diff options
Diffstat (limited to '34768.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 34768.txt | 1663 |
1 files changed, 1663 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/34768.txt b/34768.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..19b9751 --- /dev/null +++ b/34768.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1663 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Outlook: Uncle Sam's Place and +Prospects in International Politics, by Newton Macmillan + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Outlook: Uncle Sam's Place and Prospects in International Politics + +Author: Newton Macmillan + +Release Date: December 28, 2010 [EBook #34768] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OUTLOOK *** + + + + +Produced by Bryan Ness, Ernest Schaal, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + + + The Outlook: + + Uncle Sam's Place and + Prospects in International + Politics + + [Illustration] + + Newton Macmillan. + + + + + THE OUTLOOK: + + UNCLE SAM'S PLACE AND PROSPECTS IN + INTERNATIONAL POLITICS. + + A Paper + + READ BEFORE THE FORTNIGHTLY CLUB, OSWEGO, N. Y., + MAY 2, 1899, + + BY + + NEWTON MACMILLAN. + + + ORDERED PUBLISHED BY THE FORTNIGHTLY CLUB. + + 1899. + + + + + PRESS OF R. J. OLIPHANT, + OSWEGO, N. Y. + + + + + THE OUTLOOK: + + UNCLE SAM'S PLACE AND PROSPECTS IN INTERNATIONAL POLITICS. + + +IT is exactly a year and a day since Oswego, responding to the +President's call, sent away her modest quota of citizen-soldiery to the +war with Spain. A novel and inspiring scene, whose meaning, perhaps, we +did not wholly take in at the time: the flag of the Republic borne away +from the precincts of the city at the head of a body of men of peaceful +pursuits, destined, as we supposed, to invade the soil of an alien foe. + +The event proved otherwise. Our neighbors were not to pass the +boundaries of their native land, but with equal gallantry they were to +perform the part of those who "also serve," although they "only stand +and wait." Their part was not to scale the awful hill at San Juan, to +give their bodies to the noisome vermin of the Cuban chaparral, or to +lie down in death upon the fever-stricken rice-fields of Luzon. +Nevertheless they partook in the glory of those victories won by their +more fortunate comrades, to the honor and credit of the entire army of +the United States. Theirs also is an equal part in the renown which all +the world now accords to that new and formidable factor in warfare--the +American Volunteer. + +Truly a May day long to be remembered. Even as we followed the flag to +the confines of the town news came from a distant land where that same +beloved standard had been carried to victory and undying glory. In the +far-away harbor of Manila a gallant officer had awaked that morning +unknown to fame, but before he slept he had written the name of George +Dewey upon the imperishable scroll with that of Drake, and Nelson, and +Perry, and Farragut; destroyed the power and prestige of Spain in the +East--a fabric four centuries in building, but toppled over in as many +hours; annexed a new and splendid territory to our domain, and--most +important of all--launched the Republic upon a new and greater career. + +A wonderful day indeed, and the first of many that were to make the +twelvemonth just concluded one of the most, if not the most important in +our history. He is a dull citizen of the Republic, indeed, who does not +see in this swift succession of events a significance wide and deep. An +ancient regime has been swept from our hemisphere and relegated to the +rubbish heap of nations. Our flag flies not only in the Antilles but in +mid-Pacific, by token that that illimitable ocean is now to us an inland +lake. Our army and navy, posted at China's doorway to uphold our place +in the perennial struggle for mastery in the East, is a notification to +the great powers that henceforth they have to reckon with another as +formidable--perhaps, also, as rapacious--as themselves. "You must +understand," said Mr. Speaker Reed the other day to a distinguished +British visitor, "that we have burst our swaddling-clothes." And in that +jocular epigram lies a meaning almost beyond words to express. + +If we ourselves fail to take in the full significance of these recent +events--and it would appear that some of us do--our neighbors in Europe +and Asia are not so dull. Five and twenty years ago Von Moltke turned +away from our civil war as unworthy the study of a soldier. It was, he +said contemptuously, "a conflict of armed mobs." + +But mark the instructive power of our recent victories. A surviving +countryman and colleague of Von Moltke, discussing the progress of our +arms in Manila, the courage, intelligence and perfect discipline of our +"raw militia," uttered recently this truly significant warning: "Here is +a new power with which we all must reckon--a new giant, as yet ignorant +of his strength. He can, if need be, muster ten millions of men, who in +three months will be veteran soldiers, the equals if not the superiors +of the best troops in Europe. It is a menace to the world's peace." + +And, "It would be absurd," writes an English military officer who looked +on as a critic and student of war at the charge up San Juan hill, "to +compare with those men the finest soldiers in Germany, France, Russia or +England. Their equals do not exist." + +Are we indeed a "menace to the world's peace," or only to those who +would disturb that peace? The Europeans speak from their own point of +view as jealous rivals, set to watch each other and match force with +force, controlment with controlment. It is a saying of diplomacy that in +the division of labor between the powers of Europe, Russia is to watch +Northern Asia, England to guard India, and Germany to preserve the +balance of power on the continent of Europe. + +Are we to have part or lot in this complex assignment of duties? That is +but one of many questions that rise before us as we contemplate the +events of the past year. No other year in our history, perhaps, has been +so rich in performance, so crowded with great and significant events. +What of the year to come? What of the years that stretch out before us +as we approach the threshold of the new century? Are we entered in the +international handicap for the grand prize of empire and world-wide +ascendancy? Or have we but made a dash out of our safe retreat, only to +return to our historic isolation as a second-class power--one of the +little, not of the great of earth? + +Behind a wall of our own building we have in recent years waxed fat and +rich, not to say sordid and corrupt. As we have been, shall we so +continue? + +It is a trite saying that no war leaves a nation where it finds it. A +little more than a year ago our Uncle Samuel shouldered his musket and +set forth to rid his southern doorway of a certain yellow, yelping cur +which for years had been a nuisance if not a menace to his peace. The +dog is dead and its carcass kicked out of sight. But is that all? We +learn--some of us with surprise or even consternation--that certain +responsibilities attach to the use of firearms on the high seas and in +the international preserves. Can we dodge those responsibilities? Ought +we to do so if we can? Will it even pay? + +We have discovered--once more with something like surprise--that war, +even if undertaken in the "sacred cause of humanity," is something more +than mere burning of powder. Whatever our original purpose, we have new +territory on our hands. We cannot kick Spain out of Cuba, even in the +cause of philanthropy, and leave the island to Cuban savagery, for that +is no better than the savagery of Spain. + +Similarly in the Philippines. If Admiral Dewey, after sinking Montojo's +fleet a year and a day ago, had sailed away, as some Americans seem to +think he ought to have done, he would have merited court-martial for +himself and the world's scorn, contempt and execration for his country. +He had no license to burn American powder and pour out American blood to +further the ambitions of Aguinaldo, or win colonies in the far East for +Germany. Dewey's real victory was won, not on that spectacular first of +May, but in the weary, dreary months following, when, with infinite +patience, unsleeping watchfulness and the tact of true genius, he kept +the peace in the waters that rolled above the sunken Spanish fleet; +whispered words of friendly warning in the ear of the amiable German, +Von Diederichs, and--greatest of all--captured Manila without bloodshed. +Let us never cease to thank the God of Battles that in the Admiral of +our Asiatic fleet we have had a man as well as a fighter--a modest, +earnest, fearless man, who could not only conquer an enemy but, greater +still, conquer himself, control his natural resentments and bring his +passions in subjection to his conscience. What might have befallen us +before now without such a guardian of our interests on the scene, it is +neither pleasant nor profitable to speculate. + +But the conflict is not yet over--perhaps it has not yet even fairly +begun. Assuming, as I suppose we may, that Aguinaldo is ready to treat +for peace, there