The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-08-08

the republic were promulgated by our
| occasions, but after all the constitution
! seems to have borne the strain There
was then, and, in fact, a great deal more.
Our territories have given US no trouble,
while they have greatly added to our pop
ulation and vastly increased our wealth.
Besides this, the statesman of the olden
time, the wise men with whom wisdom
was supposed to have persisted, could not
and did not imagine the improvements
gone. In their time, practically speaking,
it was further from New York to Buffalo
than it is now from New York to San
Francisco, and as far as the transported
ton of intelligence is concerned San Fran
have been in their day had it been just
consideration the railways, the telegraphs
and the telephones, this country now,
not as large as the thirteen original colo
MES were; that is to say, the distances
overcome. In those days it required
months and months to cross the CONT
days dsgs. NO" 1t IS the work OF four or five
Yet, when we came to talk about annex
George Washington was again repeated,
and the older the senator the fondsr he
the. idea that the constitution, having
nothing in favor of it, must contain some
course, our fathers had no idea of the
growth Of the republic. We have. be-
don't see that Alaska has imperiled any
of the liberties. of New York We need
we are not bound to take in the S5a0dvif6
islands until the people are civilized, until
free women. It may be that a good MANY
of our citizens will go to the Sandwich
islands and that, in a short time, the peO-
pie there will be ready to be admitted as
a state All this the constitution can
stand, and in 1t there is no danger Of i'm
I believe in national growth. As a rule
Lhe prosperous farmer wants to buy the
land that adjOIns him, and I think pros
porous alton has the ambition of growth.
II is better to eXpaHd than to shrivel, and
if our constitution is too narrow to spread
over the territory that we have the coUr-
age 70 acquire, why, we can make a
make constitution. and no human hap
Piness, no prosperity, no progress should
paper with writing on it; because there is
plenty of paper and plenty of men to do
what the Writing Should be. I take more
interest in people than do in constitu-
airy; they are means to an end, but the
dear old conservative gentlemen seem to
regard constitutions as ends in them /
AS to the final destiny of the island pos.
the Philippine islands will finally be free, |
protected. it may be for a long time, by
come to US for protection naturally. and, so |
far as l am concerned, I want Cuba only |
Rico and some of those islands will be- |
long permanently to the United States, |
and believe Cuba will finally become |
part OF our republic.
know, or course, that some countries /
hate us Germany is filled with malice, /
and has been just on the crurnbling edge |
OF meanness for months, wishing but not |
caring to interfere: hateful, hostile, but /
keeping just within the overt act. We |
could teach Germany a lesson and her /
ships would go down before ours just the /
same as the Spanish ships have done. /
Sometimes l have wished that a hostile |
German shot might be fired. But I think |
We Will get even with Germany and with /
FraHce-at least, hope 50.
And there is another thing 7 hope-that |
the good feeling now existing between |
England and the United States may be |
eternal. In other words, 1 hope it will be J
to the interests of both to be friends. I /
think the English speaking people are TO |
rule this world They are the kings of /
invention, OF manufactures, of commerce, /
Of administration, and they have a higher |
conception, of human liberty than any
other people. OF course they are not en-
tirely free; they still have some of the
rags and tatters and rawlings of supersti-
ton: but they are tatters. and they are
rags, and they are rawlings, and the peo-
pie know it. And besides all this. the
English language holds the greatest liter
ature of the world.