TENDENCIES TO IMPERIALISM

Pacific Press Publishing Company · OAKLAND, CAL., KANSAS CITY, NEW YORK · Nov 28, 1900

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 26, No. 48.

TENDENCIES TO IMPERIALISM

We are many times told that this nation, in the very nature of the case, will never persecute; that it is a republic, a democratic form of government, and where this spirit of equality holds possession of the people, there can be no effectual, long-continued persecution. And this would be true if such a spirit was dominant in this nation. There might be spasmodic bursts of religious prejudice, but this would be but transient. The better sense of men who believe in equal rights would say at once that every man has even right to believe as he will, and that no other man or men have the right to intervene between his conscience and his God. Each one is responsible to Him and Him alone. It would be impossible to have general or severe persecution in a country where the spirit of equality was dominant.

But is the spirit of equality now dominant? The name may linger in sweet memory when the thing named is dead or flown. This has been the case with the spirit of democracy. The great political parties—Republicans, Democrats—are numerically as strong as ever. How can imperialism, absolutely necessary to religious despotism and persecution, get a foothold?

First, let us say that we do not believe that any one political party is responsible for what is now progressing so rapidly. We do not believe that all are wholly responsible. The causes, the teachings, lie back of these. Political parties are but the crystallization of widespread sentiment, the dominant party reflecting the sentiments of the majority of the citizens of a country. Moreover, we are not noting in prophecy the prediction of party apostasy, but national apostasy.

Imperial Education.

What are the causes which have educated toward imperialism?

1. The Multiplication of Secret Societies.—The whole form and spirit of these organizations are anti-republican. The grandiloquent, imperial titles, the arbitrary rules, the oftentimes severe and brutal penalties threatened the transgressor, the class distinctions fostered as between the initiated and uninitiated, and by the various degrees, the ornate paraphernalia, the imposing processions, all tend to strongly educate those connected with these societies away from republican simplicity, away from the equality and brotherhood of all mankind.

2. The fiestas and fete days and carnivals held in growing frequency in many of our cities. Each has its king or queen, its court, its "ladies" or "lords" in waiting, its retinue of liveried servants. A hundred years ago such things could have found no place, but now Democratic daughters strive with Republican rivals for a week of royalty. "And the people love to have it so." In this connection may be mentioned the enormous amount of fiction of like character which is devoured daily.

3. Arbitrary Rule in Church Matters.—Jesus said, "One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren." And to the highest officers in the church an apostle says, "Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock." 1 Peter 5:3. The Declaration of Independence, dear at one time to the hearts of a great majority, said, "All men are created equal." The doctrine of episcopacy—with its classes, degrees, and orders among the professed ministers of Christ—has educated men away from the true humility of the Gospel. We have elders over deacons, bishops over elders, archbishops over bishops, and so on to cardinals and popes. "Bishop" in the New Testament is synonymous with "elder," an aged one, a man of experience in the things of God, qualified by the Spirit of God and the recognition of the brethren for his work as overlooker of the flock. But now we have bishops, overseers, in the worst sense, "lord bishops," "Reverends," "Right Reverends," "Very Right Reverends," etc., etc. And the arbitrary dictation, not in the church alone, but to politicians and legislators as well, has been a tremendous influence in introducing and fostering a spirit of imperialism. The voice of the priest and bishop is frequently more formidable in matters secular than that of the judge; and feeble, fawning souls truckle to simulated greatness.

4. Boss Rule in Politics.—We have a "Republican" party and a "Democrat" party, but it is not the majority in most instances which rule; it is the "boss." National elections turn on some important State. That State turns on some important city. That city election is dependent on the will of the "boss." It goes as he says. "Free American citizens" (they call themselves) are as obedient to his beck and call as were ever henchmen of old to their royal sponsor. Many times (generally so) these "bosses" are men of ill reputation. Their dishonesty is known; and yet their counsel and aid are sought by men of otherwise national reputation, and the destiny of a nation is committed to their rule. Here is what one of them, Col. Dan Burns, the political boss of California, says:—

"When the delegates selected by the one-man power go to the convention, do they express their own wills?—Why, no; they await orders from the boss, and do his bidding. Take the municipal convention of two years ago, which I controlled. I never heard a candidate going among the delegates and soliciting their support. They knew better. They came to me, or sent their friends to me, to obtain my consent to their nomination. They knew they could do nothing unless the master hand was on their side. That hand was the hand of the boss.

"These methods are un-Republican; they are un-Democratic; they are un-American. If the people do not wipe them out, they will see this great government wane as I have seen it wane. Our institutions will disappear from the earth, and another form of government will be established. Trifles that at the outset seem matters of but little moment, often determine the fate of nations. Throughout the country political power is being centralized. In all trusts, pools, or combinations of whatever nature, the power finally rests in the hands of one man. He is the boss."

And "bossism" is but another name for imperialism, educating those who are in active political life away from the republic to the empire.

