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THE ATLANTJAN
21
THE WAY IT IS SAID.
The Sultan awoke with a stifled
scream,
His nerves were shocked by a fearful
dream.
An omen of terrible import and doubt,
His teeth all in one moment fell out.
His wise men assembled at break of
day,
And stood at the throne in solemn ar
ray;
And when the terrible dream was
told,
Each felt a shudder, his blood ran
cold.
And all stood silent, in fear and dread,
And wondering what was next to be
said.
At length a soothsayer, wrinkled and
gray,
Cried: "Pardon, my lord, what I have
to say;
’Tis an omen of sorrow sent from on
high.
Thou shalt see all thy kindred die.”
Wroth was the Sultan, he gnashed his
teeth;
And his very words seemed to hiss
and seethe
As he ordered the wise man bound
with chains,
And gave him a hundred stripes for
his pains.
The wise men shook as the Sultan’s
eye
Swept ’round to see who next would
try;
But one of them, stepping before the
throne,
Exclaimed in the loud and joyous
tone:
“Exult, 0 head of a happy estate!
Rejoice, O heir of a glorious fate!
For this is the favor thou shalt win,
O, Sultan, to outlive all thy kin!”
Pleased was the Sultan, and called a
slave
And a hundred crowns to the wise
man gave.
But the courtiers nod, with grave, sly
winks,
And each one whispers what each
one thinks.
"Well can the Sultan reward and
blame;
Didn’t both the wise men foretell the
same?”
Quoth the crafty old Vizier, shaking
his head,
“So much may depend on the way a
thing is said.”
THE PROTEST OF A DEPEN
DENT.
Patrick Henry charged that our pe
titions had been hurled with contempt
from the foot of the throne, and he ar
gued from this premise that rebellion
was justified. A representative of the
ten million people inhabiting a thou
sand islands on the other side the
earth presents claims and petitions on
the floors of our representative halls
that have been endorsed by our presi
dent, and they receive neither notice
nor regard, while our house of repre
sentatives embodies a scheme of taxa
tion into law. That law will tax the
Filipino as well as the American—it
will enhance the cost of living to the
Malay and the Igorrote, who were not
represented when the rate was pre
scribed and the burden imposed. That
the complaint and petition may be
founded on justice we accept on the
authority of President Taft, who
should know whereof he speaks, since
he was governor of the Philippines
before he was president of the United
States.
Thus the whirligig of time brings
back its revenges. It was tyranny
when Great Britain taxed us without
representation, and the ancestors of
Mr. Taft were heard in New England
on the subject we doubt not. Now
Mr. Taft must enforce the same law
on others, but we would be amazed if
a Patrick Henry in Manila denounced
him as a tyrant and declared us op
pressors and robbers. But if we be
guilty, it is necessary that a Filipino
Patrick Henry arise to acuse us? Is
the nation that claims to have fought
a great war to free a black man to
insist on the oppression of a brother j
tinged with yellow? If we are to J
claim credit for emancipation, might
it not be well that we took some
pains to preserve a reputation bought
at a price so dear that the genera
tion which incurred the penalty could
not pay the damages?
That little speech from a little Fili
pino in a hall where a Republican ma
jority sat enthroned as the guardian
of our national morality as well as
our law, will not escape notice when
the history of our day is written. It
has been said that a whole nation was
moved to discharge a debt of con
science in 1861, and did not hesitate
at the price exacted—have we deteri
orated when in 1909 we refuse to dis
regard the opportunity to collect a few
thousand dollars from a people poor
and ignorant and helpless? If there
was a great awakening of the public
conscience for the days of Roosevelt,are
we to understand that the elevation
still leaves us so far below the stan
dard set in the day of Lincoln? Then
we did not hesitate when required to
spend billions and to sacrifice thou
sands of lives; today the justice of
that day would only demand the loss
of a few hundreds of revenue that we
could recover by the practice of un
noticed economies in the growing of
roses in the White House grounds.
Times change and men change with
them, but language flows on forever.
It is proposed that we guarantee the
political integrity of the Philippines
if somebody will help us, confessing
that we find no profit in governing the
the islands. We are assured by the
Filipinos that we are doing them no
good, but rather retarding their busi
ness and intellectual progress. Once
we defended the acquisition of the is
lands by claiming a motive to do good
—that claim is now dropped. Next we
proposed to hold the islands and the
people, because they would make us
rich in the years to come—we are im
poverishing ourselves in peace, and
would be unable to defend them in
Caster (Greetings
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case of war. No other claim is ad
vanced to justify continued posses
sion, but we hurl back the petitions
of those dependents with contempt
from the halls of congress. "No man
is good enough to own another” or to
govern him without his consent.
The Hartford Times (Dem.) says:
“Champ Clark’s opinion about the
new tariff being distasteful might
well raise the question as to when
the tariff has been palatable to many,
or all, or even the majority. The
tariffs of 1816 and 1824 were nettles.
The Whig tariff of 1842 was full of
exasperations. The Walker tariff of
1846 did please many, and after eleven
years was materially reduced, but it
disconcerted the revenues in ways
that embarrassed. The tariff of 1883
was an abortion and pleased no one
in either party. The McKinley act of
1890 raised duties beyond any point
hitherto known—to an average of 50
per cent—and the Mills bill’s average
of duties was also about 42 per cent.
The Wilson and Wilson-Gorman
measures awoke all sorts of dissen
sion and changed fond dreams to
nightmares. The Dingley tariff ought
to please all who believe in a high
ly protective measure, but it is plain
that it fails to do so. As for the Payne
bill, it is well to look at it sharp,
as when it passes it may be unrecog
nizable.”
R. H. BELL, Shoe Repairing
46 Walton Street
Both Phones 5044
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