Funding for the digitization of this title was provided by R.J. Taylor, Jr. Foundation.
About The Columbia sentinel. (Harlem, Ga.) 1882-1924 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 12, 1919)
* the crest of a volcano! We have been driven crazy about the Belgians, and the Armenians, and the Servians, and every’ other foreign nation that wanted our money, our food, our bounties of every sort; and our own peo¬ ple have been lost sight of, their cries for bread un¬ heeded. Five Lands of Profiteer robber's have driven their millions of victims to the very verge of des¬ peration, because of the excessive prices demanded for- the necessaries of life. We are tired to death of being bled for Europe: tired to death of the extortions of food monopolists: tired to death of the tyrannical usurpations of this Federal Administration. The labor-leader spoke the truth: there is dan¬ ger of a revolution, if the rights and the interests of the common people are not restored and respect¬ ed. The President, while hobnobbing with Euro¬ pean King', with the Pope, and with the military autocrat,' mule a new government for you. and a new Cols: tuition for this new government; and he demands ihai I he .Senate ratify it; and. strangest of all. (in* Senate coolly assumes that, if it can agree vi 1 ' the PivS lent, tbi v together can make a new ( > rv government for 110,000 , i ing those. people at alb Lave Ibis i ■ <t. t. hi.) s. .ve it to them? i.i; ■: '.ed .Mr. \\ 1 to to make a new o.ii .d a ne-w Constitution for you? ie sst;>r trap your soldier-boys fought and < a»?! s i;ew Constitution and this lit <o and told lent ! the icsn people mand this w ( munition ami tins new government. ••Ten did the American people make the de mat i ! ; be American people declared against going nit'- the War, when they re-elected Woodrow Wil¬ son. ; Iny declared asrainst Wilson’s One Man de> p.' ttsm, when they elected a Republican Congress, last November. A Democratic district in Kentucky elected a Pc' 1 ' an to Congress, a few weeks ago, because I i denounced Pit si dent Wilson and his League of Nations. Wherever this new government and new Con¬ st -tution are understood, all true democrats will reject them. Only by propaganda, misrepresentations, sub¬ terfuges, deception and downright bribery, can this monstrous League of Nations be fastened upon us. Senator Sherman made the point, that a maj¬ ority of the 8ii nations composing it. were Roman Catholic', since he spoke, the League has been join¬ ed by Spain, the, most Popish nation on earth —the ,-fanatical nation which murdered millions of Protestants in Europe; murdered Protesiants in Florida, in Mexico', in Cuba, in Central America, and it South America. Therefore, the point which Senator Sherman mm' is immensely stVengthoned. Spain will vote as the Pope wants it to vote; and the League, pon trolled by it tb man Catholic majority, will be the .Pope's League. All just government rests on the consent of the governed: the League asks no consent of the governed: and leaves no power whatever to the peoples of the world. Patriotism is nationalism, the love of one land: the League is based upon internation¬ al ism, the love of every hind. They tell us that hereafter we must he un¬ selfish, broadminded Internationals, loving one country as well as another. Georgians! You must not henceforth love your old rad hills, your cloud-topped mountains, and your ocean-kissed seashore, better than any other portion of God's great Creation! No! \ on must be Internationals, and bestow the same affection upon Japan that you do on Georgia, South Carolinians! You must not hereafter venerate with especial reverence, the glorious memories of John Laurens—the beloved disciple ol George Washington—or of Marion and of Sum¬ ter. of Moultrie and of Lacey—Edward Lacey who galloped sixty miles to show the right road to the Southern Mountaineers, on their way to win the decisive battle,of King's Mountain No! Slate pride is too narrow, too selfish: too devoid of idealism and vision. Hereafter you must pool vour pride in South Carolina with your pride in Spain—the land of the Inquisition, of the burning stake, of the inuv denotes dungeon; the land where. even now, no church e.xrept the Catholic church can be built in f-tieli style of architecture that it will he recognized a.i a church. G the Methodists build a church in Spain, they must so construct it that it will appear to be a barn, or a ware-homo, or a depot, or a hotel, or a private residence. — II the baptists build a church in Spain they ions! take .similar pains not to run up a steeple, or adopt any other feature of temple architecture. Hut you are told that you must go into a League with Spain, and love Spain as yourselves, ami be ready to send vour soldier-boys to fight and die for the intolerant Catholics of Spain, wheu ever tlu Council of (he League gives, the orders. 