The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-07-03
aTHE POLICY OF EXPANSION

2THE POLICY OF EXPANSION.
Copyright, 1898, By Henry Normano
Washington, July 2.-The new
America, as I described in the first let
ter Of this series. will be armed to de-
fend against any enemy of the national
policy she may decide to pursue. The
next question, of course, is, What will
her policy be? No more important
question exists at this moment.
This nation, nearly eighty million
strong, with unapproached natural re-
sources, enormous and marvelously or
ganized industrial enterprises intelli-
gent and ambitious beyond the average,
soon to be one Of the great powers on
the sea, has hitherto been content to
think only of its own defense and TO
cast plying looks, accompanied by
moral disquisitions, upon the nations
Of Europe disputing with each other
the lands of Asia and Africa Avoid
foreign entanglements," the advice Oh
the founder of the republic, has been
written, one might say, across every
American flag. Anybody who should
nave pTOpucSlSQ III liz oEAAA-S
year that has not yet reached midsum-
mer, that the United States was about
TO embark upon a policy of oversee eX-
pansion, of colonization, of territorial
ACKNOWLEDGMENT, Of imperialism,
would have been laughed at for fool
Admiral Dewey did it. With his dash
into Manila bay, and his destruction OF
the Spanish SQUADRON finer naval ex-
pIoit than is yet admitted abroad-he
sowed the seed which will never be up
rooted. The inconceivable was accom-
pIished, as in the salvation Of Faust;
the problem whether America could,
should or would seize alien countries
became obsolete in one morning. Inc
fortune Of war gave her the Philippines,
on the farthest side Of the globe. Pub
lie opinion accommodated itself to the
change. as automatically and as quickly
as the governor of an engine to a sud
den increase Of steam pressure. Be
tween April 80 and May / the weather
vane which shows the public breath
swung clean around. The practical
American read the news, asked himself
'eWeu, why not?' and hung another
flag out of his window.
All this is not a figure Of speech-it is
a literal fact Never was there such a
lightning change of national sentiment.
The administration had nothing to do
with it They had not foreseen 1t:
they had not contributed to it; they
were powerless to prevent it; they have
not yet quite recovered from the shock.
That little sentence in the COMPRESSION
al resolution about disclaiming any
disposition or intention to exercise SOW
ereignty, jurisdiction or control" is a
pea in the official shoe. But the force
of events, linked one to one by the
great chainmaker, has continued to
pull, and the policy of expansion has
marched on with as little regard for
American tradition or administrative
convenience as John Browns body had
for the institutions of the south.
Hawaii, Cuba, Porto Rico, the Philip
pines, the Ladrones, the Carolines, pre-
sent to the American people today as
clear an issue as has ever divided opin-
ion; and more important than any ex-
cgpt the revolution and the Gebellion.
It is obvious that this issue is hardly
CT less import to Europe than to Amer
lea. herself. Every European, arguing
from the procedure of his own country,
viii naturally ask this question: What
IS the policy Of President Mckinley and
his cabinet in this matter? Here I
leave facts to fall back upon my own
opinion, and it is this: The American
government has no policy in the mat
ter. How could it have one? To begin
with. the war itself is a sufficient issue
for the present. 1t will be time enough
to discuss the disposition Of all these
places when the United States is in
possession of them. Again, circum-
stances may greatly alter the case. For
example. if Spain surrenders uncondi-
tionally tomorrow. asking only the
Philippines and yielding all the rest, it
might be difficult to say her nay. II
she fights on, and stubborn battles at
Santiago. San Juan, Havana and Ma
Mia cost thousands of American lives,
the ultimate situation will present q
totally different aspect. Finally, no
body can he sure that public opinion,
which has changed so quickly once,
NAV not veer again, sick of bloodshed
and expenditure. President Mckinley,
whose skill IN estimating the resultant
direction of the varying currents of
political feeling amounts to positive
genius. is the last man in the United
States to build policy upon foun-
dalton not yet solidified. 1 have had,
I think. as good an opportunity as any
body for gaining information upon this
point. and 1 am confident that, upon
the greater issues involved, there is in
this country at the present time no
official policy whatever. SPANS fail
IRE to take advantage of this is an
act of sheer insanity.