still remain the allies of that patriot--in Asia and +Europe, even here in America. The Philippine chieftain has fought hard +and with splendid prodigality of patriot blood--not, however, his own. +But three months' experience with the "white devils" who fight without +resting, and especially with "devils" like Funston and his wild +westerners, who "eat bullets" and swim turgid rivers under fire--three +months of such experience has caused the Filipinos to revise the +estimate of white man's warfare formed upon their acquaintance with +Spain. + +Still remain, however, the watchful Europeans in the East, who, despite +the diplomatic protestations of their respective governments, would be +only too ready to take advantage of our first misstep or sign of +weakness. + +Remain also those peculiar patriots here at home who have found interest +or duty in affording aid and comfort at long range to their country's +foes. Of these American Filipinos there are several breeds. First, there +is the political breed, who, under the leadership of a distinguished +westerner, are gallantly fighting the administration with a view to the +possibilities of 1900. Of these patriots it is to be observed that their +political instincts have already taught them much. Not for the first +time, they realize that they have misjudged the public temper. +Treachery, in whatever guise, has never been lovely to the American eye, +and I think we may assume that the Bryan Filipinos will presently +discover that they are on the wrong tack. They will not figure largely +in the events of the future. + +A more troublesome, insistent factor is the Atkinson breed of Filipinos. +This will do as a generic name for a species of patriots that has never +been entirely wanting at any stage of our national progress. They were +called Tories when they first appeared, to oppose the patriot revolt +from Great Britain. During the War of the Rebellion they earned the name +of Copperheads, from the similarity of their tactics to those of the +snake in the grass which strikes without warning. These tactics the +Atkinsons are renewing now, without apparent hope of reward or success, +but merely from that perversity of nature, that inborn contrariness +whose existence is to be explained only on the theory that "it takes all +kinds of people to make a world." + +Of these gentry and their kind, I have only to say that they may thank +their lucky stars that they live and practice their treacherous devices +in a country where the jealousy for free speech and a free press +sometimes permits liberty to fall into license. The wanton Copperhead +may for the present shelter himself behind the good nature of the +people. I say for the present, for I do not believe that such +treasonable conduct as inciting troops under arms to resist lawful +authority can forever go unpunished; but in the end it will be treated +as it deserves.[1] + + [1] This was written before Mr. Atkinson's treasonable pamphlets + had been stopped in the mails by the Post Office Department. + +I do not deny to any American citizen the right to entertain his own +opinion as to the wisdom of any public policy, including that of the +administration toward the Philippines. Nor do I deny that there may be +Americans of undoubted patriotism who conscientiously oppose that +policy. But there are times and occasions for all things; and there are +occasions when open criticism of the Government amounts to treason. So +there are times when it is the duty of every patriot to support the +Government, without regard to private difference of opinion. As for the +present, it is one of those occasions when the patriot should say, with +Winthrop: "Our country, however bounded or described--still our +country--to be cherished in all our hearts; to be defended by all our +hands!" + +There is an hour for debate and there is time for argument, wherein the +Government may easily be shown to be in the wrong. But in the hour of +battle, so long as any armed foe of the flag is above the sod, the +patriot can only exclaim: "My country--may she never be in the wrong; +but right or wrong, my country!" + + * * * * * + +While we may safely leave to the Government the subjugation of its +enemies at home or abroad, there can be no harm in discussing here some +of the arguments that have been advanced in all honesty against the +policy now generally known as "imperialism," or "territorial expansion." +The anti-expansionists honestly opposed the annexation of Hawaii; but +Hawaii is already annexed, and as truly a part of the national domain as +Massachusetts or New York. In like manner Porto Rico is ours, for +better, for worse, till death or dissolution shall us part. As for Cuba, +we hold it in trust for the Cubans, against the time when those +enigmatical patriots shall prove their ability and worthiness to rule +themselves or their country. When is that time to come? We ourselves are +to be the judges. I am not a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I +hold it to be vastly significant that the majority of intelligent Cuban +_civilians_ seem to look forward, not with pleasure but with dread to +that much-talked-of millennium, "Cuba for the Cubans." + +The tendency of the times, in government as in commerce, is clearly +centripetal, not centrifugal. There is not an island in the West Indies +whose condition would not be improved by annexation to this Republic; +and, after all, self-interest is the main-spring of all national +policies. I would rather predict that Canada and British America, Mexico +and the Central American states are destined for ultimate (and peaceful) +admission to this Union, than that we are to take a single backward step +along the lines so clearly laid down by the war with Spain. + +But the Philippines present to the eye another and a broader question. +Here is an archipelago removed from our center of population by one-half +the circumference of the globe; peopled by a race--or, rather, +races--wholly alien to any hitherto admitted to our citizenship, +and--most important of all--plunged into the very vortex of that +boiling cauldron known as the Eastern question. + +What is to be our policy toward those remote islands?--to retain them or +to let them go? + +The objections that have thus far been raised to our retention of the +Philippines come chiefly under these heads: 1, Constitutional; 2, Our +"historic policy;" 3, Utility or self-interest. + + * * * * * + +And first as to the constitutional questions involved. For so young a +nation the United States has already passed through numerous crises, +chiefly arising over the acquisition of new territory, and it is +noteworthy that in each of these the policy of the Government has been +opposed by a conscientious minority on the plea of alleged +unconstitutionality. Once more we are warned, in the present crisis, +that the acquisition and proposed retention of the Philippines are +without warrant in the constitution of the United States. + +Far be it from me to breathe disrespect for a document so respectable, +but there can be no treason in pointing out the perfectly obvious fact +that no constitution, and especially no written constitution, can be +stronger than the men who made it; it cannot be--it is not--so strong as +the men for whom it is made, because in them is vested the power to +amend or even to annul it. + +The fathers of the Republic were wise in their generation; rarely, if +ever, has a country been so blessed in the character of its founders as +ours. But they were human, and hence fallible; mere men, and therefore +not endowed with the gift of prophecy. They themselves would have been +the first to disclaim such an attribute. They drafted a constitution +admirably suited for the needs of thirteen colonies stretched along the +Atlantic coast, recently liberated by the bravery of their own citizens +from the tyranny of a stupid and stiff-necked English monarch and +ministry. And then, proud, serene and happy in the consciousness of duty +well done, they were gathered to the bosom of their fathers. + +The fathers and founders died, but the Republic lived on. Year by year +it grew and waxed greater. No student of our history need be told that +every instance of expansion of our territory presented unsolved problems +beyond the apparent scope of the parchment constitution; or that as each +of these occasions arose, arose also a party to declare that the +constitution _could not_ be stretched to meet the demand. Yet the growth +continued and the constitution survived. + +I do not presume to read the constitution of the United States for this +or any other audience--that is a work beyond my powers, and, I +apprehend, beyond those of many who consider themselves of the +"constitutional party." But there may be instruction in recalling a few +of the instances in our history in which the constitutionally impossible +has been nevertheless accomplished, and that, too, without harm to the +Republic. + +Thomas Jefferson, being a democrat and "strict constructionist," +demanded an amendment to the constitution to confirm the Louisiana +purchase; but not, it will be remembered, until after the purchase had +been made, constitution or no constitution. + +Andrew Jackson, another democrat, has never been rebuked by posterity +for marching into Florida, arresting and hanging Ambuster and his fellow +spies on what was then Spanish territory; yet in so doing President +Jackson thrust his hob-nailed Tennessee boots clean through the sacred +parchment. It has been well said that success is an unwritten law seldom +reversed by the courts. Certainly neither the courts nor Jackson's +fellow strict-constructionists have ever rebuked him for the +"unconstitutional act." + +Passing over the Mexican war and the acquisition of Texas, California +and New Mexico, a series of acts very damaging to the dignity of the +constitution, let us come at one step to the most conspicuous breach of +the constitution in all our history--the War of the Rebellion. + +There is not a line in the constitution expressly permitting the +secession of a state, though so eminent an authority as the late Judge +Thomas M. Cooley, himself a Northerner and a Union man of undoubted +loyalty, plainly intimates in his "Constitutional Limitations" that at +least historical precedent was on the side of secession. But neither is +there authority in the constitution for the invasion of a state by the +federal army, unless at the request of the state authorities; yet the +Southern states seceded, and President Lincoln marched the Northern +armies whithersoever secession and rebellion showed their heads. Still +more recently, President Cleveland sent federal troops into Illinois to +quell riotous strikers, against the protest of the Governor; yet +posterity sustains both presidents in their acts--perhaps even thanks +them for the precedent--whatever the cost to the constitution. + +As for the repression of the rebellion, posterity, including many of the +seceding "strict constructionists," now concede that equity, common +sense and the instinct of self-preservation amply justified any possible +breach of the constitution committed for the preservation of the Union. +A federation of states holding together only at the will of all its +component parts would hardly have been worth saving; so that if the +constitution was on the side of the seceders, why--so much the worse for +the constitution. + +It was during the War of the Rebellion, too, that a legislature of +Virginia met in Alexandria and passed a law cutting the state in two, to +erect the new state of West Virginia. Now, article 4, section 3, of the +United States constitution expressly declares that "no state shall be +formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other state, nor any +state be formed by the junction of two or more states or parts of +states, without the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned +and of the Congress." Yet the state of West Virginia is a historical, +political and geographical fact, notwithstanding that the precedent thus +established is a dangerous one, and the division wrought great +injustice to the Old Dominion in throwing upon her shoulders the entire +debt of the original state. Here was not only a violation of the +constitution, but a "historical crime;" yet both constitution and the +crime remain to vex the souls of the strict constructionists and to +remind us all how weak a thing is any constitution when it blocks the +way of a popular demand. + +There is no need to multiply instances, though there are many +others--notably during the period of "reconstructing" the conquered +states after the war. The constitution offers no more substantial +obstacle to the acquisition of territory in the Philippines than it did +in the other cases cited, provided only that public expediency and the +demand of the people are on the other side. + + * * * * * + +Scarcely less importance is attributed by the anti-expansionists to our +alleged "historical _policy of isolation_," which, we are told, would be +violated by thrusting our hands as a nation into the larger affairs of +international politics. For some reason the idea seems to prevail that +George Washington and other statesmen of his period designed the +Republic for a remote, parochial career, hedged about by a Chinese wall, +excluding all foreign influence from our affairs and retaining our own +energies within our own boundaries. "America for the Americans," is the +shibboleth of this school of political philosophers, and they really +seem to believe that the Republic will in some way be happier and richer +if we keep aloof entirely and forever from the rest of the world. + +As a matter of fact, the only nation on earth that has ever maintained +such a policy to its logical end and conclusion is China, and China is +now awaiting participation in a grand international banquet, whereat, +like Polonius, she is not to eat but to be eaten. + +As for the United States, if any nation ever came into existence and has +lived under the fierce light of international politics, it has been this +Republic of ours. To be sure, our trade policy of recent years has been +framed on the Chinese model--"America for the Americans"--and in +consequence we are now brought face to face with a retaliatory policy on +the part of the powers of continental Europe which may easily shut us +out of the world's market at the hour of our greatest need. But of that, +more later on. + +In point of fact, we have been a "world power" from the very moment of +our birth as a nation, or even before it. Our Declaration of +Independence, that beautiful synthesis of paradoxes, became from the +moment of its publication a powerful factor in the world's progress. +"Among all peoples," says Professor Tyler, "it has everywhere been +associated with the assertion of the natural rights of man. To every +struggling nation it has been a model and an inspiration." And Buckle, +the English historian, declares that its effect in hastening the French +Revolution "was most remarkable." No state paper of modern times has +exercised so wide an authority. + +Geographically, we are a nation lying athwart a continent, from ocean to +ocean, and in the immediate highway of the world's traffic from west to +east and from east to west. Between 1821 and 1898 no less than eighteen +millions of Europeans landed upon our shores to become a part of our +citizenship and complete its truly cosmopolitan character. + +As for the policy of our Government, it has been that of a world power +from the start. Almost our first important act as a government was to +cast in our lot with France, for the express purpose of disturbing the +balance of power in Europe. And that purpose was realized. In December, +1776, Congress sent out a fleet of privateers which became a scourge to +our enemies on the high seas. As early as 1777, we had commissioners, +who soon became ministers, at Paris, taking active and important part in +a conference of the powers. Five years later, Franklin, John Adams and +Jay sat in the congress at Paris, "almost as arbiters," a contemporary +record says, so powerful was their voice in the conference. + +Washington's much-talked-of proclamation of neutrality, says Professor +Bushnell Hart, was never intended to keep the United States from contact +or entanglement with European powers, but only so wisely to shape our +course (at that time) that we should be free to fight or keep the peace +as our interest should dictate. + +It was the United States which first ventured to send a fleet to the +Mediterranean to suppress the Barbary pirates--an act from which all the +civilized world benefited. Indeed, it is within the limits of truth to +say that the period of our liveliest intercourse with foreign powers was +the identical period of "the fathers" who are so often and so falsely +quoted as urging the policy of isolation that would sooner or later +reduce us to the condition of the Chinese Empire. + +Our interests in the far East began as early as 1785, when the ship +_Empress of New York_ came home from her first Chinese voyage to enrich +her owners with the traffic in furs and ginseng. It is a fact too soon +forgotten that our title to Oregon was founded upon the early +establishment on that remote coast of a trading-post for our Chinese +trade. + +As long ago as 1851, the native rulers of Hawaii begged--nay, even +insisted--that our government annex those islands, whose people had +already been familiar with our flag for years. Annexation did not take +place until nearly half a century later, but the episode suffices to +prove that even at that early day we were a world power in all that the +term implies. + +Three years later--in 1854--Oliver Hazard Perry, Commodore of the United +States navy, battered down the gates of Nagasaki, and by the method +which England so successfully employed toward China, established "treaty +relations" between the Yankees of the East and of the West. + +This brings us, after a view necessarily imperfect and cursory, very +nearly to the War of the Rebellion. That struggle, and the absorbing +internal questions which led up to it, kept us very busy at home, though +both the North and the South, appreciating the importance of foreign +sympathy and moral support, kept their emissaries constantly at