The record-union., 1898-10-06
Postmaster General Charles Emery Smith
Delivers an Address.
No American Can Fail to Feel an
Honorable Pride in the Distinc-
ton Which American Heroism
and Statesmanship Have
Brought to Our Republic Dur
ing the Recent Troubles With
Spain.

2:3O p. m. President Wattles of the
Trans Mississippi Exposition called the
audience of Pennsylvanians to order at
the auditorium. General Charles F.
Maderson welcomed the visitors. Re-
SpOnSe was made by John WoOdSide of
Pennsylvania. Chairman of the State
Commission. He introduced Postmaster
General Charles Emory Smith, who
spoke as follows:
With our monument at victory we
face a new epoch in the history of the
republic. We come to a broader out
look, whose deep import is we'll for US
to consider The world knows our
ampler reach and our larger destiny
and we feel it. No true American can
be insensible to the increase of respect
for our country, and to the higher con-
ception of it's mission which the mar
velous revelations of the war have in
spired in all lands. The embattled
farmers at Lexington fired the shot
heard round the world, and not less
distinctly and significantly did the op-
enlng shot of this war under the gilt
tering consultations of the Orient re-
sound in every capital of the globe and
awaken a new understanding of Amer
ica's onward movement
1t is recognized that the United
States advances to it's place as one of
the great Powers, and whatever may
be our policy, whatever may be the
measure of our just restraint or our
legitimate ambition, no American can
fail to feel an honorable pride in the
distinction and the new consideration,
never before approached, which Ameri-
can heroism and American statesman
ship have brought to our republic.
Equal to every crisis in the past, we
shall deal with this new emergency in
the true American spirit. 1t makes us
responsible for Cuba; it gives us Porto
Rico. 1t plants our outpost on the
farther side of the globe. Whatever
we hold, whether it be more or less,
will be held not for territorial aggran-
dizement, but solely in acceptance of
the responsibilities which Providence
has laid upon us.
Men lightly talk of imperialism >
Our imperialism is not territorial lust
but benignant trade expansion and
civilizing influence, and our flag is at
Manila, not in any spirit of spoliation
not in either the greed or glory of con-
under the controlling force of a provi-'
Dental guidance, with the ripe hour in
the development and requirements of
our national growth.
1T is treated in many quarters simply
as a question of territorial expansion,
but that is a secondary and incidental
consideration. The great and over
shadowing question is one of CONNER
cial opening. The heart of the issue is
not mere territory, but trade necessi-
ties and facilities. Beyond and behind
and beneath this departure lies the
broad problem of Americas destiny in
the commerce and civilization of the
world.
The Pacific is rightfully within our
commercial sphere. We hold one shore.
and we are nearest the other. Europe
must cross two oceans to the Orient.
and We but one. Why should we not
peacefully and providentially avail our
selves of the commercial advantages
within our grasp? Shall we be worthy
of our high mission? l have full faith
in my countrymen. / believe in the
spirit and capacity of the American
people. This war and it's tremendous
questions have given us new elevation
and dignity and purpose. How it has
dwarfed and diminished our domestic
differences and our petty contentious
How it has kindled the patriotic fires
and Quickened the true national in
Stincts; how it has lifted us up to a
higher plane of public consciousness,
and to a broader view of national
greatness. In the large work before
us of governing and developing our new
possessions, of ameliorating and ad-
vancing the conditions of the new peo-
pie who have been brought under the
protecting folds of our flag, and of
achieving the fullness of the new pos
sibilities within our grasp there is call
for all that is best in our American
courage and craftsmanship and char
acter
There is call for thoughtful and pa
triotic devotion on the part of the peo-
pie. In dealing with great questions
which concern the future of our coun-
try and it's relations to the world, there
ought to be no room for narrow par
tisanship. Let us confine our partisan
differences to domestic issues let US
limit our family contests to the family
circles; let US, with patriotic spirit, end
them at our own shores, and when We
come to confront foreign questions and
foreign nations involving our honor.
our dignity and our interests before
the world, let us stand united as one
people, forgetting that we are Repnb-
licans or Democrats, and remembering
only that we are all Americans to-
gether.'
FOREIGN MISSIONS.