The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-08-30
'OUR new RESPONSIBILITIES
AMERICA A POTENT FACTOR IN
THE WORLDS PROGRESS.
Cush Davis, One of the Peace Com
missioners, Gives a Glowing Pan
egyric of Our National Destiny.

patriotic fervor. and the utmost CAIN
ness is necessary in considering our
| future course. said United States Sen
aIor Cushman K. Davis, before leaF-
ing the city FOR his home. TO prepare
for his journey to Paris as one of the
five commissioners to arrange the final
terms oe peace between the United
States and Spain.
Events have made US one of the
| great covers of the earth he contIn-
| ued. Whatever we may have desired
! ourselves heretofore, destiny has forced
| upon Us responsibilities that we must
| recognize and accept. We nave become
| a potent factor in the worlds progress.
A greater actual naval and military
power we are already We are not
! strong enough yet, but not an hour
must be lost IN equipping ourselves to
cope with any emergency that may
! confront us. Our volunteer army IS
as good. if not better, than any force
! of the kind in the world, but we cannot
rest secure in that thought. We must
| have a large regular army ready at
call in the future We must have rs
| good navy as any nation on earth.
We have an excellent beginning. Ship
for ship, we need fear nobody. But we
must build ships with true american
| energy. Nothing must deter us. We
know that we have the men to put be-
| hind the guns. Love of 4sunnery is an
American characteristic. When we
! were boys. all of us knew how to
handle firearms. A gun is the earliest
! thought of the American youth. Men
| are only grown up boys. That explains
| our success at Manila and Santiago"
How are we likely to be menaced
in the future?" was asked.
Actually, we are not whit more
| exposed to attack as a colonial power
| than we have been every hour since
| the active advent of steam sea power.
The glorious victories of our navy
have brought us new responsibilities,
but the Philippines or he Sandwich
islands are not more isolated than are
| parts oe our Pacific coast. Hereafter
our power must be felt on the Pacific
ocean. The mere addition of a few
hundred square miles of territory by
capture or treaty does not increase our
danger.
China is the coveted part of the
earth'S surface today, but who could
have predicted six months ago that
Russia, Germany or japan would not
have coveted a foothold on the North
| American continent? Now we see the
trend of events in the east. Providence
has stepped in to point the future
course for us.
we must police the Pacific ocean.
Its coast has been our vulnerable
point.
You understand, 1 am on record as
favoring the retention of the territory
which has been acquired by the splen-
did victories OF our arms. L am an
American citizen, speaking as such, and
my remarks have nothing to do with
official duties that l shall undertake
on Oct l. as commissioners TO the
congress OF Paris.
What that body will or will not do,
| would not predict if / could. l am
talking of the situation as it exists to-
day, and as every American citizen can
see it. The interests of the United
States must be jealousy guarded from
this hour onward. We have been re-
miss and Indifferent in the past. Think
of the VirginiuS massacre That was
the hour in which we should have
taught Spain her lesson. Long years
of suffering and bloodshed would have
been avoided. 1t is idle to say that the
VirginiuS was not an American ship.
Many of the men aboard her were
American citizens, and the ship was
caught on the high seas. The men We're
shot in cold blood-and we stood it. We
endured such an outrage with General
Grant, a brave and true man, at the
head of affairs. 1t was not coWardice
but it was lethargy and Indifference
that was quite as debasing, in the eyes
of the world That was what justified
all subsequent Spanish bluffs and bra
Yado.
But we have risen to a new plane
to the level that we were really intend
ed to hold all along. Nothing but the
indifference of our statesmen has pre-
vented the United States from occupy
ing the place to which it belonged. The
American people have had the courage
of their destiny all the time; they have
never faltered
Hereafter, L tell you, the maritime,
commercial and political genius of our
people Will not permit their governing
power to be Indifferent to their honor
or their progress. An outrage like that
at Santiago de Cuba-where nearly half
a hundred Americans We're stood UP
against a wall and Shot-would not be
passed over today
How do you suppose similar mas
Sacre of American citizens in Havana
would be received this afternoon? Why,
our warships would be on their way to
that point before midnight; that's the
difference, and it is We'll; it is as it
should be.
The United States has ceased to be
the China of the Western continent We
are alive, thank God, and must not be
insulted by any power in this world,
great or small.
That's the difference between the
United States of the seventies and to-
DAY
And is not the change one that
ought to make every patriot glad?
Wars are inevitable, or all history is
false. Steam power has broadened the
arena; no nation is safe. Japan's tri-
umph over China was robbed of most
of its value to the victorious nation by
the Intervention of a stronger power.
Are we to be weak. like Japan? Can
we contemplate for an instant the in
reference of any power that Shall
abridge the majesty and glory laid at
our feet by the Incompatible Dewey?
L say, Never Therefore you may
quote me just as strongly as you can
as saying: More battleships, and, after
that, more cruisers and battleships
again. The men will step forward as
fast as we can build the ships
Suppose that Dewey had been de-
feated at Manila? What might have
been the fate of the Hawaiian islands
and our Pacific coast, from Behring
sea to San Diego?
THE Asiatic situation is one that
deeply concerns us. If we are out
witted there we must at once prepare
for a defense of our western coast line
from the same aggressions that have
hulnbled the Oldest empire on earth in
the. eyes of modern civilization
What do you think of the cordial re-
lations between this country and Great
Britain?''
They are timely and welcome The
aversion of greatness has passed
awasy"
viii the Cnbans govern them
selves?''