the +various courts of Europe. The international episodes of the war may be +said in one sense to afford the most interesting chapters in its +history. Certainly they should suffice to convince us that, even in the +heat of that internal struggle, our affairs formed a part of the +business of the outside world; so complete is the interdependence of +nations. Nor need it be recalled that the war was scarcely at an end +before Mr. Seward had occasion to warn Napoleon III. out of Mexico, and +thus topple over a scheme of aggression involving at least two of the +great powers of Europe. + + * * * * * + +It has been necessary to pass over with greater haste than I could have +wished these arguments of the anti-expansionists, because there are +other phases of the question which, to my mind at least, are of vastly +greater importance; for I do not deny that there are obstacles in the +path of territorial expansion. + +Assuming the present war of subjugation to be brought to a successful +issue; that the Filipinos acknowledge both the hopelessness of their +cause and the justice of ours, as in the end they must, our difficulties +are not yet finished. We have still to consider the remoteness of the +archipelago, the savagery of many of the native tribes, the tropical +climate, and the dregs of four centuries of Spanish misrule. + +The average temperature in the Philippines, according to the imperfect +statistics collated by the Spanish at Manila, is much too high for the +comfort of any man accustomed to the climate of our so-called temperate +zone. Professor Dean Worcester, of our Philippine Commission, who spent +three and a half years in the islands as a naturalist, says that in all +that time he never experienced a day in which a white man could work +hard for many hours together in comfort, or even in safety. The coolest +months are December and January, but the lowest temperature known at +this period of mid-winter is 71 degrees. During the remainder of the +year the mercury often mounts above 90 degrees, and not infrequently to +100 degrees. The effects of the heat, moreover, are aggravated by the +humidity of the atmosphere, so that it saps the vitality and enfeebles +the stoutest constitution. + +These conditions are arduous, but by no means intolerable. White men +_do_ live in the islands and steadily work without impairing their +health. The absence of sudden changes enables one to dress for the +climate without fear of catching cold. Herein the climate is preferable +to that of some of our larger cities, such as New York or St. Louis, +where intense heat with humidity alternate with sudden chills. + +Malarial fever is one of the curses of the Philippines; but this disease +is found in all countries imperfectly tilled and drained, and there, as +elsewhere, it disappears in the face of cleanliness and intelligent +sanitation. Some cities and districts which at one time were almost +wholly uninhabitable have been freed entirely of malaria by thorough +drainage. The Spanish, with characteristic indolence, have as a rule +endured the ravages of the disease rather than incur the cost and labor +of preventive measures. Weyler--the dreadful, blood-drinking Weyler--who +was for a time Captain-General of the Philippines, at one time lost the +greater part of his army from a fever which might have been averted with +proper care. Cholera is not epidemic in the Philippines; neither is +smallpox, though both diseases have at different times swept through +cities and districts in the train of filth and carelessness. + +As for the natives, Professor Worcester gives them, on the whole, a +fairly good character. The aboriginal tribes, Negritoes, or "little +niggers," are, like our own Indians, nearly extinct. The pagan Malays +are bold, warlike, treacherous, but they are not numerous, being +confined largely to the northern islands, and even the Spaniards were +able, by keeping firearms out of their reach, to prevent them from +becoming seriously dangerous. The Mohammedan Malays are more +formidable. To the fierceness and treachery of their pagan congeners, +their faith has added a savage fanaticism which takes the form of +special hatred for the Christian. They are fatalists, and hence fearless +in battle, and their priests teach them that for every Christian slain +they will be rewarded with a new peri in paradise. + +There are forty thousand Chinese in the islands, including some coolies, +but the greater part are engaged in retail trade, which in some +districts they entirely monopolize. Scarcely any village is without its +Chinese shop. + +The most numerous and important portion of the population is the +half-caste element--Malay-Chinese and Malay-Caucasian, generally +Spanish. The creole Spaniards affect to despise these "half-cousins," +especially the friars, though it is said that the friars are responsible +for the existence of most of them. As a matter of fact, however, the +half-castes constitute the great "middle classes" of the population, and +are far and away the most tractable, intelligent, and in every way +promising for the purposes of a civilized government. Not a few of them +are intelligent and fairly educated. Aguinaldo himself is said to be a +Malay-Chinese. The Spaniards, never violently addicted to labor, allowed +these people to do the greater part of such work as shop-tending, +bookkeeping, etc., so that, in the opinion of Professor Worcester, they +would be available for the minor positions of government, under the +direction of American chiefs. + +Much will depend on how these half-castes are treated. Senor Nicholas +Estevanez, at one time Spanish Minister of War, gives friendly warning +to the Americans, not to copy the mistakes of his own countrymen in +taking for granted the inferiority of the native Filipinos. This was one +stumbling-block to the peacefulness of Spanish rule in the islands, +though not, of course, the only one. In a very interesting article in +the _North American Review_, Senor Estevanez tells of the trials and +injustices endured by these really patient and peaceful people at the +hands of "impure priests and merchants without a conscience." Disraeli +said, "Race is the key to history." But race distinctions can be +overworked, and if our people enter upon the government of the islands +too strongly prepossessed with the idea of their own superiority, they +will simply be making unnecessary trouble for themselves. + +In one respect at least we shall start with a great advantage over the +Spanish. It is not easy to picture American rulers oppressing a subject +race on the score of religion. The Spanish, on the other hand, made +baptism the test of loyalty from the very start. "They wanted," says +Senor Estevanez, "no subjects who would not begin by having water poured +on their heads." The natives, on the other hand, were willing to submit +in all else, but insisted on retaining their religion. "So, for the sake +of a few drops of water, we had three centuries of war." + +Such a people is not devoid of sterling qualities. Troy itself stood out +for only ten years against the Greeks; Mindanao resisted the Spaniards +for three hundred years. If we profit by the example of our predecessors +we may accomplish in a few months what they failed to do in all that +long period. + +The game is well worth the candle. All authentic accounts of the +islands agree that they are rich beyond computation in natural +resources--forest, mine, and soil. The Spaniards have, even in their +slothful, unskilled and clumsy fashion, taken out untold wealth; but +they only scratched the field; most of what remains is practically +virgin soil. True, there is lack of all civilized methods; railroads +must be built and labor is hard to find. But such difficulties have +never yet daunted a virile race, and they will not for long deter the +Americans. + + * * * * * + +The difficulties of which I have spoken thus far are material; there are +others much deeper in their origin and more apt to give pause to this +giant enterprise. I refer now to what might be called the subjective +obstacles to success; the qualities inherent in ourselves and in our +own government which rise up now to impede the pathway to success. + +"Providence protects little children and the United States," is a saying +in the diplomatic world, referring to the good luck, as some call it, or +the special gift for rising to sudden emergencies, as we ourselves +prefer to say, which in many difficult crises has kept us safe from harm +or helped us to success. But now, as Speaker Reed said the other day, +"we have burst our swaddling-clothes." We have, let us hope, put away +childish things and put on the garment of national manhood. As one of +the great powers we must no longer rely upon child-luck. The great task +before us calls for the strength, soberness and consistency of the +adult. + +It will not, for example, be consistent with the character of a world +power to apply to the government of new colonies the same methods, or +lack of method, that has prevailed in the government of our cities and +some of our states. We cannot hope for success if we carry the spoils +system into the difficult