5. Increasing Power of Centralized Wealth.—This is generally spoken of as the "trust." It is a combination to control cost, output, and prices. These combinations have increased during the last five years, notably during the last two, despite all laws to the contrary; so that now nearly every commodity of life is affected by it, and people warm, wash, dry, clothe, house, light, transport, and feed themselves by the permission of the trusts. The World's Almanac of 1900 gives a list of two hundred corporate trusts and sixty-five unincorporated trusts, having an aggregate capitalization of the enormous sum of over four billion five hundred eighteen million dollars for the two hundred corporate trusts, and one billion one hundred fifty-four million for the sixty-five unincorporated combinations. And we are told that over three hundred more such combinations are said to exist. And the trust is imperial, and the monopolist an imperialist. Some of the great trust magnates wield more power in Church and State than many a monarch on his throne. And all these un-American combinations, which count dollars as worth more than souls, and things as worth more than men, are justified by Americans! Colonel Burns, before quoted, himself a wealthy mine owner, thus speaks in the article from which the above excerpt is taken:—

"The United States will become another Europe, with all the class distinctions of the older countries. Before that time comes, tho, blood will again have drenched the land. The horrors of war will again devastate the country. Even now the murmurs of a dissatisfied people may be heard from sea to sea. Soon these murmurs will increase to a roar of protest against existing conditions. Then the money barons will say: 'We can no longer bear the roarings of these rascals. We will suppress them.' The result may be foreseen. Money usually wins in a war or in any bitter contest, because it can last longer. Money will be king, and the people serfs."

But wealth fosters imperialism, even tho not controlled by corporation. Men truckle to wealth. Great fortunes make men imperialists, in spite of themselves; for there will always be found those who will fawn and crouch and bow to the man who wears the toga of wealth, whatever his birth or breeding. Men have in the last quarter century piled up fortunes ("heaped treasure together," is the prophetic term) such as the world almost never knew before. And this, the most democratic land, has outstripped all her rivals, and founded a plutocracy. Wealth has brought her people into association with the nobility, the caste of the Old World, and the daughters of the republic have married the titled of empires. It has all had its effect upon the spirit of America, and aristocracy, with its coats of arms, a select "Four Hundred" liveried servants, and demagogic truckling to name and position, instead of respect of character, follows.

6. Labor Unions.—It would seem that American laborers would hold aloof from all that savors of imperialism in the control of their own persons and time. But to countervail the advantages and power of wealth, labor unions have been formed which are as truly arbitrary and imperialistic in their rule as is the power of combined wealth. We do not say for a moment that the workmen have not grievances, for they have; but we do not believe that the way they have chosen is the best way to correct them. It takes from true manhood for a man to commit his own independence, his relations to a loved and honored and brotherly employer, the welfare and perhaps the very lives of his wife and children, to a man, or set of men, who, knowing little or nothing of these relations, may imperil them all in a moment, simply because a man on the other side of the continent could not agree with his employer. In this fearful struggle between wealth and wages, between poor and rich, Inspiration exhorts the oppressed to patiently endure Christ's time of adjustment. See James 5:1-8. It is not the merits of the case that we are here discussing; we are simply noting that labor unionism is fostering imperialism and despotism.

7. Growing Militarism.—Military government and discipline are more arbitrary, despotic, and imperial than any government on earth. This is so in the very nature of the case. The army must act as a unit, and the rule of the unit is the command of the chief officer. A few years ago this nation knew little of military rule save by the burdensome effects of the great Civil War. The regular army of the United States in 1898 numbered only 25,000 men. Now it numbers 100,000, and efforts are put forth to increase it to a greater number. In fact, conscription is freely talked of in influential circles. The military spirit has taken possession of this nation. Formerly it was defense of the country or a principle for which men fought; now it is military glory. It is a part of the course which imperialism is teaching the strong young republic. In fact, it is one of the finishing studies which invests the promising pupil with the cap, gown, and parchment of imperator.

Behind all the above tendencies is the overweening unchained selfishness of the natural heart of man to be first, to rule, to be served rather than to serve; to get rather than to give. But one thing can remedy this evil,—the Gospel of Christ. But one thing can hold it in check,—the Spirit of God. But one thing will truly bring in that Spirit,—the preaching and living of the Word by the church of Christ. But when she who above all should be the light of the world, the exemplification of Him who was incarnate self-denial, seeking only others' good, imbibes the spirit of the world and seeks its aid, there is but little check left upon the ambitions of men, and the drift of imperialism includes in its tremendous tidal wave the fate of both church and nation.

Not in Politics.

We are not talking of politics. We are arraigning no party. We are noting the fulfillment of prophecy and the steps which lead to it. We are marking not party apostasy, but national apostasy. The "sure Word" has told us that this nation would make an image to Rome. Rome was imperial as well as papal, and the papal idea of union of Church and State would be worthless unless behind this union was the imperialistic idea and the disposition to crystallize and enforce it. Well has Satan laid his plans for the destruction of the republic and equal liberty. And the imperialism which is now advancing in great waves is the imperialism not of party but of nation, a fulfilment of the "more sure word of prophecy," the prelude to the destruction of all earthly governments, and a certain precursor of the coming of the King of kings and Lord of lords.

O glorious day, soon to dawn, the day of the coming of our Lord, when our "King shall reign in righteousness, and princes rule in judgment;" when everywhere, as only a few know it now, the "Man Christ Jesus" "shall be as an hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." "He shall judge Thy people with righteousness, and Thy poor with judgment." "In His days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth." He will have been chosen King by all His subjects, who are bound to Him only by the great law of love. "And this is His name whereby He shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS." "Thy people also shall be all righteous; they shall inherit the land forever."

May every reader of this so know Christ's rule in his own heart that he shall rejoice when that glorious reign shall exist from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth—a glorious, eternal government, with the fullest, freest, gladdest consent of the governed.