The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1898-12-07
AMERICAN DESTINY.

of the United States in clearer light
than some Americans. zone good
feature of the present foreign policy
of the United States,' says the Ber-
lin Post, ''cannot be denied, namely:
The marching forward, careless OF
what other powers say. The trainers
of this policy are displaying such
activity that those of other countries
cannot follow them. The most
characteristic feature of American
expansion is the effort to get com
mand of the future commercial high
ways of the world" The Post ad
mits that the later steps in this pro-
gram have taken the world by sur
prise, and predicts that further sur
prises are in store.
Benjamin Kidd, the celebrated
English economist, in an article in
the December Atlantic, calls the at
tention of Europe to what struck him
as a most remarkable manifestation of
a peoples faith. In travelling through
the Western states just after the close
of the war between Spain and the
United States, he found the question
of annexation or control of the Philip
pines under discussion everywhere.
When he asked a man in Illinois, or
Iowa, or Nebraska, or Kansas why he
favored the annexation of the Philip
pines the answer was, Because we
ought to have them. The people
everywhere seemed to believe that
providence had opened the door to
possession of the Philippines, and
that as matter of national conscience
and duty we must hold them. They
believed further that it was the
destiny of the nation to go forward
in the Pacific. They didn't care to
answer arguments against annexation
in detail. They simply put the ques
tion of argument aside with the state
ment of their belief in the destiny of
the cou ntry and an earnest declara-
tion of their falth.
Mr.. Kidd is an Englishman who
has studied the English people in
every grade of social life and in
every phase of political excitement
and development. He warns England
and the rest of Europe that this be-
lief of the American people in the
destiny of the nation is a most potent
factor In the development of the
United States. He points out thai
when a people have decided in theil
own minds that there is a great destiny
before their country the nation itself
will be propelled irresistibly along
the line marked out. He found the
western people not disposed to criti-
else, not inclined to split hairs OF
quibble, but ready ON every occasion
to put in words their faith In the
greater future of their country.
President Mckinley found thi;
same strong faith, this same courage
this unwaverinS belief in a great
destiny when he made his western
tour. The Germans in Berlin, the
Russians in st. Petersburg, the Eng
lishmen in London, the Frenchmer
in Paris, are discovering the same
element of strength. 1t is not only
the administration or the government
that is going forward it is the Amer
lean people, resolute and progressive
believing in their destiny.
This is the result of ar lnvestiga-
tion in America by one of the mos
Observant of English publicists anG
writers, and his observations are il
accord with those of men who have
had opportunity of meeting the peo
pie face to face. We are gong for
ward to the control of the Wes
Indies, to the control of the Philip
pines, 10 the control of the Pacific