EDITOR'S TABLE. 



123 



work cut out for us at home. TTe 

 had the breadth of a continent un- 

 der our feet, rich in the products 

 of every latitude ; we had unlimited 

 room for expansion and develop- 

 ment; we had unlimited confidence 

 in the destinies that awaited us as 

 a nation, if only we applied our- 

 selves earnestly to the improvement 

 of the heritage which, in the order 

 of Providence, had become ours. 

 We thanked Heaven that we were 

 not as other nations, which, insuf- 

 ficiently provided with home bless- 

 ings, were tempted to put forth 

 their hands and — steal, or something 

 like it, in heathen lands. 



Well, we have changed all that : 

 we give our sympathy to the nations 

 of the Old World in their forays on 

 the heathen, and are vigorously 

 tackling " the white man's burden " 

 according to the revised version. 

 It is unfortunate and quite unpleas- 

 ant that this should involve shoot- 

 ing down people who are only ask- 

 ing what our ancestors asked and 

 obtained — the right of self-govern- 

 ment in the land they occupy. 

 Still, we must do it if we want to 

 keep up with the procession we have 

 joined. Smoking tobacco is not 

 pleasant to the youth of fifteen or 

 sixteen who has determined to line 

 up with his elders in that manly 

 accomplishment. He has many a 

 sick stomach, many a flutter of the 

 heart, before he breaks himself into 

 it; but, of course, he perseveres — 

 has he not taken up the white boy's 

 burden ? So we. • Who, outside of 

 that rowdy element to which we 

 have referred, has not been, whether 

 he has confessed it or not, sick at 

 heart at the thought of the innocent 

 blood we have shed and of the blood 

 of our kindred that we have shed in 

 order to shed that blood? Still, 

 spite of all misgivings and qualms, 

 we hold our course, Kipling leading 

 on, and the colonel of the Rough 

 Eiders assuring us that it is all 

 right. 



Revised versions are not always 

 the best versions; and for our own 

 part we prefer to think that the true 

 " white man's burden " is that which 

 lies at his own door, and not that 

 which he has to compass land and 

 sea to come in sight of. We have 

 in this land the burden of a not 

 inconsiderable tramp and hoodlum 

 population. This is a burden of 

 which we can never very long lose 

 sight; it is more or less before us 

 every day. It is a burden in a ma- 

 terial sense, and it is a burden in 

 what we may call a spiritual sense. 

 It impairs the satisfaction we de- 

 rive from our own citizenship, and 

 it lies like a weight on the social 

 conscience. It is the opprobrium 

 alike of our educational system and 

 of our administration of the law. 

 How far would the national treasure 

 and individual energy which we have 

 expended in failing to subdue the 

 Filipino " rebels " have gone — if 

 wisely applied — in subduing the 

 rebel elements in our own popula- 

 tion, and rescuing from degrada- 

 tion those whom our public schools 

 have failed to civilize? Shall the 

 reply be that we can not interfere 

 with individual liberty? It would 

 be a strange reply to come from 

 people who send soldiers ten thou- 

 sand miles away for the express pur- 

 pose of interfering with liberty as 

 the American nation has always 

 hitherto understood that term; but, 

 in point of fact, there is no ques- 

 tion of interfering with any liberty 

 that ought to be respected. It is 

 a question of the protection of pub- 

 lic morals, of public decency, and 

 of the rights of property. It is a 

 question of the rescue of human 

 beings — our fellow-citizens — from 

 ignorance, vice, and wretchedness. 

 It is a question of making us as a 

 nation right with ourselves, and 

 making citizenship under our flag 

 something to be prized by every one 

 entitled to claim it. 



It is not in the cities only that 



