Omaha daily bee., 1898-07-05

been offered 10 my contemplation since that
OF independence, that made us a nation,
this sets our compass and points the course
which we are to steer through the ocean OF
titno opening on US
At The Parting of the Ways.
Is the western hemisphere large enough
Tor The influence and progress OF the Ameri-
can people, or must we surrender, com
mcrcially and politically, our policy OF
isolation and claim an influence which snail
be as limitless as the world Is round2 The
Atlantic coast was our cradle, lusty youth
found us ON the banks OF the Mississippi,
vigorous maturity has brought us TO the
Pacific. What Of the mOmcntous morrow
the twentieth century? Are we, like Alex
nnder, to stop at the margin of the sea
and mourn that 1t froevcr bras our further
progress. or are we, like the inspired pilot
Of Genoa. to launch the bark OF our ma
ttonal destiny into an unknown sea and in
search of new aud untried routes to ma
tional prosperity?
Steam and electricity have destroyed our
distant and detached position.' OF which
Washington spoke in the immortal farewell
address and upon which he prediGptcd in
the infancy OF the republic a policy OF iso-
lation. Then we were the weakest power
in the world, today we are the strongest.
Then we we're 5000, 900 in number, scat
tered over 500, 600 square miles of territory,
NONuN We bl' t1sNNVtNNV VI lN'llNs AliNil
ing n continent from ocean to ocean and
possessed OF resources which are ineNhausti-
BILE. Then We were almost exclusively an
agricultural country, today we are the
greatest agricultural, mining and manufac-
turing nation OF the globe adm second only
to England in commercial prestige. Then
1t required five weeks to visit or
cate with Europe and the Atlantic ocean
seemed a natural barrier, today we can
flash a message around the world in a few
/ hnItpg aud anVn Ion NV Of n a u mo
as they occur, The citizens of New York
can today reach London with more facility
than Washington could leave Mount Vernon
and proceed to Philadelphia. When, there
fore. Washington. at a time when the great
European powers had been thrown by the
French revolution into a state of chaos,
advised the infant republic, newest among
nations and weakest in credit. numbers and
resources, TO avoid any interference in the
affairs of the greater world beyond the
seas, lest as a lamb it should be devoured
by IL pack of wolves. he counseled, as he
always did, with il wisdom unimpeachablc;
but those who would forever keep the re
public in its swaddling clothes and who for
this purpose invoke the great name Of
Washington, should first convince us that
If he were the president of the most power
full nation in the world he would advise 1t
to yield precedence to lesser and weaker
powers. Would he not feel that a nation.
which doth bestridc this narrow world
like a Colossus" should not lisp in the
language of infancy, but should say with
st. Paul, when | was a child spake as a
child, l understood as a child, l thought as
a child. but when | became IA man ! put
away childish t~hings?"
Tradition il T]yrnnnical.
1 would not be understood as arguing in
favor of the annexation of any of the
islands, of which we have taken possession
for the purposes of the war, or indeed of
any policy of indiscriminate territorial &C
QUESTION. These are questions about which
men OF equal intelligence and patriotism
may reasonably differ. and both the limita-
lions and the proprietieS of the occasion
forbid their discussion. | have been pro-
testing. however, against the tyranny of
tradition and the assumption that there is
any policy which forbids the further ex-
pansion of the republic.
To family grasp the future of this coun-
try is to bewilder and exhaust the magma
ton. The past is but the happy pro-
logue to the swelling act of an imperial
theme" Today as never before we face
the world as "a united country. If wounds
there have been, they are healed; if cause
for quarrel, it has gone. East and west
from the Father of Waters. north and south
OF Mason and DiXon's line. we are one to-
day. my fellow countrymen, one, in the
proud possession of a glorious past. one in
a resolute purpose to meet the duties of
the hour and one in an abiding faith in the
future of our beloved country. Never be
fore did its flag float as a symbol Of pos
session over so vast a domain. Not only
from the Arctic ocean to the Gulf. and
from the Atlantic to the Pacific, but in
those islands of the sea. where the Carib-
bean breaks, and in that farther archipel-
ago, washed by the China sea, the star
s%pangled banner floats today in p%roudest
triumph. Our boast is that of the mother
empire, of whose teeming womb we are
born, that night no longer falls upon our
possessions, for when these Joyous festivi-
ties shall have ended and day shall fade
from yonder lagoon, and when the moon
shall silver with its mellow glory these
noble temples of art and industry, the sun
will be flooding the harbor of Manila and
illumining that glorious flag under which
Dewey and his heroes defended their coun-
try's honor. For one land, one people, one
flag and one destiny let us reverently thank
the God of our fathers. May the glory of
the republic be as lasting as the day which
shines upon its flag, and its beneficent in
fluence upon future generations as ceaselesa
as the majestic flow of the Mississippi to
the sea!
The exercises closed with a sele Il 'or by
the band and then the crowd dispersed to
all parts of the grounds.