been democratic and
entered upon this unconstitutional and
"unholy" war and had The Republican
followed the pauie course it now has
does any one think that the "subscriber"
would have peremptorily said : "Srop
my paper , " or declared "the president
to be one of God's anointed ? "
When William , the infallible , of Ger
many , declares himself "emperor by the
grace of God , every true American
laughs at his semi-insane pomposity and
thinks him a most graceless son. But
when a republican president declares or
assumes that he is doing "God's work"
in killing men or ordering them to be
killed , that are fighting for indepen
dence , as our fathers did , what and
where is the difference ? To the partisan
republican it is 'les majestic' to criticise
the president "and he would have the
independent editor gagged , or the press
muzzled as is done in Germany. Is it
doing ' God's work' * to kill men and
burn their towns and villages merely
because they are fighting for self-
government ? Surely that is all the
Filipinos are struggling for. Americans
have almost deified Washington , Adams ,
Jefferson and other of the fathers , for
doing the same thing. Verily , the
Filipinos are showing the "true Ameri
can spirit , ' ' while the Americans are
demonstrating the character of ambi
tious bullies or slaves to a despot. It
matters not if the government of the
United States did pay Spain twenty
1
millions for its riphts and property in
the Philippines , what American ever
thought that Spain had inalienable
rights in the lives and property of the
Filipinos ? Is it for that that our govern
ment paid Spain twenty millions of dollars
lars ? That is bartering iu human flesh !
That traffic is forbidden in the constitu
tion. It cost thousands of lives and
millions on millions of dollars to peal the
bond against chattel slavery. Did the
republican administration not pretend ,
did the president not declare , that the
war on Spain was because the American
people did not believe that Spain had
any rights in the lives and property of
the Cubans ? Was not the war made to
give the Cubans freedom ? Strange in
consistency ! The administration is now
fighting the Filipinos for diametrically
the contrary principle for which it fought
for the Cubans , It sought' to free the
Cubans ; it seeks to enslave the Filipinos.
But when THE CONSERVATIVE or any
other American journal declares such
acts to be inconsistent and unconstitu
tional , then it finds American citizens
un-American enough to cry , "stop iny
paper ! "
What and where is the difference
between Mr McKinley and the repub
lican administration , in relation to the
Filipinos , and George the Third and the
British Parliament in regard to our
fathers in 177G ? What is the difference
in relation to our deportment towards
the Filipinos and that of Spain towards
the Cubans ? For upholding the prin
ciples of the declaration of independence
American citizens invite American
editors to "stop my paper , " while they
have profound regard for these journals
which uphold inonarchial principles and
defend the "obey or I will destroy you
root and branch" of the administration.
Is that upholding constitutionalism and
the right of a free and independent
press ? Is it not upholding slavery both
in the United States and the Philip
pines ?
Freedom of Choice.
THE CONSERVATIVE is not combatting
the freedom of choice of the American
citizen as to his rights to select what he
reads. It would not be true to Ameri
can principles if it did. The cardinal
American principle is the right to fight
for self government and to establish and
maintain it on the part of the people , if
they can. It looks as if the American
people were forfeiting that blood-stained
right through subservience to machine
politics and intellectual weakness. THE
CONSERVATIVE believes it the right of
every subscriber to stop his paper if he
wishes. That is his natural and con
stitutional right. He has the might to
do it , if he wills. It is interesting to
note that many who write "stop my
paper , " also say "I am in accord with
your financial views , but your attacks on
the administration are too much for me.
I have no sympathy with your attempts
to influence public opinion in that
direction. " Suppose the populists were
in power and pursuing the same course ,
what then ? On the same basis a man
might say "stop my wife ; she does not
agree with my ideas of the administra
tion. " Unfortunately many American
men do act thus unconstitutionally in
their families. Fortunately a good
many cannot or dare not. It is the
toleration of what one likes only and
the intolerance to opposing views to
which THE CONSERVATIVE objects.
"Competition is the hie of trade. " Op
position is the life of ideas. How far
would the world advance if every reader
said "stop my paper , " if it published
views not in accordance with his pre
conceptions ? There would bo no dis
cussion ; no freedom of opinion ; intel
lectual independence would die out ;
manhood would degenerate. Slavery
and intellectual darkness would spread
over the earth. Such was practically
the condition in the dark ages. The
majority would bo more despotic than
ever tyrant was on usurped or hereditary
throne. Unfortunately the desperation
of the struggle for existence forces many
papers to become party organs and sell
their independence. "What would become
of the country if e\Tory man , or oven the
majority , in the United States should
demand that his paper be stopped if it
did not say :
"My idea is that every man in the
democratic party , whether he be a gold
man , a silver man or a bimetallist , or
whether ho be for a ratio of 16 to 1 or
some other ratio , should stand ever
ready to yield to the wishes of the ma
jority of his party , as expressed in the
platform of its national convention.
"Speaking for myself , I am a gold
man , yet I will unhesitatingly support
free silver , 16 to 1 , should it bo made the
platform sentiment of the party in 1900.
I will give my full support to any can
didate whom the con vent ion selects. "
Is that being a true American citizen ?
Is that being a true democrat ? It is
being a mere stick to be bent and
twisted as the boss runs the machine.
Is that freedom ? Is it manliness ? THE
CONSERVATIVE is no such democrat.
Freedom of llio Press is National Snl-
vatioii.
Thus thought and said the fathers.
They put their belief in the constitution.
They sanctified it in their blood. Too
many of their sons seek to make it un
constitutional. They are illegitimate
children. They are traitors at heart
and would be in fact if they could.
They forget I860. What would become
of honesty in the government with a
gagged press ? What would become of
the public health if the doctors could
muzzle the press ? What would become
of the church but for a free press ?
What would become of education but
for the power of the press ? Freedom
would be buried , corruption and vice
would prevail. It is the machine partisan
press that breeds and nourishes it. We
should live in a world of intellectual
darkness. The press , beyond all other
means of transmitting knowledge , be
yond the pulpit , beyond our educational
institutions , is the bearer of the torch
light of knowledge to the minds of the
people. The press is the power by
which the intellect of man moves the
world from darkness to light. The
vast majority read nothing else.
No one objects to a partisan press , a
partisan pulpit , a partisan individual.
The independent is a partisan. Truth
demands it. There are two kinds of
partisanship. There is the partisanship
of ignorant traditionalism. There is
also the partisanship of intelligent
positivism. THE CONSERVATIVE seeks
to be such. True conservatism always