M l i : , t\ , , < : IK ,
10 The Conservative *
A COMMENDABLE EXAMPLE.
Probably many of us have heard of the
old Scotchman who was so pious that
nobody suspected him of wrong-doing ,
and yet ho was one day caught by his
next neighbor in the act of climbing
over the wall which divided their pos
sessions , with the evident intention of
stealing apples from the temptingly
laden trees.
"Where are you going ? " roared out
his neighbor.
"Back again ! " was the meek reply of
the incipient thief , and suiting the action
to the word , ho withdrew the offending
leg and slid down his own side of the
wall.
The position was rather humiliating ,
but still , it was better to back out of the
scrape with clean hands thau to declare
his errand and attempt by stratagem or
force to secure the coveted booty.
This little incident contains a moral
for us Americans which we would do
well to ponder , and an example which
wo shall follow , if we be wise.
We have gone farther than did the
Scotchman into encroachment upou our
neighbors' possessions , but not so far as
to be unable to "go back again , " al
though every hour of delay and every
mistaken act of political chicanery
make the necessary restitution more
difficult , and deepen the stain upon our
national honor. The stain upon our
national honor.
Who thinks of that , excepting a
small minority of thoughtful and truly
patriotic Americans , at home and
abroad , whose words of reproof and
warning are unheeded in the uproar of
the prevailing clamor for continued con
quests , which goes up from the mass of
the people , encouraged by the example
of a self-seeking executive and a sub
servient congress ?
Perhaps it is the latter class of pro
testers the truly patriotic Americans
living abroad who appreciate most
fully the degradation of our country in
the eyes of the rest of the world , through
our dishonorable and treacherous policy
during the present republican adminis
tration.
The outrage against private property
and individual freedom , perpetrated in
the theft of the De Lome letter , and the
disgraceful use made of its contents ,
was a shock to the finer feelings of cul
tured nations , which will not soon bo
forgotten. The greed which precipi
tated the war with Spain , under the
hypocritical pretence of sympathy with
the oppressed ; the obstinate refusal to
7 make promises good , now that the war
is over ; the dastardly double-dealing ,
from first to last , with the Filipino ;
all these political crimes have lowered
immensely the respect and confidence oJ
foreigners towards the United States.
Our own citizens have still greater rea
son for complaint. The acquisition of
foreign territory was an open challenge
, . ' / " *
: o the constitution , a direct blow to the
iberties of the people.
It means the ruin of the republic. The
) oldly uttered word , "imperialism , " has
disturbed the serene air of the heights
of liberty , thereby storting an avalanche
which will not stop until it has de
stroyed the very foundations of freedom
and fraternity in what might have be
come the homo of enduring prosperity
and peace.
It is useless to waste eloquence upon
'American Ideals , " as so many writers
and speakers are doing at present , in the
vain hope of bringing good out of the
evils which they and we have suffered
to accumulate. The time to talk and
write will be , if ever , when we have
proved our sincerity by removing what
insults and defames those ideals , and
this can be done only by going "back
again" that is , leaving Cuba to govern
tself , and renouncing our unjust
and illegal pretensions to the ownership
of the Philippines.
The next thing in order is to have a
reckoning with the responsible source
and sources of our calamities. We have
long known that the proclamation to
the Filipinos , which aroused their hos
tility , was the unauthorized act of the
president , and that by his order , through
out the whole course of the war , the
people have been deceived by false rep
resentations , and insulted by the with
holding and altering of authentic dis
patches ; and now we know , after the
long-suppressed Spanish correspondence
has been divulged , that the Cuban war
might have been avoided , that every
effort was made on the part of Spain ,
and every demand granted in the hope
of preserving peace , and that the presi
dent's indifference to the pathetic letter
of the queen , and to the pacific en
deavors of the pope rather , let us say ,
his selfish absorption in schemes for his
success in the approaching election in
duced him to suppress the extent of the
Spanish overtures , as well as the earn
est suggestions of our minister , and to
send his belligerent message , unaltered
to congress , with only a formal post
script which was sure to bo unheeded ,
or regarded as merely an attempt to
shift upon congress the responsibility
for a war which he and they consid
ered advisable for the securing of selfish
ends.
The disclosure of the trickery prac
ticed in all these matters , especially by
the president , involves a vital question ;
namely , this : Is it possible that Ameri
can citizens are going to submit quietly
to such impositions , with all the dis
astrous consequences , including the loss
of national honor ?
The present suppression , by news
papers favorable to the government , of
the long-withheld and only recently-
published Spanish dispatches , shows
how fatal to the administration that in
formation is considered to be , and how
much it is hoped that delay in spread-
ng the news may calm the indignation
of the people , and induce them to yield
again , without protest or inquiry , to the
autocratic authority which has dictated
their conduct since these troubles began.
'As a Christian , peace-loving people , "
to quote the hypocritical expression of
the president , we are expected to learn ,
without a murmur , that we have been
cajoled into cruel wars , and disgraced
) efore the civilized world , in order to
further the ambitious designs of one
would-be statesman , and the mercenary
schemes of a few unscrupulous capital-
sts. But , it is to be hoped that these ex
pectations will not be realized ; that
; here is still enough force and indepen
dence and sense of right in our nation to
undo the mischief accomplished and
contemplated , and to bring the offenders
to judgment. At the bar of history ,
they are already condemned , and that
verdict will remain ; but we must see to
it that the next chapter of our record
shall be in accordance with the prin
ciples which we have so long professed ,
and , alas ! so of ten disregarded ; we must
jive voice and action to our indignation
at the insulting deceptions of which
most of us have been unconscious vic
tims , and as to any and all attempts to
steal our neighbors' liberty and goods ,
v/e must go "back again. "
ELIZABETH E. EVANS.
Munich , Bavaria , July , 1901.
THE DEMAND FOR YOUNG MEN.
The present is essentially in America ,
at least the day of the young man.
He is in demand. If he be mentally
well equipped and have character and
common sense to back his knowledge ,
he will find that there are opportunities
open to him , often on the very threshold
of his business career , such as the young
man of an earlier day would dream of
as the goal only of long years of wait
ing and working , says the Scientific
American. During a recent visit to
that hive of industry which swarms
around Pittsburg , and in the valleys of
the Monongahela and Allegheny , wo
were impressed with the fact that in
most of the great manufacturing estab
lishments the highest positions of re
sponsibility were filled by men who
were yet several years on this side of the
prime of life. That such young heads
should so often be directing vast indus
trial concerns is due in part to the
amazing rapidity with which new in
dustries have sprung up during the past
decade , and in part to the fact that the
keen competition of the age calls for
the adaptiveness and energy which are
the natural qualities of youth. Time
was when there was an overplus , es
pecially in the technical trades and pro
fessions , of the supply of qualified
young men , but todaycouditious are en
tirely reversed. Clear proof of this
was shown at the recent annual com-