1 he League of Nations is (be chain with which inleniatieiial hankers the Money Power of (fie "World -seek to enslave the producers of all lands. In (hi-. League, the British Empire will have THE COLUMBIA SENTINEL, HARLEM, GA. seven votes to our one—why? In this I.league, Liberia has an equal vote with the 48 States of our-Union. Why should such a sham-state as Liberia, have any membership or vote in a League of real nations ? In the League, the little Arab state of Hed jaz would have an equal vote with the United States. Why should this two-year-old mushroom of the Mohammedan desert have any place or vote in a confederacy of genuine governments? The League is to be ruled by nine men, and no¬ body has yet explained how they are to be selected. The League pools the military and financial resources of all its members, to defend the terri¬ torial possessions of each member, no matter how dishonestly and criminally those possessions may have been obtained. By what constitutional authority can our peo¬ ple be taxed to defend the Asiatic and African con¬ quests of Great Britain, France, and Japan? By what rule of law or reason, can our gov¬ ernment conscript our young men, and send them across the seven seas, to fight and die in the interests of the conquerors of Korea, Egypt, India, Africa, Asia Minor, and China? The men who are striving to push you into this foreign abyss, are not democrats. No matter how often they say they are demo¬ crat'. they remain autocrats. No matter Ik w often a skunk may be called a house-cut, it remains a different kind of cat. The men who are now crying up Intemation aW-m, ami decry ng Americanism, are the very rows who cried up Patrio t, when the war ■"ii-pci’s were denouncing the pacifists; Patriot non. "! when k ' !1 Llbel your V boy Bollds was ' snatched vtre !° be from s<1,d » you Patriot and - sent acr< ss the seas. ! he sc same men, now tell you that Patriotism . . is narrow, stilish. Jacking in altruism, devoid of vision! What is Patriotism, if it is not the love of ne's own country, for which the ancient patriots said it is sweet to die? One of the greatest poets of our race has ex ; cessed it, in the soul-lifting words— “Lives there a man with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said. This is, my own, roy native land?” The house where you were born—do you ever feel the same toward an}’ other house? The home that is yours, he it ever so humble, is there any other place like ! The native land of your fathers and your grandfathers, is there any other land so dear? These soldiers, when they were in France—as they would tell you—have seen the tears come to the eyes of the Scotchman when they listenedTc the song,“Annie Laurie;” of the Englishman, when the bands played, “The girl I left behind me;” of I lie Irishman, when they heard “Kathleen Mavour neen.” And do you doubt that these Southern b. felt their blood 1 i along their veins, when the band played “Dixie?” Oh yes, the ocean may roll be’ween the sol¬ dier and his native land, but wherever lie pitches his tent, or stretches himself on the bare "round, his mind, his heart, are at home—there’s his empty chair is waiting for him: theres where those lie loves best are praying for him; and there’s where his sweetheart looks with terror along the casualty list, in the paper, for fear his name is there. Blot out Americanism? Blot out Patriotism? Substitute internationalism? No! By the Almighty God who planted it in us, it can't be done 7 Away with a League, which seeks to kill the holiest sentiment of citizenship! No Mormon ever loved his forty wives as dear¬ ly as you love your one wife. No Solomon ever loved his twelve hundred women, as devotedly as the Caucasian loves his one woman. Aml no American can love 33 foreign nations, as he loves America. Woodrow Wilson’s parents, grand-parents and his ancestors, all the way back, were English: he himself is English—a Tory at that. IBs forefathers opposed ours, in the Revolu¬ tionary War; and he feels no patriotic sentiment for the independence which our forefathers won from hi: t. He has no American blood in his veins, no American pride in our history, no American love of democratic principles. II is books show that he scorns our system of government, lias no sympathy with the common people, no faith in their capacity for self-govern¬ ment. The Battle of Waterloo means more to him. than the Buttles of Saratoga and Yorktdwn. Uie victories of Nelson and Rodney mean more to him, than those of John Pauf Jones, Stephen Decatur, arid Commodore Perry. He can't help it: lie’s English. Tn the League, your Supremo Law will he in forior to another law made by four men, sitting be¬ hind closed doors in Paris. In the League, your Independent Government will become subject to a foreign Council COITI posed of nine men, eight of whom will be nominated and dominated by the influence