The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1898-04-18
POSSIBLE WAR CONVERSATIONS

cost the lives Of many brave picked
men: it will mean the expenditure of
vast sum of money; it will entail upon
us the evils of disarranged commerce,
checked foreign and domestic trade, in
terrupted- mails, increased taxation and
an enlarged pension list
1t Will impose upon our benefieence
widows and orphans by the thousand
whose care and support must be our
concern. 1t may involve US with other
nations disagreeably, and it may COM
NIT US to policies we will regret. In its
train it is certain to bring many other
trials and perplexities, and it may
Eerve to PROSTATE industries and i'm
poverish tens of thousands of now pros
porous people. It may still more fill
the purses Of the greedy, whose god is
fhe dollar, while emptying those of the
nnselfish and patriotic.
We have hoped for a settlement of
the present difficulties with honor to
the nation, pride for the people and
Justice and mercy for Cuba. without
Involving the country in a devastating
war on our own or other soil, or upon
the high seas. We have believed such
ends were attainable and we still hold
that wise statecraft, calmness and dig
nifty in legislative halls, and patience
and clear seeing among the people,
would bring the nation out Of this trial
and threat Of war into the safe and
prosperous ways of peace. But as
Stunning that this will not now be ac-
complished; that war is upon us. and is
10 be met as brave men should meet
1t, it is profitable to consider possible
compensations in store for US.
It ought to quicken the pride of the
people in national character; it should
teach US that there are other and
nobler things commanding our energies
and to enlist our ambitions than
money-getting and partisan political
strife. 1t should open our eyes and
our understanding to the possibility Of
a nearer approach to ideal conditions
as a people. It should invigorate our
patriotism and stiffen our faith in the
destiny and mission of free institutions.
It should convince US that the hard
and fast grind of business, and the cold
calculating of cent per cent. are not
evidences of national strength or indi-
cative of the highest order of pros
perity. 1t should give US a new rating
as an assertive, united and just people
before all the world. It should fortify
anew confidence in government
and make US sensitively jealous of all
assaults upon it. 1t should put behind
US for all time the vain, fanciful and
ridiculous, not to say dangerous and
threatening doctrines of social and po-
litica1 revolution. promulgated by pes
simistic towards, and secret and open
enemies of democratic institutions.
1t should result in correcting the false
Idea we have so long entertained that
our strength is in Incorporation for
war; that we are so great, peace-loving
and just, and have such wonderful re-
serve force, that we have no need for
a powerful navy to command respect
for our flag abroad and inspire pride at
home, or for elaborate coast defenses,
OF an army commensurate in strength
and efficiency with the greatness of the
nation, the Importance of its COM
merce and industries, the wealth and
population, Of the country, and it's ter
ritorial extent
It ought to teach US that social and
political obligations rest upon us as
citizens of the States and the nation,
which rise superior to personal am
billions or money-getting, and exact Of
aus discharge of duties we cannot ne
glect without witnessing decadence of
the citizenship of which we boast.
If the impending war serves to at
zach US more closely to the republic,
10 stimulate higher regard for Am
ertcan institutions; to secure US great
er respect abroad; to awaken Ameri-
cans to a livelier sense Of their duties
In peace as well as in war; to recall
AIS from the sordid to the loftier pur-
poses Of citizenship; to impress US with
the important truth that neglect of our
political duties means inevitable pun
1shment; that free government is de-
pendent for it's stability upon intelli-
gent faith of the people in it, and con-
Tictfon that a state of preparedness for
any possible assault is the surest guar
antee Of continuous peace; that as
sertion of the flag abroad means pro-
section, to our people everywhere and
the respect Of the nations for us-if the
war does these things, or a goodly part
of them, it will not be without com
pensation.