The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-10-12
THE CHURCH AND EXPANSION.


I Churchmen. as We'll as politicians, are
widely apart on the question Of national
expansion. There are some churchm=n
who believe that our acquisition of the
Philippine Islands was an act Of Provi-
dence. carrying with it our obligation to-
Christianize the peoples of those Islands
and thus win for ourselves bright crowns.
Other churchmen are of The op Mon that
we ought 10 keep che Islands and give
them, as far as we can, the benefit of
our civilization, meanwhile developing the
resources Of their country and taking hon
est profits for our enterprise and indus
try. And still other churchmen think We
ought 10 drop the islands as quickly as
we can, because the possession of them is
dangerous to our national institutions, In
that it involves imperialism, and our own
safety IS far preferable to any possible
benefits which we might bring to the ISL
anders. There is danger Of our "dilut-
ing our civilization too largely as Bishop
Potter put il at St. Paul in his speech
on Tuesday. Rome he pointed out. had
diluted her civilization to The point that
she lost her homogeniety, and went TO
ruin. Is it worth while for the United
States 10 risk Imperialism and The destruc-
ton OF those principles and institutions
which have made them great and rich,
for the sake of governing a large expanse
Of territory? the Bishop asks, lie looks
at the future of the republic as through
glass darkly when he contcmplates the
expansion question.
Il seems 10 us that, for Bishop Potter,
the views expressed by him at st. Paul
are too pessimisHc. 1t is true that there
are lessons against territorial expansion
in ancient history; but there are other les-
sons in favor of it in modern history. II
is true that the Launs have failed in
their imperialistic expansion schemes;
Spain is a recent and pitiable example of
such a failure. But it is also true that
the Ambassadors have pursued a policy
OF expansion for hundreds of years, with
a very fair degree of success. And there
appears to be no good reason why their
success should not be continued for some
other hundreds of years.
Our own government has itself done
good deal in the way of expansion. The
onward and outward movement began as
soon as the Pilgrim Fathers settled in
massachusetts,, and continued steadily until
il was stopped by the Pacific ocean on the
west and the Caribbean sea and the Gulf
of Mexico on the south. And each time
it was proposed that more territory should
be added to that already possessed by the
American expansionists. there were Wig
orous protests by those who feared the
destruction of our institutions. Often
n,
with the most fearsome prophecies of what
would befall the republic if the warnings
were unheeded. But they were unheeded,
for all that, and acquisitions were made
from time to time. And Bishop Potter
will himself say that the republic is safer
to-day than il ever was before in its hiss
tory. its institutions are better loved and
firmer grounded than those of any other
government 1t is trde that our political
system is not perfect. There are many
Objectionable things about ii. Politicians
are too often corrupt, and the people 100
often listen TO demagogues. But it is
the best system yet devised by the inge-
nuity of man. Could the church itself he
called perfect? Only day or two ago
one of Bishop Potters ministers, the Rev
b. f. DeCosta, resigned from the minis
try, because he said the church was dom
mated by factions SUll, one would not
cousel otherwise than for the expansion of
the church. The abundant good features
of il far outweigh the minor and objec-
tionable features, and all churchmen agree
in giving their best efforts to bringing
more and still more souls under its benen-
cent influence.