The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-05-29
GRANT OF THE FIGHTIN6 f0URTEENTH

the flag again. and probably always have
loved it against the foreign aggrsssor. pu,
YOU notice how IL makes our Own blood
Jingle. and especially how our Northern
veterans OF the war feel again that no
Southern brother OF theirs snail excel
them in their loyalty 10 the same flag.
But YOU spoke Of the effect upon for
eign. countries. Let me give You a sugges-
ton about that. I have noticed abroad
that our people are not held in sufficient
esteem by foreigners generally and / have
sought the causes OF e. Niuety-fve out
OF every hundred Americans who travel in
Europe go the usual rounds and behave
themselves perfectly They mind their bus
mess. interest themselves in the sights, so
about intelligent-y. pay their bills. depors
themselves like model travellers. There
will be Eve n a hundred perhaps who do
not behave themselves so well. They get
about all right and pay their bills. but
they are noisy. and. in a word. attract
unenviable attention. II is these, and not
the other ninety-five, who are known as
Americans, and it is an unhappy fact that
they give Us bad name. There is another
consideration Our newspapers are some
times seen abroad. Their attention is TOO
apt TO seem. in the case of the foreigner,
TO be devoted solely 10 the scandals OF our
American society. There is everything, for
instance about the unhappiness OF the
GGarnnS.
friends find themselves RECALLED with the
unhappsness of the De La Mars: so that
the impression is that these are our leading
respectable and important people. Again,
too many OF our newspapers persist in
abusing our public men. For no matter
how worthy the motives of our public
men may be, no matter how hard 1t is
for them TO notice the attacks upon them,
they are continually abused for things for
81, M a "
are continually called fippant.y by their
first names, and are continually written
down as big ignoramuses. il not highway
robbers. You can easily imagine what the
effect abroad of all that must be. These
things surely do not give foreigners cor
rect idea OF our people and the worst
phase OF IL is that we ourselves, or rather
few OF us, are 10 blame for this.
You are right in thinking that the re-
suit of this Spanish war will cause US
greatly TO be respected the world over.
We are 100000 powerful. resourcefui, in
domitable people. We have been too busy
TO think much about armies and navies,
and surely in this present case we have
foreborne to the last degree to quarrel
with Spain. All that will make our tri-
umph the more worthy and significant IN
the eyes of the world. Our navy, for It's
numbers and its personnel, for its COM
manders and its sailors, is matches. II
we have a large one, that viii be ali the
truer. and We can have a larger one for
purposes of defense largely, like the pres
ent, without becoming a quarreisome or
brawling power. thinking only of war and
living on volcano. There Is no way OF
preserving peace so good as being pre-
pared at all times to show fight. We have
shown fight. and up 10 date and as far as
we have gone It would seem as If the
other fellow ought to have enough. We
can keep that attitude, and thus foreign
countries that think we have not an army,
or that 1t cannot fight, will not be SO sure
OF it, in fact. they will know better: and
those countries of the world that believe
that a navy is everything. and that they
have great navies and that ours has no.
been respectable, will surely stop to think
a second time before they venture to
quarrel with us. / have thought dozen
times since the first news OF Dewey's
victory reached us how electric and I'M
erring the effect of ii must be the world
over 1t is Uncomfortable that stronger
or a more effective word could be passed
around TO all of our international friends
and enemies. that while We are not look