administration of foreign lands and people. +Colonial work calls for special fitness in the civil service, for long +and careful training. Shall we turn it over to the politicians, who have +thus far, with some honorable exceptions, monopolized our diplomatic +service. As a rule, our consuls and ministers, and even our ambassadors, +have been patriots with "claims upon the administration"--not based upon +special education and fitness, but for political service rendered. As a +result, many--perhaps even a majority--of our representatives abroad +have distinguished themselves and their country by such antics as were +explained or forgiven only because the men _were_ Americans, and +therefore protected by that "special providence" of which I have spoken. +Is it imagined that we can administer colonies after this method? If so, +a great and painful surprise is in store for us. + +For the present administration it must be said that the President's +choice of men for work in the new colonies inspires the hope of better +things. In the Philippine Commission, for example, every man has +justified his selection by special ability or experience, or both. If +this course be followed to the end the nation is relieved at the start +of a grave anxiety. Let us hope that it is so. + +But with even the best intentions we have difficulties to face that are +not due to any fault of our own, but are rather inherent in our +institutions, in our form of government. Ours is a democracy, with all +the virtues and all the defects of that form of government. It is +obvious that such work as is now to be done in the East calls for a +strong central executive force. Russia has been able to fortify her +position in the East not only because she is rich and powerful, but +because her form of government is an autocracy. Germany is, in name at +least, a constitutional monarchy, but it is because her government owns +and administers the railroads, and a powerful and perfectly organized +militarism permeates the whole fabric, that she has been able to make +such advance as a world power since she became an empire at Versailles. +There is no time here to elaborate these propositions, but they are +obviously true. + +Our government, on the other hand, is designedly weak in the executive +and strong in the legislative department. When we broke away, at the +beginning of our history, from a monarchy and from a monarch who was +impatient of legislative interference, the pendulum swang to the other +side, carrying us to the opposite extreme. We safeguarded ourselves +against the possibility of a central power of overweening strength. And +all our history has been the history of a powerful legislative and a +comparatively weak executive. To us bureaucracy is hateful. We protest +as a people against an office-holding class. Every citizen feels that he +too may become an office-holder--is looking forward, possibly, to that +consummation. This may explain the indulgence with which we regard the +faults of those actually in office. If at the end of its term in office +an administration is able to account in some way for all the money it +has handled, no further questions are asked. As to the quality of the +service rendered for the money, that is a matter not to be dwelt upon +with painful emphasis. + +Such laxity will hardly suffice for the administration of colonies +planted amidst remote peoples of another race, requiring delicate +handling and the tactful management which can come only from special +knowledge and training. Nor is such special knowledge to be gained in +the brief term of one administration's power. Much less can the matter +be left to the national luck or even the national cleverness. "There are +some difficulties," said one of our public men recently, "that do not +yield to mere enthusiasm." We must have a strong administrative arm to +the government, and the question is, how such an adjunct is to be fitted +upon the existing institutions, theories and traditions of our +government. I do not doubt that it _will_ be; simply point out that here +is a matter for profound thought and honest endeavor along new lines. +"There is no form of government," said Dr. Franklin to his colleagues in +the federal convention, "that may not be a blessing if it is well +administered." There is no legitimate task or emergency to which our +government may not prove adequate if wisely and liberally directed. We +cannot throw overboard the wisdom of our fathers, but we are bound to +construe the precepts they laid down in the light of new emergencies as +they arise. The words of Lincoln, uttered in 1860 at Cooper Union, when +the extension or repression of slavery was before the country as an +issue, are equally applicable to the issue which confronts us now: + + "I do not say that we are bound to follow implicitly in + whatever our fathers did. To do that would be to discard the + lights of current experience, to reject all progress, all + improvement. What I do say is that if we would supplant the + opinions and policy of the fathers in any case, we should do + so on evidence so conclusive that even their great + authority, fairly considered and weighed, cannot stand." + +I firmly believe that we shall be able to develop for our new colonies +an administrative branch sufficiently strong for the successful conduct +of their affairs and yet preserve all the essentials of republican +government. + +It may be conceded that the viceregal office, with its regal functions +and authority, is essential to British rule in India. Yet, properly +considered, England is as truly a democracy as the United States. + +Indeed, there is both education and inspiration for us in the study of +the British rule in India. Not by any means that it is perfect--what +human institution is perfect? Man is selfish, thoughtless, cruel. The +opium traffic, both in India and China, and the introduction of the +whiskey "peg" among a "heathen" race, which, with all its faults, +preserved for so many centuries the virtue of temperance--these are +blots--big, dark, indelible blots--on the good name of England. Nor is +it wholly without reason that the complaint is so often made that +legislation for India is too often inspired by the desires of Birmingham +and Manchester, rather than by the needs of Hindustan. + +But there are spots on the sun of a splendid performance. There are +seven thousand miles of "black water" between the British Isles and +Hindustan. The population of the former is thirty-five millions; of the +latter, two hundred and fifty millions--one-fifth of the human race. Yet +this vast peninsular is held in absolute subjection by the people of +those "tight little isles" so far away. In the whole civil and military +establishment of British India there are but one hundred thousand +whites, as against nearly twice that number of natives. How small a +numerical force to rule those teeming millions! And yet, year by year +the British element grows smaller and the native element larger and more +potent in the government of India. "The English," says Mr. G. W. +Steevens in a recent letter to the London _Mail_, "are still the +dominant race, but the real ruler of India is the Babu." + +If the natives were a peaceful, intelligent, or even a homogeneous +race, the story would still read like a fairy tale. Far from it. +Three-fourths of the number are Hindus of many races, sects and schools, +but there are sixty million Mohammedans (more than the total population +of the Sultan's domain), besides Sikhs, Janis, Parsees, etc.,--a score +or more races of more or less turbulent savages, many of them ready at a +moment's notice to cut the throat of any white man, if they only dared. + +The climate, at least during the hot season, is almost death to white +men, and certain death to white children. The English accordingly send +their children "home" to be educated and spend their tender years. This +means not only the anguish of separation but also a heavy expense, +which, in the present depreciated state of the rupee, is hardly borne. + +The native princes, great and small, ignorant for the most part, idle, +bigoted, superstitious, and naturally jealous of white rule, do what +they can to block the wheels of progress and embarrass the government. +Herein they have the eager co-operation of the priests, who are jealous +of foreign influence and often able to inflame the people into open +resistance to the most wholesome orders and regulations. Popular +ignorance and superstition lend themselves readily to such mischievous +designs. A mutiny may be started by a government order to build a sewer +or to vaccinate the inhabitants of a village. It is easy for the priests +to persuade their docile charges that vaccination is witchcraft and an +instrument of the devil. The policy of the government is tender of +native sensibilities, and humors religious and caste distinctions; but +the smallest accident or mistake may precipitate a riot or undo the good +work of years. + +Those who have read Kipling's stories of native Indian life have a +picture more than photographically accurate of "paternal government" +under difficulties. Nor is it inconsistent with perverse human