The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-07-03
The New America.


The London Chronicle publishes a very
interesting article by Henry Norman, IT'S
special commissioner in this country. in
which the position is taken that the old
America, the America obedient to the tradi-
tons of the founders Of the republic, is
passing away, and a new America, an
America standing armed, alert and ext
gent in the arena of the world-struggle,is
taking its place"
The belief that our war with Spain is
working a great change In our national
life is being quite generally accepted by
our own people, and it is being held to
marked extent in Europe 1t is being ac-
cepted In England with satisfaction. but
in France Germany and other countries
of continental Europe, it causes uneasi-
ness. and is creating a feeling of hostility
TO us. The reason it is regarded with IA
vor by the English people is that they
want a close alliance with u.s. believing
that if the English speaking people should
stand together they could dominate the
world. On the other hand the nations
of continental Europe see a great obsta-
Gle to the accomplis hment of their plans
and purposes in the development of the
United States into frst-class military
and naval power and their alliance with
Great Britain.
The United States viii never again have
as small an army and navy in time of
peace as they had when the war with
Spain began. The day when the people
will be satisfied with regular army of
$500 men and a navy equal only to that
of third-cass European Power has
passed. The question of how large the
army shall be and to what extend the
navy shall be increased is one that is go
ing to command a great deal Of attention,
as soon as the war with Spain is ended
The settlement of the question will de-
pend largely upon the policy which will be
adopted in respect to the territory acquir-
ed from Spain.
II we retain possession of the Philip
pines, and Cuba and Porto Rico become a
part Of our territory, we shall have to
have great deal larger army than would
be regarded as necessary If We should de-
eide against territorial expansion. The
indications now are, however, that the
sentiment of the country will be in favor
of holding on to all the territory which
we capture. The argument will be ad-
vanced that the prosperity of our man
ufacturng industries requires us to find
new markets for the products of these in
dustries whenever we can, and that one
of the surest ways to get new markets is
to extend our territorial limits.
AS a people we have always been against
a large army for two reasons. One is
that we have held the belief that large
army would lead to the adoption of an ag-
gressive foreign policy, and another is that
it might be used to Cypress our own peo-
ple-to silence people who, believing they
have a grievance, take strong measures
to secure redress for it. But these reasons
will not be sufficient to cause the regular
army to be again reduced to $4,000 men or
to keep the navy on footing of that of
a third rate Power, The people may
consent to limit the army to 100000 men,
but they will insist upon a navy that will
be the equal of that of any European
Power.
Looking at the situation as it now pre-
sents itself, therefore, 1t Is not to be won
dered at that the belief is getting abroad
that we shall not again be content TO play
the insignificant part in the worlds af-
fairs which we have been playing, but
that we shall play one of the leading parts,
and have an army and navy which will
enable us to play it successfully. We
shall not, of course, occupy that position
in day or a year, and the consent of the
people that we shall occupy 1t at all will
not be unanimous. Before we reach it,
there will be a struggle of parties, but the
idea of the leading thinkers of the world
is that we shall eventually reach it. In
fact we may reach it with surprising
quickness.