The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1896-07-06

per capita. II IS the richest HdIlOH IOuds
on the globe. The wealth of the nation
is more generally and widely distrib
uted than in any other country. A far
larger number of our citizens, in pro-
portion TO the entire population, are
bona fide owners of real or personal
property than elsewhere.
If we consider the increase OF the
wealth of the world we shall find that
the showing is surprisingly creditabie
10 the people of the United States. Sta
tistics show that of the total increase
of the wealth of the civilized world
during the period of twenty-five years,
from 1865 to 1890, the United States
earned, accumulated and has in actual
possession more than so per cent. No
fact could be more significant than this
of the general and substantial pros
perity of the nation from this material
point of view. There is sometimes felt
and expressed an apprehension that the
sudden, or rapid, acquisition of vast
wealth by individuals BODIES no good for
the future OF the Republic; but these
instances of the accumulation of vast
fortunes are, after all, comparatively
few, and il may be safely assumed that
the inordinate riches thus acquired
uted and scattered within the lifetime
of a generation. 1 believe there is no
cause for serious apprehension Of any
evil resulting from an aristocracy of
wealth in the United States. We may,
therefore, today, with justifable pride,
and without being subject to the charge
of undue Boosting. say that ours is a
free, prosperous, rich and powerful ma
ton, and that this is the result of adj
herence to the principles and purposes
that were most conspicuous at the ma
TONS birth.
But we must admit that, in common
with all other nations and peoples, we
are by no means faultless, nor is our
system of government f1awless or with
out it's defects, difficulties and embar-
assments. 1t is in the nature of things
that all new experiments in the line of
Government and craftsmanship must
be subjected to the actual and often
severe, tests of experience. Govern
ments can not be successfully estab-
Iished, or maintained, merely on theo-
ries; the practical trial of these theo-
ries, with all the incidents that may
befall, must be endured before the cor
rectness of any theory, or the strength
be demonstrated. To some such tests
the American Republic has already been
subjected, and it cannot be denied that
the results thus far have been and are
gratifying to all patriotic citizens.
In so far as assaults upon our ma
tiOnality are concerned, we have al
ready resisted, with marked success,
attacks both foreign and domestic; we
I~ III
vasion, and we have suppressed domes-
tic treason and rebellion; and from
each of these trials the nation has
emerged with increased strength and
vigor, and with the bond that unites
the several integral portions of the Re-
public in one body polite made much
more effective and less liable to loos-
ening, or severance, than it was before
The people of the United States do
not now nor do I think it likely that
they ever will, entertain any fear of
any foreign hostility; there is public
sense of absolute security on that score,
and a general conviction that the ma
ton could easily and quickly repel any
foreign invasion or assault. The nat
ural advantages and resources of the
Republic, and the ready patriotism with
uSI6uS6
would be responded to by the whole
body of the people, are a sufficient
guarantee of safety against any hostile
demonstration from without our own
borders.
The severest test of the strength OF
our Republican institutions, and of the
value of the bond of national unity
was that which arose within our own
70
civil war, in which the great stake was
the integrity of the Republic, for a
| memorable period the center of the at
tention of the civilized world without
and of the most intense anxiety within
the Republic.
No nation in history has ever beer
subjected to a more crucial test than
that Of the war between the general
Government and the States that were
loyal to it on the one side and those
States of the Union which claimed the
right to secede from the Union anC
took up arms to maintain that claim, or
the other.
That great contest, with its almost
unparalleled calamities and sacrifices
| is now matter of history, and even tt
the present rising generation of Am
erican citizens it is a subject not o.
! personal memory but of reading anC
! tradition.
The miseries, the losses, and to
| very large extent the animosities, O
/ that terrible period of trial are nov
all of the past, and no judicious and lib
/ erty loving citizen of the Republic de
sires needlessly to recall them. But tn,
lesson of that great conflict is one
| which every true American can will
! profit dwell upon, and from it deduc,
wisdom, prudence. courage and hop,
! for the future. The one great, granC
and overshadowing result of the grea
/ conflict was, that it proved beyond tn,
! doubt of future possibility or question
/ the reality and stability of the oneness
| of the American Republic; it demon
| strated conclusively that a Republi,
composed of separate, independent com
| mOnweaIthS could as one body DOIitic