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A Question Of Consistency

A Question Of Consistency image
Parent Issue
Day
8
Month
February
Year
1893
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Ed. Courier : In your issue of Feb. lst, I noticed an art iele faroring the aimexatïdn of tlhe ECawaiian Islantte In prevjoue issues I have noticed thai you lid not seem to tovor the an iMxation of Canada. For one, I can not see the consistency of your pos i -ion. AVliy the annexation o Hawadl and not nlso favor the an nexjatlon of Canada ? Very truiy your, CONSISTENCY. We will do our best townrd enllght Wtottg our friend in regard to wliat licsronis lo cunsiilcr our inconsistoncy In the first place the United States does not need Oanada. In tUie setond place it does need the Sandwich Inlands. Canada is a large country. It extcnd.s over graat arcas, consideratie of wlhíeh are valueless frozen lands It has a population of some 5,000,000 people. Of tfhese loss than one-haH are Protestants. It hae a debt of nearly half a billion wfelch is still increasing with astoniislhiaiig rapidity. In wüiat way woulfl the annexation be of any particular benefit to the United States ? It mjigtot help the growth of Borne of the ci'ties on the border, perhaps. Alniioet every per.on wdio lias hat any experience in Ufe can cali to mine eome man, a merchant, who commencedin a small way, and kept on accumulating and prospering until he finally became tihe posessor of an excellent business. In this T-ay he went on umtil one day he took it into his tuead to .pread out and become a ,iíi'''it nuTrliant. Xot content with cloiiiiï well he must do better, so he öpened first one branch store in a iicinhboring toivn, then another, until finally lie fotmd more upon his hands than he could successfully manage. His business became unwleldy; he had been too ambitious ; he found he could not carry forward all of hls enterprlses euccessfully ; so one day be went down with a great crash. You have known of such cases have you not ? The same may be true of nations. This country commeuced in a rather modest way, and has kept adding to its territory until to-day it is a very large nation. It seems as though it is plenty large enough. All the verted interests of the east and of the west, of 'the north and of the south, oí trie piaros anü oí the mountains, are combllned that can be combined with s&fety. Even mw, smootli ae we are sailing, the timbers of the oíd ship of state sornetlmes creak with the heavy strain upon them. AYhy should we take unto ourselves more ? Have we not enough ? ís tfaere not great damger of the country's overdoing itself as did the merchant ? If thjis grand ship of state of ours gets overloaded tthere will be no ballast to caet overboard. Thflt's why we do not look with favor upon the annexation of Canada. Then, too, míiny of the wise politiclans upon the democratie side of the houee favor annexation because they believe it would bc the ineans of ereatkug live or six more democratie stiates, makintg ten or twelve more Uniited States senators to help perpetúate tlhie mie of the Bolid south Why ehould thla paper, as a true exponent of republican principies, tulvocaïe any eu-ch erazy thJng as that? Wilh ihe. Hinvaüiin Islands ,the ving is very different. Tliey do not cover any very great extent of territory, liave not a very large populatkm, and tiine-tenths of all the property and biwiness interests are now owned by c.itizens of the United States. Anotiher, and the most important reason is tilvis : Tliese islands are. on tiie higlnvay to Asia and Australia, about miiUvay di.stant. Tlie .future of th commerce betwoen this continent and thiose countriea will be enormious. We are as yet Incapable of coTiceiving its miaignitnde. That commeroe will ibelonig to t'iii.s nation. On tliis liiiiliw.iy of the Taeific ocean this country ounüit to own a coaling stati(on and a barbar of refuge. Here tlhey are, offered to us for the taking. Is it good common sense to efuse ?, '1'licse islands do not aspire to etatdhood. All they nsk is a territorial form of g-overnment and the protection of tiie Ktars and stripes. If there is any reason why the UnitmI States should not annex tliem, it '.as not yet been made known. 'Iliey sliould belong to this country as i protection to its vast growng commerce witli Asia, Australia uid the Pacific and South Sea Lslands. Tlie Courier also lMlieves that Cuba, Hayti, and Jamaica ought to be owned, entire, bj' the United States, with no Spanisih, British or French harbors or coaling stations thereon. It seems as thouigh -n-e are perectly consfefejit 5n this matter. At any rate our only idea is the good ■f the w"hole country. Convinee us hat the annexation of Canada is for he ffood of the country and we'll Iutav up our ]i,ats for it. Does head work- The guillotine.

Article

Subjects
Old News
Ann Arbor Courier