The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-08-09
AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP.


The address by Governor Hamilton, of Hi
nois, before the Acton Assembly on ''The
Nationality of American Citizenship" was
full of truth concisely and logically stated.
There Is undoubtedly too much trans-Atlan-
tic influence in our politics. There is no
sufficient reason why our German, IRISH or
English fellow-citlzens should claim special
recognition as such in distinction from
the great mass of the people who have found
homes in America. 1t is clannish, I'M Amer
lean, and far from pure democracy. In times
more remote every citizen of the United
States was himself, or through his ancestry,
the subject OF some foreign power. We rep
resent every civilized nation under the
heavens, from the autocracy of Russia to the
democracy of Switzerland. Out of all this
heterogeneous mass of humanity the force of
self preservation has crystalized the Ameri-
can republic The mosaic of English, Dutch
French and Spanish colonies has been over
| laid by solid foundation of government by
| all the people of America as freed from foreign
dominion. The revolution was fought by an
army fused from all the various elements
! that had drifted to these shores. The New
England Puritan fought shoulder to
shoulder with the Maryland Catholic, and
the great work of all these social and relig-
ious elements combined was to found
what is now the American republic. How
well they succeeded is no longer a question.
For hundred years it has lived and pros
pered, until now it is a full-grown, broad
shouldered giant, the peer of any empire in
the world. No man need be ashamed of his
position as an American citizen. In point
OF wealth, population and advancement in
every branch of science, literature and art
OF the past has been such as to evoke the ad-
mraton of all its future is still more glo-
rious. Its scope of territory is such that the
peoples empire of the Western world is des-
tined to be the most populous, the strongest
in wealth and resources and the grandest the
world ever knew. A century from now the
United States will acknowledge no rivals
The British empire pinned together with
bayonets will rank below u.s. United Ger
many will not be able to compare with US,
and the great republic of France will be ut
terly out of the question. 1t is no wild spec
ulation to say that the day will come when
this government will number thousand
million citizens. We have the territory to
support that number, and one State
Observation-Disclosures has her share in pro-
portion to area. A thousand million peo-
pie! There can be no grander political am
bition than to be citizen of such republic
The day is already here when we should for
get our old allegiance in our pride for Amer
lea. We are the only people in the world
who have but one soldier to each two thou
sand inhabitants, to say nothing of iheirneed
against thousands of hostile Indians scatter
ed over hundreds of thousands of square
miles of Western Territories. 1t Is a glorious
privilege to be an American citizen. Those
Ireland, from Germany, or France, should
be quick to identify ourselves with the in
stitutions of the country, and In politics as
in everything else, demand nothing but our
rights as citizens without regard to the coun-
tries we may have abandoned to swear allie
glance to this. To attempt to add glory to such
citizenship by claiming to have formerly been
subject of Queen Victoria or Emperor Will
lam is much like a general of the army boast
ing of having once been a member of Com
pany H, 136th Rhode Island Volunteers. All
| If America is to be great, it must be through
the united efforts of the people. If their in
terests are to be subserved, all must unite as
Americans to preserve American rights. An
American citizen is none the more honorable
from having been born on the Rhine, the
Thames or the Liffy. His worth to his Amer
lean fellow-citizens will depend wholly upon
how well he discharges his duties and obliga-
tons as a citizen of this republic. To meet
these on the same level with others is all that
any man ought to ask, no matter whether he
| oe poTH DeHedtH Tue uouule ehSleS, tne non
and unicorn, or the stars and stripes Let
every question be decided on its merits, and
each citizen stand on his personal worth.
This is the American idea, pure and simple,
and anything more cometh of evil.
If the reports of wire-cutting be true, it
puts very bad front on the strike. and casts
a reflection upon all the strikers, innocent