The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-15

tai establishments, working into them as
rapidly as may be all fit elements Of the
native populations till they are accustomed
to the forms Of civilized freedom, trained in
its substance and prepared for a more COM
pIete autonomy. Then they will be sure to
continue these beneicent institutions when
the military gives place to the civ1 author
ity.
Leaving the Philippines to themselves,
you would have a dozen rival petty, power
less and warning so-calIed republics, soon to
be devoured by one and another Of the Eu-
ropean powers. at mighty risks of great
European wars. We cannot leave such
Pandoras box to the future of this world
breeding places for pestilence. scenes of
brutal wars. hopeless of progress. We are
set of God to be their guardians till they
can go alone. We, and no other Of the
earths great powers, can take that role
without imminent danger to the worlds
peace.
Beyond that present guardianship we need
only wait on Providence for further direc-
ton. There has been moment in this
great year at which any man could fore
cast for ninety days what it would be in
cumbent on us to do. Our administration
has wisely waited to see and has moved with
ever fresh guidance. Forecast is yet i'm
possible for even a month to come. The
most that we can say to-day is, For the
present the responsibility is ours for shaping
the affairs of these insular realms in order
TO futures of prosperity and greatness No
man to-day can wisely venture to fix the
date Of safe issue into an absolutely indie
pendent career for any island of them all.
The politicians are rash indeed when they
plan party platforms on the swiftly shift
inc of va ef
FOR THE FUTURE.
These tropical regions are 20 be made,
by enforcement of scientific sanitation, safe
ly habitable for all races and for the ma
tives These most fruitful soils are to be
made prolific beyond computation by ordered
and intelligent industry. Their products
are to be made staple articles of a safe and
profitable commerce. Life, property and
enterprises of all sorts are to be made Sc
cure, by whatever shape of guarantee time
shall prove the fttest. Religion must be
the free dictate of the conscience. Educa-
ton must be accessible to whomsoever will.
These peoples are to be impressed with the
immense contrast Between the spirit of Spain
and the free Christian Republic. They must
learn the vital temper of the Occident in
contrast with the slumberous Orient. Mis-
sionary enterprises are to have free course
and be glorified. God hath opened to us
wide the door to the most immense and fas-
cinating work of civilization and Christian
ization the world has ever seen. Ten to
twelve millions of people, in the most lux
uriant of all the islands of all the seas,
who have been bound fast in superstitution
and oppression. embittered and insurgent I'M
der civil and ecclesiastical tyranny robbed,
corrupted and outraged, have emerged into
fIo of{ H.
public better fitted to initiate them into
modern liberty and life than any other ma
tion ever was or now is. They are in the
sunburst of a magnificent morning So
soon as they feel the blessed contrast be-
tween Spain's msrule and Americas foster
ing care, they will shout their gratitude,
embrace with joy the new regime and enter
with exultation their great career!
l believe we are now entering upon an
experiment not less significant than that of
our own independence over a hundred years
ago-the experiment, viz, of starting
| steadying, fostering and building into
splendor a wholly new type of civilization
and Christianity-a type for the tropics and
for the Orient-for the vast majority of
the race of man. We shall infuse something
of our cool and level-headed temperament
into the forid and passionate tropical ma
ture; and something of our restless Anglo
Saxon energy into tropical and Oriental
| somnOlence and Incidence; shall brace their
laXity of morals with the sturdier fiber of
the temperate zones; shall give them the
| Christian marriage and home; shall estab-
fish them in forms of government which are
the ripest, richest fruit of the experience of
all the ages; and to crown ALL shall give
them the Word and the gospel which make
men free because fit for Iihartvi
The croakers say But see the corrup-
lions and the perils here at homer Yea.
verify! Within the shell of our own affairs
we have done much amiss. Henceforth our
affairs are to be world affairs! Our perform
ances hereafter and in these regions are to
be conducted in the open court of the whole
earth's concern. While we can without too
! crushing sense of shame let an Indian agent
steal the red mans pine trees on our OBJ
scure frontiers we shall not be able under
the worlds eye, to put scoundrel governors
over the Philippines or Porto Rico or the
provinces of Cuba. We shall have to insist
on and get good civil service yonder. which
Will react for perfect civil service here. We
shall sway our authority out there with a
more prudent hand, which will compel us
10 greater probity and wisdom in home af-
fairs
Great responsibilities develop great powers
and foster loftier ideals Study of
ideals for development of these insular
trusts will of necessity broaden and purify
our views of government at home. We shall
make better speed ourselves for speeding
! these peoples on their way of greatness.
L see our own Republic beginning with
a narrow strip of Atlantic seaboard. stretch
ing then south over the FIoridas: reaching
out to embrace the vast areas to the Mis-
slsslppi; opening then her arms to the huge
louisiana purchase of more than double all
her former area; then charging her great
heart to welcome the imperial spaces of the
Lone Star State; then sweeping on to the
Pacific by New Mexico to California: then
taking in Alaska and reaching so far to the
Orient that San Francisco is $50 miles east
OF the central meridian of our longitudel
Expansion" indeed! l see her multiplying
her population twentyfold in century: in
creasing her riches till their increase and
their absolute bulk are far beyond that of
any other people on the face of the earth.
AT every step of this august this imperial
expansion, the prophets of pessimism have
stood aghast with coward terrors. They
protested against Florida They roared in
wrath against the imperial expansion of the
LoUisianas. Texas was sure destruction.