of foreign bankers, manufacturers, aristocrats, uuto- crate, and Papists. In the League, the Great Charter is engulfed, the Sovereignty of the People disappears, and a Universal Monarchy is at last established. The Council of the League will absorb within itself judicial power, legislative power, and ex¬ ecutive power. It will be a Supreme Court of the world, a Supreme Legislature of the world, a Supreme Executive of the world. It will evolve its own army, its own treasury, its own system of finance, its own civil service. It will have in its hands both the purse and the sword; and nowhere on earth will there be a power to veto its measures, or resist its usurpations. It will be another Venetian Council of Ten, meeting in secret, and despotically ruling, not one small state, but every state. It pretends to assimilate the yellow race, the brc«vn race, the black race and the white race. It pretends to harmonize democracy with im¬ perialism, the Kings with the republics. It pretends to reconcile the Buddhist with the Confueianist, the Mohammedan with the Christian, the Roman Catholic with the Protestant.! Its pretends to make a seamless garment out of 33 variegated pieces. It pretends to expect international melody out of 33 dicordant national notes. If its real purpose is, to put an end to just such disorder as the American Colonists created, and the French created, and the South Americans created, when they broke the yoke of tyrannical Kings, then the League will be a success. X f the real purpose is, to create an Interna tional Guarantee and Collection Agency for the ^at bankers aril bondholders of indebted nations. .j ie „ the League will be a success If the real purpose is. to permanently fasten the Jcke of U ie conquerors upon Egypt, Asia Minor, Africa, India. Oceanica, and the greater part G f China, then the League will be a success, The President of the United States had no authority to make a new government for this country—but. so far as his signature and official conduct could commit you to it. he has done so. Sworn to defend, protect, and preserve your Supreme Law, he has usurped the authority to make a new law, which your Supreme Law niftsi obey, which your government must obey, arid which the people must obey. He, vour agent, sells you into foreign bondage. lie, the representative of your government, signs away your government into subordination to foreign governments. And the Senate has virtually declared, that this betrayal of your liberties, this astounding usurpation of power, shall be consummated, with¬ out reference to what you think or feel, provided certain reservations are made. Every one of those reservations relates to some foreign country, some matter of foreign policy, or some privileged interest of the American monopol- 1 ' H,s - Not one of those reservations seeks to safe aril the sovereignty of the people, the personal liberties of the p -To, or the time-honored right of the people to remain in their native land, unless banished for commission of crime. Not one of those reservations seeks* gu a ran tees for the preservation of civil and religious liberty. That- being the ease, undeniably, the talk about reservations is baby prattle. A on might as well talk about reserving the life of a man whose jugular vein has been cut. When Washington, Madison, Randolph, Rut¬ ledge and the other Fathers made the Constitution under which we now live, their authority was giv on by the States. Their work was submitted to the States for approval; and it was not until the requisite num¬ ber of States had approved it, in their Conven¬ tions, that, the government provided by it was or¬ ganized. From time to time, since President "Washing¬ ton set up the government, under the Constitution, the people have frequently exercised their sover eign power to alter the Supreme Organic Law, by amending it. But from what sources do the President and the Senators draw their authority to modify the Constitution, or to change the independent status of the Federal Governmentf '1 he sovereign people have this power; hue when did the President and the Senators get it, AND FROM WHOM? President M ilson and the Senators are noth¬ ing more than any other ninety-seven citizens, ex¬ cept as they hold office under the Constitution, and exercise the authority which it confers uro.v them. Ask any man of average intelligence.' whether the President and the Senate could legally amend the Constitution, and lie will answer, “No!” Act the same man may not doubt the Presi¬ dent's power to male another government FOR ori:s, provided the Senate becomes a party to the act. And this man who knows that the. President and Senate cannot change the Constitution, may honestly believe that those ninety-seven meti may lawfully use their power, under the Constitution, to make another Constitution which will override the one they are sworn to