The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-07-24


Thy viii be done in earth as it is in heaven
Mat. VI TO-
We are one of the three or four greatest
nations Of the world, 90 OO0,000 Of free people,
with vast continent for our domain. We
are rich beyond any practical estimation,
our resources are unbounded, our national
intelligence is able TO cope with any stu
alton. And our strength is the mighty
strength of youth, our courage that of a
people assured of a magnificent future.
On the other hand, Spain is one of the
weakest of the ancient nations. Her ter
ritory, not counting the colonies which she
has practically lost. is hardly one-thirtieth
of ours; her population is but a little more
than one-fifth Of ours. In the place of
wealth she has only bankruptcy. OF intel
ligence in the administration of national af-
fairs, of skill in the art Of war-certainly
on the seas-she appears to possess almost
nothing. All is guided by an absurd cling
ing to antiquated presidents and a spirit
of ancient pride, which though heroic, is
not reasonable.
Standing alone, we might almost dare the
world. Standing alone, Spain is feebleness
itself. IT is mere common sense, therefore,
not lack of patriotism, which prevents many
of our citizens from doing any Boosting
about this war. 1t was true sense of
what BELTS the dignity of a mighty nation
IN dealing with feeble one which impelled
President Mckinley to try every method
for bringing Spain. to her senses, and to
be forbearing to the last extremity before
resorting to force. 1t is this and the hu-
manitarianism inseparable from it which
has hidden us pause again and again in
the bombardment of Santiago in the hope
of inducing surrender without infiicting fur
Their injury.
While, as military exploit, our victory
over Spain may not rank as one of the
great affairs of history, still there are as
poets to it of far more permanent interest,
and 1t is of these we would speak.
EVOLUTION IN ALL THINGS.
Evolution has characterized the history of
all things, both material and spiritual. The
progress OF all life has been by means of ter
rible struggle and the repeated dying out of
that which is weak This same law applies
to men and to nations, and has been mani
fest in the rise and fall of nations. For the
ultimate good of the world the defective
phases Of civilization must be plotted out,
If they cannot be improved, and nation
will endure or perish according to its fit
ness, its power an agency of progress.
It IS under this law, this solemn express
Spain has eventuated. Considered in this
light, 1t could no more have been prevented
from having its brief reign of sorrow than
the solar systems could be stopped in
their essential courses. From the point of
view OF evolution this war is the action by
which a great advance in civilization is to
take place, and on this ground one can see
that it has significance far greater than
at first appears. 1t is the battle for SUI
rremacy between the new and the old life
of the world.
More markedly than ever before, per-
haps, the glorious forces of intellectual
liberty have come into collision with those
OF superstition and tyranny 1t has come
to pass that political oppression, glazing
injustice between ruler and ruled, financial
misrule of one country by another, and all
their accomplishments of cruelty, greed and
poverty can no longer be endured on the
same continent with personal liberty and
republican government. Spain, by centuries
Of misgovernment and persistent disregard
OF all that makes for the spiritual progress
of mankind, has followed to the very end
the blind road of what human life should
not be-; and among the other manifestations
Of her deserved decay the day has come
when she cannot be suffered any longer to
OF a land whose ideals are freedom and
mental progress.
In the interest of advancing civiliza-
ton Spain had to depart. Ours is the Ma
ton upon which it has fallen to compel her
to go. Would that we could have accom-
plished this result without resort to arms:
It would have been intellectually grander
as an achievement If we could have done it
as our President tried to do it, by moral
suasion. But that did not move those deter
mined upholde7-s of the things that oppose
progress, and so The flag had to be thrown
in their faces, the battle ship had to assail
them with its shells.
WHY SPAIN SHOULD LOSE.
Inasmuch as Spain by long centuries of
misrule has grown weaker and weaker and
yet has learned no lesson toward the i'm
provement of her methods; inasmuch as she
has deservedly lost land after land, which
she was not worthy to control; it may be
the decree of eternal injustice that even the
little which she has left may be taken away
from her. 1t is equally just that her loss
shall in some way prove a gain to nation
which deserves more because it possesses
so much on a basis of righteousness and in
dividual liberty. 1t is just that Spain should
lose prestige, and that we should gain it,
while we represent the advance of civiliza-
ton.
The real causes and significance Of this
war, you perceive, lie farther back and
deeper than the specific events of oppres-
sion and treachery which have aroused the
desperation of the Cubans and the personal
anger OF the Americans; and for this reason
the motives which ought to actuate all
thoughtful citizens of the United States are
nobIer and more farseeing than any pas
sions Of revenge and hatred. What we are
about is not so much the Staying of indi-
viduals who chance to wear the Spanish
uniform and the sinking of ships that fly
the Spanish flag; it is a larger thing, the
Gripping OF the influence of nation which
is guided by defective and narrowing ideals;
and, beyond that. we are after still grand
er thing-the strengthening of all generous
and everlasting ideals in human life. All
honor to our brave soldiers and sailors, but
It is not they alone who are working for
the grander end. Every citizen who is
doing his daily duty in the stress of high
ideals is thereby doing something towards
making this nation strong for the fight
against all mediaevalism. and competent for
the building up of lovlier conditions of hui
man life.
While this war lasts-and God grant that
its distinctions may be very quickly over
we need TO keep clearly in mind that we