nature +that much of the government's trouble comes from the well-meant but +pernicious interference of globe-trotting M. P.'s and parochial +statesmen who have solved the problem from afar and come out to India +to fan the discontent of pampered natives or aggravate the perplexities +of overworked civil servants, held up to execration as the "overpaid and +aristocratic favorites of a wasteful government." England, as well as +America, has her anti-imperialists. + +Yet, in spite of these and a thousand other difficulties and +discouragements, a great and really good work goes on, making steadily +for the moral and material uplift of the unthankful blacks. Popular +education struggles forward against the bigotry and deep-rooted folly of +ages. Public roads and other improvements lessen the tremendous +distances between field and market, and so lessen the chances of famine. +Rivers are deflected and canals built to irrigate waste places and make +the desert blossom and bear fruit. Folly and extravagance are restrained +in high places; system is established in place of chaos, and the +hereditary pauper is taught the blessings of self-support. In something +like a century much has been done to reform abuses which, like the +pedigree of a rajah, run back through many centuries. True, much still +remains to be done; but take it by and with, good and bad together, I +know of no other chapter in history so creditable to the race as this. + +As I have said, here is a lesson to us, teaching some of the +difficulties we must encounter in the Philippines; but is it not also an +inspiration, showing what may be done by patient persistence and a high +ambition to do our part, in order that we may leave the world better--if +only a little better--than we found it? Such an aim is no less +praiseworthy in a nation than in an individual; is it not especially +worthy of a nation which already, in its short career, has furnished a +model of good government and a plea for human rights the world over? + +But nations, once more like individuals, do not stand alone in the +world, apart from their fellows--independent, isolated, self-sufficient. +Each is part of a group, scheme or family, and all are interdependent +for help, growth, for their very existence. The Philippines, rich and +desirable as they are in themselves and for what they contain, strike +the eye of intelligence with much greater force as a part of that +complex and highly important system generally known as "the East." At +this immediate juncture they are to all the great powers an object of +desire and ambition, by reason of their nearness and close relation to +the great Empire of China. In the hands of Spain this phase of the +islands' importance was nearly or quite eclipsed, for Spain has no part +in the great game of empire which engrosses the virile and progressive +powers. + +The accident of war has done that which international laws and comity +forbade. Much as the European powers desired the Philippines, none of +them dared to lay hand upon the islands, fearing not the resistance of +Spain, but the jealousy of their rivals. The explosion of the Maine thus +became a swift and powerful factor in that game of world politics from +which we had up to now kept aloof. In the language of the philosopher +Dooley, few of our people could have answered, eighteen months ago, +whether the Philippines were "islands or canned goods." They played no +part in the scheme of our national life. Chance has given them into our +hands, and it remains with ourselves to determine whether we are to turn +them to account, not only for themselves, but for what they may be made, +in their relation to other and larger prizes. + +All Europe has listened with mingled incredulity and exasperation to the +protests of our anti-expansionists against the annexation of the +Philippines. To those who are familiar with the situation in the East +and realize the importance of China to the West, it seems incredible +that a sane and civilized people should even dream of throwing away so +rich a prize, now that chance had thrown it into their hands. Is it +hypocrisy or ignorance? Europe can see no other explanation. + +But still the opponents of expansion continue to ask, What have we to +do with China? Why should the United States concern itself to guard the +"open door" in that empire, or to prevent the establishment of "spheres +of influence?"--the latter being the polite phrase of diplomacy for +chopping up China and dividing the pieces among the great powers. + +The plain answer of commerce to these questions is afforded by the +statistics of China's foreign trade. Yonder is a vast domain with a +population estimated at four hundred and thirty millions--about +one-third of the human race--largely dependent for even the simple +necessities upon the outside world. + +England was the first to batter down the ancient gates of the empire, +and she has her reward in that she holds about sixty-four per cent of +China's import trade. England's nearest competitor is the United States, +with eight per cent, the remaining twenty-eight per cent being divided +among the other powers, with Japan at the head of the list. Our own +share does not at first glance appear very large, but it should be +explained that as a great proportion of our commodities are carried to +China in English bottoms and consigned to English houses, it is +classified as English business--a part of the sixty-four per cent. The +actual discrepancy, therefore, is not so great as the apparent. +Moreover, though the beginnings of our trade with China date from the +last century, we have not been an appreciable factor in the market until +about three years ago, since which time our trade has increased at a +rate of speed which has both surprised and alarmed our competitors.[2] + + [2] The following account of our exports to China was prepared + recently by an intelligent and reliable newspaper + correspondent. It is of interest in this connection: + + Exports of merchandise to China in the fiscal year about to + end will be larger than those of any preceding year in our + history. Ten years ago our exports to China were less than + $3,000,000, and to China and Hong Kong combined little more + than $6,000,000. In the fiscal year ending 1899, our exports + to China will be more than $13,000,000, and to Hong Kong + more than $6,000,000, making a total of more than + $20,000,000, or three times that of a decade earlier. That + the bulk of exports to Hong Kong may properly be considered + as ultimately destined for consumption in China, is shown by + the fact that the official reports of the imports into China + show that more than forty-four per cent of these imports are + from the port of Hong Kong. The 1899 exports to China and + Hong Kong combined will show a gain of nearly or quite + twenty-five per cent over those of last year, while the + total exports from the United States for the fiscal year + 1899 will be little if any in excess of those of last year. + This shows a more rapid growth in our exports to this part + of the world than elsewhere. + + The following table, prepared by the Treasury Bureau of + Statistics, shows the value of our exports to China and Hong + Kong during the past decade: + + _Year ending_ + _June 30._ _China._ _Hong Kong._ _Total._ + + 1889 $2,791,128 $3,686,384 $6,477,512 + 1890 2,946,206 4,439,153 7,385,362 + 1891 8,701,008 4,768,697 13,469,705 + 1892 5,663,497 4,894,049 10,557,546 + 1893 3,900,457 4,216,602 8,117,059 + 1894 5,862,429 4,209,847 10,072,273 + 1895 3,693,840 4,253,040 7,856,880 + 1896 6,921,933 4,691,201 11,613,134 + 1897 11,924,433 6,060,039 17,984,472 + 1898 9,992,894 6,265,200 16,258,094 + 1899 (estimated) 13,500,000 6,500,000 20,000,000 + +Significant as these figures are, a full understanding of our trade +conditions in the far East, and the importance of that market to our +prospects, can hardly be gained without a backward glance over the +events of the past three decades. + +Up to the collapse of the French at Sedan, or perhaps until 1873, Great +Britain stood without a rival in trade and manufactures. That year will +long be remembered, in England as in America, as the beginning of the +era of low prices. In England agricultural products were the first to +suffer, on account of the importation of food products from Australia +and the Americas. This movement continued to increase and British farms +proportionately to suffer until, by 1879, that property, the backbone of +English hereditary wealth, ceased entirely to pay. The sending away of +money to buy food, together with the fall in the prices of home +products, so affected the home supply of gold that, in order to preserve +the equilibrium, the English began to realize on their foreign +investments. + +The greatest panic in history followed. Previous to 1876 England had +always been able to maintain her expanding currency and supply the arts +with the gold brought in to pay for her exports. In 1877 the tide +turned, and the whole ensuing decade actually showed a net export of +gold amounting to $11,000,000, besides what went into the melting-pot. +Contraction and the fall of prices continued, and in