uphold'. Common sense tells you that our President and Senate, who are officers by reason of the Con¬ stitution, cannot derive from this Constitution a legal right to make a higher law than this Const i- tution; or to form another government which is to be put above the government whose servants they; are. The Constithtion of the United States is~the source of Presidential and Senatorial authority; and it should be clear to every mind, that tills Presidential and Senatorial authority cannot rise higher than its source. It is admitted that the President has made, and has asked the Senate to approve, a League Covenant that is to be. higher than out Constitu¬ tion, which they hold ofice: consequently, it must be apparent to all unprejudiced people, that the President has exceeded his authority, and the Senators who are supporting him arc exceeding theirs, Excepting the sovereign people, no power on earth can legally change our Constitution; or make another one to override it; or to throw this inde¬ pendent Republic into an international confedera¬ tion, wherein it must necessarily lose its indepen¬ dence of action. The Sovereign People can do that: but no public servant, or servants, of those people can do it. The President admits that we will lose our independence in the League. Therefore he himself admits that he went to France and surrendered the very thing that our soldier boys fought and died to maintain. The martyrs of the Revolutionary War died in vain; the 50,000 martyrs of the Great War of 1014 died in vain. One man has betrayed every¬ thing that those martyrs won! « The President says he will appeal to tire coun¬ try, against the Senators who are battling to save ur constitutional liberties and our national inde¬ pendence. An appeal to the country is just what the country wants. The country wants just such an appeal to it us Washington and Madison made in 1787, when they asked authority to amend the Articles of the v Id Confederation. The country wants such an appeal to it as was made when the present Constitution was referred to the States, for discussion and ratification. The country wants an appeal to it. similar to tlfose' made when each of the Amendments were adopted hv the votes of the people. Give the people a chance to vote on this League! The question can't be settled by speeches'. MUST GO TO THE TOLLS ! The President says he will appeal to the coun¬ try, by making 50 speeches. Dadbura his 50 speches! The whole world is sick and tired of his ever¬ lasting speeches. What the*¥>eople want, is a fair chance to make some speeches, themselves. They’ve been bulldozed and gagged so long, that they have an accumulated surplus of speeciies to dispose of. Plague on this eternal flow of Presidential rhetoric! We want to vote ! AYhy is President 'Wilson afraid to refer this change of government to the people whose vital interests are involved? Let him divide the questions, because they are two different propositions. Let him separate the League from the Treaty! The two have no business together. It was an artifice, and a very dishonest one, to so entangle the Peace-Treaty with the League, that they can hardly he separated, except by the men who entangled them. Let the Treaty stand on its merits in the Sen-:, ate; and let the League go before the people, ai, a separate proposition: WlTAT OBJECTION CAN be urged? They may say, a popular vote on the League would ‘delay the Treaty; but one answer to that is, that our Government went swiftly into the War, on a Congressional Resolution; and if it wants to, it can quickly come out, in the same way. Besides, American Independence which cost a war of seven years, ought not to be surrendered as hurriedly as though it were never worth the Revolutionary struggle. ! It is high time to let the voters of this Repute lie were allowed to take a hand in their govern¬ mental affairs. A\ e havo never had an Administration whose methods were so full of secrecy, duplicity, favor¬ itism for tlie lords of Special Privilege. No other Administration ever showed such :! fixed purpose to shut out (he people from knowl¬ edge of what was going on behind the scenes; and to shut them off from any real influence over the policies of the government. The people are now told that they shall havo no chance to vote on the League, no right to self determination, and no opportunity to effectively antagonize the men who propse to transfer our In-* dependence to a Supreme Council, seated in l Europe. . * Already Wilson has hound us to keep an armyj on the Rhine for fifteen years. Already, he has sent America to the Dafljtibe. Already he has sent an army into Silesia and another in Siberia. Already, President Wilson is spreading that American army over Europe and into Asia. In the name of the Creator that made us, WHEN AND WHERE IS THIS WlLSONTAN MADNESS TO STOP? * And the Republican Party which hud the
