Introductory
We do not generally speak of American imperialism. Such words are incompatible. Imperialism in the United States, the land of the free and the home of the brave, seems ironical. The degenerate, dying one, however, gave birth to the vital, growing other. Imperialism is the torch that fired the souls that flared and flamed forth in conquering righteous anger and tore in twain the bond which held the British Lion's restless brood intact and set one loose to roam apart a land in which to breed and suckle a stock after its kind. It was thus the United States had its beginning. Can it be the echo of that severed bond still faintly heard shall prematurely die? drown in the clamor of our near Imperialistic programme in the republics of Haiti and Santo Domingo? Be that as it may, the sovereignty of Haiti and Santo Domingo has been impaired, and their independence overthrown by the United States of America. This is a fact against which no one holds a brief.
Whether we accept the interpretation of our country's actions in the island republics by Earnest H. Gruening, Managing Editor of The Nation, or that of Carl Kelsey,[1] Professor of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania,[2] whether we conclude with, what may be termed conveniently "public opinion," or with the Investigation Committee of the Senate,[3] is finally a matter of individual judicature. To accept or reject, establish or refute, either interpretation or conclusion would require a thorough study of the character and motives of the men, and the nature, extent, and the conditions under which the facts were collected. Such a survey would lead us far afield in this dissertation.
Knowing as we do the importance of the Monroe Doctrine, we believe the basis of the present Haitian-Dominican relation with the United States to be found in our practical interpretation of that unwritten law. There is another factor which, if possible, is paramount to the Monroe Doctrine, our economic interests. The strength of a nation is its wealth. In our economic interests upon which rests our political government, and in the Monroe Doctrine—time honored, versatile chaperon and guardian of them both at international fetes—are to be found the official justification and true motives of the foreign policy of the United States in Haiti and Santo Domingo.