Mexico weekly ledger., 1898-07-28

Quences-I might truly say salutary
consequences--of representative govern.
ment. but in the presence Of a foreign
foe We stand shoulder to shoulder, Re-
~publicans, Democrats and Populists
touching elbows, as though James Mon
roe's "era Of good feeling" had returned
to us to remain forever.
Gallant Sailors and Soldiers.
No soone had Commodore Dewey by
his heroic performance in Manila har'
Dor written his name alongside of Lord
Nelson, Paul Jones and Admiral Farra'
gut, while all the world wondered, than
O Democratic club elected him a member
and a Republican club elected him a
member. What nonsense! Iguess Dewey
and his brave men were not cogitatine
profoundly on the righteousness or I'm.
righteousness Of the gold standard o,
the tariff or the usurpations of the fed
eral courts or government by injunc.
ton on that glorioN Sunday morning
while they were sending Montiio's feet
to the bottom of the sea. What they
were doing just then was remember
ing the Maine and unfolding a stand
ard around which all true Americans
car rally-the standard of the American
Union. Whatever their politics, they
have enshrined their names in the ma.
tion's great, loving, pulsing heart, there
to remain until the elements shall melt
with fervent heat.
When in Santiago harbor, young Hob.
son and his gallant comrades were per.
forming a feat fit to stand in history
with those Of Leonidas, Arnold Winkel.
ried, Sam Houston or Davy Crockett. Il
the Anticipates had been there, they
would have demanded to know whether
the members of that forlorn hope were
for Mckinley or Bryan in 1896.
Joe wheeler's New Name.
Brave old Joe Wheeler, a rampant
Democrat, at Santiago, and Theodore
Roosevelt, a Republican civil service re.
former, fighting bravely with his rough
riders in an ambuscade, are heroic fig
ures of which all Americans will love
to think and delight to speak so long as
courage and patriotism are virtues cher
ished among men. Roosevelt may be all
wrong on civil service, but he's all
right as to military service, dead sure
pop! And when General Wheeler re.
turns to congress / think nobody will
object to his rounding out" his re.
marks in The Record as often or as tc
great an extent as he pleases on any and
every subject under heaven. He was al.
ways popular with his fellow congress.
men, and when he resumes his seat,
while having augmented his title of
Fighting Joe," he will learn that he
has earned a new title, Joseph the
Well Beloved"
Long after he shall have joined ''the
innumerable that loves to the
pale realms Of shade" his countrymen
and countrywomen, without regard tc
politics, will fondly tell their children
how this gray haired hero climbed a
tree to make military observations and
how at Santiago, being too feeble to
ride his horse, he had himself carried
into the jaws of death ON a litter, there.
by rivaling in this western world the
far famed exploit of Charles XII OF
Sweden ON Poltava's awful field, and
if some curious person in the future
time should inquire his politics it will
not diminish the luster of his glory that
he is a Democrat.
Nor will it add to Colonel Roosevelt
that he is a Republican.
A BelIigerent Nation.
This war has thoroughly demonstrate
ed a theory which I have long enter
tanned and frequently expounded-that,
while we maintain a small standing
army and a comparatively small navy
and are apparently the most peaceable
of nations, really we are the most bel
'ligerent nation on the globe.
No other government under the sun
could have put a volunteer army of
200, 900 men, fully armed and equipped,
in the field in 81 short a time-men,
too, who + fit to cope with the veter-
ans of Europe.
This grows out or several facts-our
universal education, our free mode of
life, our habits of thought, our general
excellence in the use of firearms. Half
the soldiers in our army are expert
enough with the rifle to serve with
credit as sharpshooters. On the Fourth,
after doing my duty as a Fourth of July
orator, I attended a bicycle exhibition
in the fair grounds at Mexico, Mo.
where I saw mere boys perform all Of
the wonderful feats Of Buffalo Bill with
the rife, except that Bill rides a fine
horse in his performances, and these
Missouri boys rode fine bicycles.
Echoes of the Fourth.
No Fourth of July in our entire history
was ever SO universally, thankfully OF
enthusiastically celebrated as the last.
Not only at home, but in foreign lands,
wherever two or three Americans were
assembled, oratory was on tap, and the
eagle tapped his wings proudly and
screamed his loudest. Old men in theil
dotage, young men in their prime, boys
in their homage, We'd with each other
and with their mothers, wives, daugh.
tiers, sisters and sweethearts in glorify.
ing the starry banner of the republic
and its brave defenders by land and sea.
1t was a veritable love feast of world.
wide proportions. If the spirits of the
mighty dead take cognlzance OF d AT
fairs of this lower world, then the souls
Of Washington, old John Adams,
Thomas Jefferson, Charles Carroll OF
Carrollton, John Hancock, old Ben
Franklin and all that glorious band OF
patriots must have been in ecstasy from
the rising of the sun to the setting
thereof. In his famous letter to his
wife John Adams said that the birth.
day Of the republic fought to be sol
emnized with pomp and parade, with
shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bon
fires and illuminations, from one end of
this continent to the other, from this
time forward forevermore." Old JOHN
was a fervid and patriotic prophet, but
in his widest imaginings he never
dreamed of such a magnificent celebra-
ton of the day as Shafter and Schley
got up at Santiago. 1t was a great day
for America and the world.
Manifest Destiny.
At last the deed Is done. Hawaii is
ours. for better or for WORSE till death