proportion the sale +of foreign securities. By 1890 England had brought back enough gold to +restore her balance, but at what a cost to the debtor nations! Argentina +and Australia collapsed in turn, the former pulling down the great +Baring concern. In 1893 disaster overtook the United States, and it is +scarcely exaggeration to say that the Republic was shaken to the center. +Then came the demonetization of silver in India and the falling rupee, +followed by distress amounting almost to the dissolution of society. + +Such, in brief, is the history of the movement which has resulted in the +titanic struggle for the few remaining open markets of the world. +Falling prices and reduced profits mean increase of production, which in +turn require new markets. We in the United States had been careful to +secure the home market to ourselves, but in this crisis the home market +proved sadly inadequate. Our manufacturers must needs go forth and +compete with European wages and standards of living for the markets of +the world. + +The story of their success is one of the romances of industry and trade. +In the face of a natural hostility aroused by our own tariffs, and +compelled to pay for a higher standard of living, our manufacturers have +gone into the markets of the world and undersold their European +competitors at every point. Carrying coals to Newcastle were child's +play in comparison with what these modern captains of industry have +accomplished. The story is told in the statistics of our export trade: +In 1898 the balance of trade in our favor was $2,000,000 for every +working day, or more than $600,000,000. For the first time since the War +of the Rebellion, the interest on our securities held in England is not +enough to pay for our exports, and the extinction of our floating debt +abroad is clearly foreshadowed. + +But how long is this to continue? With our experience of tariffs we need +not be reminded that low prices do not command markets. Continental +Europe does not like us. We saw that during the Spanish war, and we have +heard it since in various impatient declarations of hostility, at Berlin +or Vienna, far more significant than official assurances of +distinguished consideration. Indeed, if Germany, or France, or Russia +does not openly break with us, it is because fear or prudence is +stronger than inclination. The moment any one or all of them combined +feels able to slam the door in our face without fear of reprisals, the +door will be slammed. + +Germany and more especially Russia are straining every nerve to +establish in China "spheres of influence," which is the polite phrase of +diplomacy for cutting up the Celestial Empire and dividing the pieces +among the powers. England, on the other hand, favors maintaining the +integrity of China and the "open door" of commerce to all comers. It may +be that England's preference is due to the reasonable fear that at the +"spheres-of-influence" game she may be (if she be not already) beaten by +her continental neighbors; whereas with an "open door" her chances would +be as good, if not better than the others. If so, England is as +disinterested as her neighbors--and no more so. Each and all are after +China. "China for trade!" is the slogan. Even the pretense of missionary +design has been dropped, so desperate is the struggle; for China, with +her four hundred and thirty millions of people, is the sole remaining +market of the world. If Germany and Russia get it, they will shut out +England, and the United States as well. Can they do it? + +In his recent tour across our continent, Lord Charles Beresford openly +advocated the co-operation of the United States and England to secure an +undivided China and the "open door." His argument was simple. England +alone might not, and the United States alone certainly would not, be +able to secure this end. Together they could hardly fail. Not that Lord +Charles advocated open war. On the contrary, he pointed out that not a +cent need be spent nor a gun fired. It only needs that the two great +English-speaking nations should declare their joint policy, saying to +all the rest of the world: "China must not be cut to bits. The empire +which has stood for four thousand years must remain." Then to China +herself: "We have saved you from destruction. In return you must keep +your market open to all the world, letting us build railroads, +telegraphs, canals, what not, throughout your territory. If you don't, +we--England and the United States--will do it for you." + +It is an attractive programme. Lord Charles Beresford may be too +confident--he may even be not entirely candid--when he professes that +there is no possibility of war in the joint policy he advocates. But all +the chances favor his side of the argument. At any rate, I believe it is +worth trying. Such a policy means much for the United States. It means a +share, and an honorable share, in the great game which is to engross the +powers at the outset of the twentieth century. It means a chance, and a +good chance, for a market for our surplus products. That market we _must +have_. How else are we to get it? Suppose we hold aloof and see their +gates and the gates of China shut in our faces by the powers of +Continental Europe, even as we have closed our gates against them and +their products--what are we to do with our surplus? What are we to do if +that surplus be thrown back on our hands? We should have our choice of +(1) going flat and hopelessly bankrupt, as no nation was ever bankrupt +before; or (2) reducing our scale of living to the German, perhaps even +the Russian standard. It would be a hard choice. + +So, in great measure, the Philippines mean for us a foothold in the East +and a strong leverage on China. Would our co-operation be sought at this +time, as it has been, not only by England but by Germany, if George +Dewey had not sailed his ships into the harbor of Manila on the night of +the 30th of April, 1898, dodging the sunken mines and torpedoes, that +he might on the morrow fire "the shot heard round the world?" On that +day and since then the world learned that we are a nation not only of +shopkeepers and money-grabbers, but also of fighters; that in a +prolonged war we stand unconquerable, irresistable. A year and a day ago +we were a nation; to-day we are a power, and have only to assert +ourselves as such. + +Doubtless it was in perfect good faith that Professor Bryce wrote, a few +weeks ago: + + "The United States has already a great and splendid mission + in building up between the oceans a free, happy and + prosperous nation of two hundred millions of people.... + The policy of creating great armaments and of annexing + territories beyond the sea would be an un-American policy + and a complete departure from the maxims--approved by long + experience--of the illustrious founders of the Republic." + +But I fancy the illustrious founders of the Republic would see the +wisdom, were they living to-day, of securing that advantage which the +fortunes of war has thrown into our lap. I doubt if even their wisdom +could have pointed a way whereby we could relinquish the Philippines +without also letting go our prestige, if not also our honor. How can we +abandon them, either to internecine strife and anarchy, or, more +probably, to the cupidity of the powers whose statesmen recognize the +value of the islands, and have no compunctions of conscience as to how +they may be secured? + +But I appeal to the founders of the Republic for another and yet a +stronger argument for holding fast to all our new possessions, whether +in the Pacific or in the Carribean Sea. In the society of the +illustrious dead let us go back for a little space over the years that +have elapsed since the civil war. I am no pessimist; on the contrary, I +see in every man and every thing, however evil--so that the Lord gives +them a place in His own great scheme--an agency for good. But I do not +find it easy to look back with pride or even patience upon the last five +and thirty years of this century. To me they appear the most inglorious +in our history. They have been years of unequalled material growth, but, +I think, they have been years of unequalled moral deterioration also. We +have waxed fat, arrogant and ungodly. We have lost respect for the law. +We have learned to wink at corruption in high places. The tongue of +scandal wags unrebuked at the great, the exalted. Greater fortunes than +were ever known before have been piled up; but if wealth and +extravagance have attained to new forms of luxury, so want has learned a +keener edge of suffering. We have seen labor in armed revolt and anarchy +showing its ugly head. Our federal Senate reeks with disrepute. The +golden calf has been set up in the market place, the forum, even in the +sanctuary. + +This, to be sure, is but one side of the picture; there is another and a +brighter side. The period I speak of has been athrill with intense +activity, for good as well as evil. If vice has been active, so have the +agencies of virtue. Churches, colleges, charitable and reform societies +have sprung up and grown as never before. When the call to arms came +last year it was answered