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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (July 4, 1901)
The Conservative. THE LIVING SEA. How like the city is unto the seal The mighty wave of commerce breaks and beats In restless surges through the city streets , Swayed by the master tide of energy. How many derelicts , long morn to morn , Drift at the mercy of the wind and wave The lloteam and the jetsam of the pave Deserted , rudderless and tempest-torn ! Here move great argosies with gold and bales- Stanch ships that dare the cunning current's might And through their long procession dart the light , Swift pleasure craft with sun-emblazoned sails. Yet am I minded only of one thing : How much how much these smiling waters drown , Dear God , what wrecks this very day went down , Unhailed , unsignaled and unsignaling ! Theodosia Garrison , in Ainslee's Magazine. TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. The Anti-Imperialist Leagues of the United States have been silent since the presidential election , but not because they have less faith in their cause or be lieve the battle lost. They had hoped that those who voted for Mr. McKinley , while disapproving his policy in the West Indies and the Philippines , would see that their votes were misinterpreted , and would make their disapproval known and felt. They had hoped that congress would claim , its place in our government , and would insist that the principles of human freedom must be recognized and applied wherever our country holds sway. They had hoped that the supreme court would with no uncertain voice , declare that 110 human being under our control could be with out the rights secured by our constitu tion , and that neither president nor congress , nor both together , could exer cise absolute power over men entitled to the protection of our flag. These hopes have not been realized. Where Benjamin Harrison nobly led , too few have had courage to follow. The war in the Philippines has been prose cuted with unrelenting cruelty until the resistance of the unhappy * islanders seems to have been crushed. Many thousands of their bravest men have been killed , or have died of disease , during the contest ; and today the presi dent exercises a power as despotic as the Czar's over the whole Filipino na tion. Congress abdicated its function , gave these people into the president's hands , and adjourned without attempt ing to deal with the questions presented by the islands. Already it has learned that free government is hard and abso lutism easy a dangerous lesson in a re public. Three years ago congress by joint resolution elution , declared "that the people of the island of Cuba are , and of right ought to be free and independent" that they were then independent , and were justly entitled to be independent. This coun try intervened to establish their inde pendence , and by the same resolution promised not to exercise "sovereignty , jurisdiction or control over said island , except for the pacification thereof. " To day the president is the absolute ruler of Cuba. He spends the revenues of the island as he pleases. No constitution , no law , fetters his power. At his in stance congress has violated the nation's pledge. The "independent" Cuban people were told that they would not be allowed to establish any government in their own land , unless they surrendered in part the control of their finances ; un less they gave to this country the pos session of strategic points on their ter ritory ; and unless in addition they gave to it the right to intervene in their do mestic affairs whenever in the judgment of our authorities the occasion should demand such intervention. They were offered no option to refuse these de mands , backed by the presence of Ameri can troops on their soil. Thus to the whole world our course has become an example of national perfidy. The en forced submission of the Cubans to these unjust requirements has made the stain on our national record indelible. The supreme court has spoken , but has left the law in doubt. Some of its members have given their countenance "to views urged by the administration , of which their associate Mr. Justice Har- lan , a republican by conviction , says : "If the principles thus announced should ever receive the sanction of a majority of this court , a radical and mischievous change in our system of government will be the result. We will in that event pass from the era of con stitutional liberty , guarded and pro tected by a written constitution , into an era of legislative absolutism. " Where such a revolution is threatened , and when congress and the supreme court both fail , there is no help save in the people. If they would avert the impending calamity they must help themselves. Let us not be misled by names. Imperialism is not a question of crowns and sceptres , of names and titles. It is a system of government. Where a man or a body of men , an em peror , a president , a congress , or a na tion , claims the absolute right to rule the people , to compel the submission of that people by brute force , to decide what rights they shall have , what taxes they shall pay , what judges shall ad minister their laws , what men shall govern them , all without responsibility to the people thus governed this is im perialism , the antithesis of free govern ment. As Mr. Justice Harlan says : "The idea that this country may ac quire territories anywhere upon the earth , by conquest or treaty , and hold them as mere colonies or provinces , and the people inhabiting them to enjoy only such rights as congress chooses to accord them , is wholly inconsistent with the spirit and genius as well as with the words of the constitution. " In organized society there is no liber ty that is not constitutional liberty. Even in America , where we have only to fear the abuse of power by our own fellow-citizens , we all rely on. constitu tions , national and state , to protect our rights. We cannot conceive an Ameri can community without these safe guards. Do not the inhabitants of Luzon zen need against us , the protection that we need against ourselves ? It has ever been the American method to incorpo rate acquired territory with representa tion ; it is now proposed to revert to the Roman method , and hold conquered ter ritory by force without representation. This policy which we oppose gives to the Filipinos and Porto Bicaus no con stitutional rights , no American citizen ship , no hope of statehood , no voice in the congress which rules them ; it leaves them without a country , the subjects of a republic. This policy , to believers in free government , is monstrous. "Let it be remembered , " said the continental - ' tinental congress , "that it has ever been the pride and boast of America that the rights for which she contended were the rights of human nature. " When this country denies to millions of men the rights which we have ever claimed , not only for ourselves but for all men , its policy is suicidal. As Lincoln said : "Those who deny liberty to others de serve it not themselves , and under a just God cannot long retain it. " Indif ference to liberty anywhere breeds in difference to liberty everywhere. No man can defend despotic methods abroad and long retain his loyalty to democracy at home. The common speech of those who support our new policy gives us daily examples of this truth. We can not have citizens and subjects under the , same flag. "A house divided against itself cannot stand. " For "Laws of changeless justice bind oppressor with oppressed , "And close as sin and suffering joined we march to fate abreast. " We insist that constitutional liberty shall be the inalienable right of every man who owes allegiance to our flag , that freedom shall belong to man and not to place , that our constitution shall be no respecter of persons , colors , or races , but that it shall recognize the equal rights of all. Ours is the policy of liberty. Ours is the cause for which the American revolution was fought and which triumphed again in the civil war. It is the cause of human freedom now threatened in the house of its friends. It makes little difference under what name we rally to its support. With Benjamin Harrison , we are "unable to rejoice in the acquisition of lands and forests and mines and com merce , at the cost of the abandonment
