Larry, I agree with your assessment. There are only two more positive statements that I'm aware of, both of which were influenced by his opposition to imperialism. The first is in "The Dervish and the Offensive Stranger" where he contrasts the views of a "White Chief" and an "Indian Chief" on "civilization" -- specifically, the damming of a river which feeds one and starves the other. The other statement is in a Baltimore News account of his May 9, 1907, response to the mention of estates granted to settlers in Maryland: "It makes my blood boil," said the humorist, "to think of the titled robbers of Europe who could give a man a piece of paper granting him vast estates not yet stolen from their real owners, but just about to be stolen. Think of Calvert in Maryland, Penn in Pennsylvania, and the rest--free-booters of the worst type--coming into a country, with no right but the right of superior force, and daring to claim possession of whole States!" He continues with a discussion of German and British activities in southern Africa and the U.S. purchase of the Philippines from Spain. This is online at: The Stupendous Joke of the Century http://www.boondocksnet.com/ai/twain/mtws_stupendous_joke.html Is anyone aware of other statements like that criticizing European settlement of North America or acknowledging Indians as the "real owners"? Jim Zwick