THE SPIRIT OF IMPERIALISM.
By T.
IMPERIALISM is one of the subjects that is talked of as much, if not more to-day, than any other of the matters that are up for public discussion. We have had a great deal to say about it from time to time in the SIGNS OF THE TIMES. When “imperialism” is spoken of, many persons at once think that the administration in Washington is what is in mind, and that the President and his advisers are being talked against. But there is something to this subject of “imperialism” that is much more far-reaching than any president, or administration, or any other one thing, or party, or class, or set of men, that could be mentioned. The whole spirit of the times is toward concentration. It is combines and concentrations of wealth on the one hand, until everything is being fastened in the strong grasp of relentless greed. And against this, labor has combined, and is still combining, until a large part of the people have combined to fight for what they regard as their rightful dues. All of these combines and contractions of power and wealth are the exact opposites of the principles7that were laid as the corner-stones in the republican institutions of this country. Hence it is the great tendency of the times that is dragging everything into imperialism, and not alone the administration that is in power while it is going on. These facts and distinctions have been pointed out again and again in these pages, and we wish to have the issue well defined, and keep it well defined. It is not so much what a few men are doing at the present time as the principles that are taking hold of the great mass, that make the times perilous. We should see these things, and seeing them should recognize the fact that the world has reached another zenith in its history, and that, amid all the splendors of the splendid century that has just closed, it is again turning toward another “Dark Age.” Any one who has studied the past thru its history, and who will be so alive in the present as to get the full force of the meaning of the events of to-day, should be able to see these things clearly. There is another great truth also that he should see, and that is that the prophetic Word makes it clear beyond a peradventure that the world will not swing very far upon this backward track until Christ will come in person to put an end to it, and to establish His reign of righteousness. From the standpoint of the world, as we look at the dangers that threaten these times, everything is dark, and gloomy. But the Lord has given us a bright picture to look at instead of this. He wants us to see that His Word is fulfilling most rapidly, and that the coming of His Son is even at the doors. He commands us to know these things, and gives us the evidence by which we may know them of a surety. Have you examined the evidence? Do you know that the coming of the Lord is at hand? T.