St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1889-07-18
WISE WORDS BY GEN. WALKER.

Gen Francis A. Walker said a wise
word at the conclusion of his address
before the Phi Beta kappas of Brown
University. His discourse related to
the growth, by decennial periods, of
the population of the United States,
and the influences, both moral and
material, promoting and retarding
the same. Touching the decline of
the aggressive spirit which distin-
guished us as nation a quarter of
Il century ago, the speaker regarded
this as the consequence of assured
confidence in our own powers. To
the same cause he attributed our in
difference to the question of national
armament That indifference" he
said, has doubtless been carried to
an extreme, SO far as the national
defence is concerned; but what evil
dence could be SO strong in proof of
the utter and absolute indisposition
of our population towards conquest
or fOrcible annexation ;" And he
continued in the following strain:
Long may that spirit animate the
people of the United States Let us
frOwn Indignantly upon every pro-
posed measure, upon every word of
any man, whether in public or pri-
vate speech, which assumes, or gives
cOuntenance to the assumption, that
this people are to come under the
curse of the war system, or which
threatens our friendly relations with
any power upon earth. SiXty-two
millions now, in eleven years more
we shall be so, 900, 900, transcending
in all the elements of industrial, of
financial, and, if one please, also
military strength, the combined re-
sources of any two of the greatest
nations of the Old World. Who shall
modest us or make us afraid? Who
shall be SO insane as wantOnly to at
tack the foremost power on earth
Why, then, should we take the first
step towards entering upon that ca
reer of competitive armament into
which mutual jcalOusies and mutual
fears have driven the nations of Eu-
rope? y career which, once entered
upon, has no logical stopping place
short of the complete exhaustion,
impOverishment, and financial bank
ruptcy of all but the one richest ma
ton, which, i'll its turn, finds that it
has earned nothing but to be the OBJ
ject of universal dread and universal
dctestatiOn.
Let it, then, be our pride, as it is
our privilege, to remain the great
unarmed nation, as little fearing
harm from any as desiring to do
wrong to any. Let us follow the
paths of peaceful, happy industry,
developing the resources with which
nature has so bOunteOusly endowed
us, rcscrving our giant strength for
those competitions whose results are
mutual benefits, and bestowing up
ON schools and colleges, libraries
and museums, public parks, and in
situations of charity and benehcence,
that wealth which others waste on
frontier fOrtreSSeS and floating cas-
ties"
There is no doubt that Gen. Walker
has expressed the thought of 90 per
cent of the American people. The
other 1 per cent are either members
or ex-members of the C1an-na-Gael,
or demagogues seeking their votes.
Just now these unsettled humors of
the land" are Turning over our rights in
Behring sea, as though any country
i'll the world was disposed to grant
us any less than our rights, there or
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