on every hand--by the pampered favorites of +wealth and luxury as well as by the sons of toil. + +Patriotism has not been dead, but sleeping. In time of peril we have +never lacked Deweys, Roosevelts, Funstons, Hobsons, to fulfill the +traditions of the race. Our fault has been the absence of that patient, +unsleeping vigilance which is the price of honest government--not in war +but in the humdrum days of peace. + +Perhaps it was only human that when the rebellion had been crushed and +the Union restored, we should relax somewhat the strain of those four +dreadful years and turn to long-neglected private fortunes. The field +lay fallow; a vast public domain was opened; virgin forests awaited the +axe. In the flush of general gratitude for the preservers of the Union +the floodgates of public expenditure were opened wide, and its +outpouring was not always watched with too keen an eye. Too often the +Republic was generous before it was just. + +Moreover--and this is the point I wish especially to make--we had no +jealous or aggressive neighbors to vex our frontier. The powers of +Europe tore a leaf from the experience of Napoleon III. when Mr. Seward +warned that presumptuous monarch out of Mexico, and left us to enjoy in +peace our new prosperity. The men who had been serving their country at +the front came home to mind their own private concerns. Seeing the +Republic preserved and safe from intrusion, they turned to money-making +with the same ardor that had carried them to victory in war. Intent upon +this new occupation, they left politics to the politicians. The latter +were not slow to see their opportunity. Millions of immigrants, unused +to the franchise, untrained in the duties of citizenship, came in at our +open doors. Tens and hundreds of thousands settled in the cities, where +they became the convenient tool of the "boss." + +Under our system government is by parties, and parties imply the +existence of the "machine," an institution which, like fire, is a good +servant but may become a terrible master. So long as the machine is +operated for the good of the party and the party for the state, the best +results are possible. But when state or city become subservient to party +and party to machine, such corruption is inevitable, as has been brought +to light more than once in our metropolis. And New York is no worse than +Chicago, or Philadelphia, or Boston, or Cincinnati. All our large cities +and some of our states are governed by irresponsible pirates, who +marshal their perfectly organized bands of the ignorant and vicious, in +defiance alike of law and of the plain will of the intelligent and +well-intentioned majority; for these latter, we must assume, are in the +majority. It is only because they have been absorbed in their private +affairs that they have allowed the sacred prerogative of government, the +delicate machinery of the state, to become the special privileges of +unscrupulous men whom they would scarcely trust inside their houses. +This dreadful price we have paid for thirty years of "peaceful +isolation." + +It is the theory of democratic government that the majority rules. +Sixty-five years ago, de Tocqueville after his memorable tour through +our country recorded his "firm belief" that for the Republic to be +virtuous and progressive, we had "_but to will it_." "It depends upon +themselves," he wrote, "whether the principle of equality is to lead +them to knowledge or barbarism, servitude or freedom, prosperity or +wretchedness." The French philosopher spoke truly, and it is true now. +If we have sunk into an ignoble servitude to the baser elements of +society, it is because those of the better sort have "willed it"--not +designedly, but through a no less reprehensible apathy and blindness in +respect of their obligations to the state. + +I may be sadly in error, but I believe the present low tone of our +internal politics to be due to the long and peaceful isolation of the +Republic. So I hold the comparative cleanliness of English politics, and +especially of the government of their cities, such as London, Liverpool, +Leeds, Birmingham, Manchester, Belfast, etc., to be a natural result of +England's activity in the high politics of the world. The continual +danger, in theory at least, of encroachment or invasion upon the +limitless frontier of that vast empire acts as a stimulant to patriotism +and invests even the petty politics of city and parish with an interest +beyond that of spoils. It is said that England is never wholly at peace. +In every continent her standard is raised. Her nerves of sensibility and +self-interest run to the uttermost parts of the earth. They are rooted +in the hearts of her bravest and best, as well as of the lowliest and +most unworthy, and all join in common patriotism reaching from pole to +pole, not only of the material world but of the social fabric. Therein +is England's strength. Kipling's lines are apropos: + + "What should they know of England + Who only England know?" + +We have no need to follow abjectly in the footsteps of England; I would +not have the Republic walk behind any other nation. We must work out our +own salvation. And we can. Latent in the heart of our people is the +spirit and the power for greater things than the world has ever seen. +Our place is in the vanguard of civilization. We have but to take it. I +have tried to show that self-interest in material things pulls us in the +same direction as does that higher, spiritual interest, the aim and +desire to be great of heart as well as body; to be clean, dignified--a +power for good. We have suffered from what may well be called the perils +of too great security. In our engrossing pursuit of wealth we have +neglected higher things. I venture to quote the words of a South +Carolina judge, delivered in a recent lynching case, which seem to me to +touch the heart of the matter. + +"We have made improvements," said he, "in our manufactures; our railway +systems have been improved; we have spent money on our schools. But with +what result? Swiftly moving railways, whirling machinery, crowded +factory towns and schools--all these are infinitely inadequate to the +glory and civilization of the people. _Is our moral fibre growing +weaker?_ The law has lost its sanctity during the past forty years, and +the essential foundation of all civilization is respect for the law.... +We can all do something, but first of all we must recognize and humbly +confess our shortcomings--the sooner the better. We can have no real +civilization until we turn our faces to the light." + +Is this indictment too severe? I believe not. Here in the North we are +not greatly vexed with lynchings; our disrespect for the law assumes +other forms. But the same weakening of the moral fibre is to be observed +everywhere as in North Carolina. We too have need of humility; we must +confess our shortcomings. We have but to ask ourselves, What would it +avail civilization if we were to give to Santiago de Cuba, or Manila, or +Honolulu a government as essentially corrupt as that which we tolerate +in New York or Chicago? Shall we offer to the savages of Luzon or +Mindanao for a model the spectacle of a government from which the rich, +the virtuous and the intelligent almost wholly abstain, shirking their +duties and relegating their most sacred prerogative to the ignorant and +depraved? + +But if, on the other hand, we set up good government in the colonies, +how long shall we be content with misrule at home? Not long, I promise +you. "It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life," says +the wise man, "that no man can sincerely try to help another without +helping himself." No less true is this of nations. The eyes of the world +are upon us and the conscience of civilization will hold us strictly +accountable. As we deal with those ignorant wards whom the God of +Battles has given into our keeping, even so shall we be dealt with. And +in uplifting them from barbarism so shall we be uplifted. + +What nobler business is there, for man or nation? And who should lead in +it if not ourselves? First, though, let us approach the work in true +humility, confessing our own faults and shortcomings. Guard us, heaven, +against the triple sin of pride, arrogance, and self-conceit. Let us +ever keep in mind those noble words of the young Laureate of Empire, +written for England at the climax of her greatness, but no less fitting +for ourselves: + + "If, drunk with power, we loose + Wild words that have not Thee in awe-- + Such boastings as the Gentiles use, + Or lesser breeds, without the Law-- + Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, + Lest we forget, lest we forget!" + + + + +Transcriber's Notes + +Passages in italics are indicated by _underscores_. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Outlook: Uncle Sam's Place and +Prospects in International Politics, by Newton Macmillan + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OUTLOOK *** + +***** This file should be named 34768.txt or 34768.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/7/6/34768/ + +Produced by Bryan Ness, Ernest Schaal, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |