The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-09-06
RESULTS OF THE WAR.
An Argument FnvOring Retention of
All We Have Won.

All We Have Won.
| To the Editor Of the indianapolis Journal
We are now at the beginning of the end
| in the great struggle with Spain. To all
| the world. except Spain, the conflict could
end in no other way The Dons can't fight;
the Anglo-Saxon is invincible. AS a result we
have free Cuba. and on the side we own Por-
! TO Rico, a lot of smaller islands. one of the
| Ladrones, also as a partial result we are
| in possession of Hawaii. and can and
| should control the Philippines. Had the
world made no progress in the last three
| hundred years, Spain to-day would have
been formidable antagonist. but war is
not now what it was then, and Spain is just
that far behind. Back of Sampson and
Dewey and Shafter and Miles are hundreds
| of years of education and drilling. and they
! win. Back of Montejo and Cervera and
! Toral and Macias are hundreds of years of
inaction, dense ignorance and national de-
| bility, and they lose. Dewey and the men
| under him did not learn their lesson before
breakfast on that memorable May morning.
| Their preparation began years and years
| ago, back of 81 and back of &c. but it began
| in time and continued, and when the trying
| hour came the men and means were at hand
and victory was the result. But there is
| glorious victory all along the line. To the
very front is our noble President. Slow to
begin the strife; anxious to avoid a clash
| of arms; seeking earnestly to persuade be-
nighted Spain to do right by her colonies:
yet failing in ALL his great heart throbbing
| in patriotic unison with 10000 900 liberty
| loving Americans, he demands that Spanish
control in the western world cease. His
wisdom was shown in gathering around him
|
stance, the right man for each place De-
| liberately and carefully he went at the
great task, and to-day the world looks in
wonder at the splendid achievement. Pres
ident Mckinley, known to be a gallant sol
der, admittedly a pre-emnent statesman
will also be written down in history as
| diplomatist of highest rank. He has faced
! complications as serious were ever faced
| by man. and being the leader charged with
! all responsibility, these questions fraught
| with interests of such magnitude, he has
| met them and alone has decided them and
IN all this trying ordeal has made no blum
! der. So just has been his course so manly,
| so well tempered, so fearless yet so eQuita-
| BILE, that he has the commentator of the
| civilized world. Best of all is the indorse-
ment at home. A few are afraid some vio-
| lence may be done to the Constitution if we
! add few islands to our possessions. but the
! great body of our people are not frightened
| by this bugaboo This organic law made
| more than a hundred years ago and an
| SWefeQ the purposes for which ii was con-
| structed Conditions are different now. The
| world moves, and America must fit
itself foS the. class to which it belongs.
! The Constitution is not to-day what it was
| years ago, nor in a hundred years will it
be what it is now. If laws not right
| fit them to conditions now as they fitted
! them hundred years ago, and will fit them
in all the future. Conditions have so
| changed that America must step into new
| progress. Spain as/the lawful owner of
| Cuba and entitled to undsputed control
over the island and it's inha bitants. To
| interfere with her rights, under ordinary
| conditions, would have been most repre-
hensibe, but this government did interfere
and bodily ordered Spain to withdraw from
the island and reinquish all control. Why
this unheard of act? The story is familiar
to all and needs no recounting Hundreds
of years OF vicious, brutal atrocities rob-
berries and murder. Knowing the utter I'M
reliability of Spanish contracts, we as
sumed the responsibility of the act and
have wrested these outraged colonies from
their legal owner on the high ground that
the end justifies the means Our conscience
is clear on that score. The most enight-
ened nations of the earth applaud our de-
clsfon. We have no thought of conquest
We started out to free Cuba and technical
ly. claiming all these fruits of our victory
might be said to be in the nature of a cen
quest. yet it is the result of war Spain
would not yield until she had lost ALL Had
she cried enough in the start or Immediately
after Dewey's great victory, she would to-
day own Porto Rico and all the Philippines
unless 1t might be small coaling station
but she chose to continue the conflict
But it is the victory that brings blessings
me transformation of the jungle into the
fertile field the beautiful garden is
blessing The changing of the ignorant
muYderOuS cannihal into the indI1strioue
Christian, with a heart filled with love for
humanity, is blessing. and it is the bust
ness of our civilization to bring such results
and conquest are not in alphabet I'm
perlalSm does not travel with and along
SIDE OF iberty-the liberty of this country.
imperialism and republicanSm opposite
conditions. and will not mix: nor can they
exist at the same time in the same place
To-day the English-speaking people are
standing together shoulder to shoulder
whence came this grand coalition? when
old II begin? No man can tell, but England
ana the world is glad and rejOces because
washington won at Yorktown. and this we
know-this condition is the legitimate out
growth of Bible truths and the school book
ard to-day England and America are one
and inseparable. No national joint high
commission has fixed the terms of union
II is a higher union than that would be
We stand together because of an unwritten
oneness OF purpose: pact stronger than
treaties; higher. nObler and vastly more
effective than documents signed sealed ana
delivered; an irresistible force impelling us
onward TO conquer so that man may he
tribute TO tyrants, but to elevate
humanity to the dignity of equality
and our magnificent victories are
but the composite outgrowth If
the germs of truth planted and nur4ured
along MES weary way. We do not believe
in the divine right of kings" but we do
most earnestly believe in that higher .'di-
vine right of man. the divine right To
life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness"
This is the one sentiment that actuates the
Anglo-Saxon In 1t we recognize the corner
stone truth that all men are by creation
equal and entitled to life unless that
life be taken away "by the due process Of
law" to liberty'-the right to absolute
freedom with no man. high or low TO mo-
lest or make afraid. to be where he wishes
and 10 do as he desires as long as he does
not interfere with the rights Of others I'M |
less he be deprived of this liberty by the
due process of law" and that other Cod
given right, the pursuit Of haDpiness''-to
go when he will, do what he may labor as
he pleases and keep and enjoy what his toll
and brain brings. all for his own happiness
and for the comfort and enjoyment of 9TH |
ers. All these rights are God-given and |
they exist and are fostered where there is |
free Bible and in lands dotted with free |
church spires and schoolhouses. These are |
the forces that have been and are silently |
birding together the -Saxon-the hand !
Of the Eternal-command ing us 10 succOr !
the oppressed. drive ont the oppressOr and |
the tyrant and the rcbber. whether he be |
king or priest: take light 70 the dark places, |
help the helpless: not to enslave them but /
rather TO loosen the letters of priest ridden !
ignorance that bind them and then TO lift |
them up and help them TO stand alone. The !
fttest is going to survive. This fact Is ire |
sstihle. The leaven brought over in the |
Mayfower. from somewhere will leaVen the |
whole loaf and out Of these trihulatiOns |
ill A.