The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-07-06
american Policy
Must Broaden Odi
From the Fourth Of July Address o.
James NJ. Beck at Omaha.

From the Fourth of July Address of
James NJ. Beck. at Omaha.
| AsHINGToN, in 177i. denounced
lUhUf as "malevoent falsehoods" the
WWI assertions that there is any In
| uu tention in the American colonies
| TO set up for Independent
states" In 1916 he wrote: when 1
| took command OF the army abhored the
| idea Of independence; now / am con-
vlnced nothing else will save us
Building better than they knew"-as all
master builders OF a nation-our fathers
were led by impulses which they could
not appreciate or understand. to disre-
| gard every tradition which they held
| dear, to renounce allegiance to the king.
separate from the great English empire,
make formal alliance with their hated
enemy, France, and create union OF
which each had been but too jealous.
The same momentous fact is true today.
Once again the nation feels mysterious
and puissant impulse. II has ever been
the traditional policy of the republic not
to interfere in the domestic affairs of
friendly power. and the Monroe doctrine
distinctly dsclaimed any intention to in
| terfere with existing colonial dependen-
c.es in America of European powers, but
as Lexington infamcd a continent and
created a new nation, as Fort Sumter
rudely shattered our dream of peace and
| compelled us to remove by the sword
The running sore of slavery, the explosion
of the Maine and the crueties to the
Cuban people have compelled us to dis
card cur traditional and valued policy
Of ncn-interference, and directly inter-
fere with the domestic affairs of another
nation.
We need not regret the transitory in
fuence of the past. Blind adherence to
tra t. 81 Ii ,0tfe
but is a form of intellectual slavery,
which is not worthy of a free and pro-
gressive people. An assumption that
the teachings of our fathers expressed
| the finality of political wisdom is con-
tradicted by the uniform experience of
mankind. I yield to no one in my rev.
erential respect for the founders of this
republic. No government has had greater
men, and history can be searched in vain
for any loftier lives or wiser minds than
Washington and Franklin. Jefferson and
Hamilton, Madison and Monroe. But let
us not ascribe to them an infallibility
which they did not claim for themselves.
Democracy acknowledges no living SOW
| ereign, much less those who are said
to rule us from their urns." Steam and
electricity have destroyed our distant
and detached position" of which WASH
| ington spoke in the immortal Farewell
| Address, and upon which he predicted in
|
| isolation. Then. we were the weakest
| power In the world, today we are the
| strongest Then we were 100000 in num-
| Der, scattered over 100000 square miles of
| territory, today we are rs, 000, 900 of people,
| inhabiting a continent from ocean to
ocean. and possessed of resources which
are ineXhaustible.
Our nation is today feeling that in
stinct of expansion which is the pre-
| dominant Characteristic of the Anglo
| Saxon race. 1t is bred in our bone and
| courses with out life blood, and the
| statesmen of our day must take it into
| account and endeavor to wisely control
| It, There is with us, as with our great
mother empire, a national instinct for
| territorial growth, $50 powerful and ac-
| curate that statesmen of every school,
| willing or unwilling, have found them
selves carried along by tendency which
no individuality can resist or greatly
| modify" We could as hopefully bid the
| Mississippi cease its flow toward the sea-
| or the Missouri to remain chained within
| its rocky sources as to prevent the on
| ward movement of this great, proud, gen.
! erous and aggressive people This was
| true of the day of our weakness, 1t is
true in this, the day Of our strength.
%
There is one tradition of our fathers
| which we cannot too strictly respect and
whose value time cannot "wither nor
custom stale" 1t is the spirit of justice,
| to which our country is solemnly dedi-
Gated forever more. The richest country
| in the world, though 1t were paved with
| gold, were dear enough, if purchased at
the price of this ideal. While recognizing
| ''the right of the people to alter and
abolish any government when it becomes
| destructive of life, liberty and the pur-
| suit OF happiness" yet where such con-
ditions do not prevail, we will not cast
| a covetous eye upon the possession of
another people, for the mandate of Sinai,
'"Thou shalt not steal" applies with the
same force to nations as to individuals,
and in the one case as in the other the
ultimate punishment for its nfraction is
as sure as the Justice of God and as
awful as His lightning. Let us not annex
any territorial possession without the
free and full consent of its people.