Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1899-06-09


Ilgious Welfare.
downright Louis Klonsch. 1891
WASHINGTON. June An this DIS
course DR.. Tulmage steers clear of the
political entanglementso of our time ana
recommends that which will meet the
onproyal of all who hope for the per-
petnity of our republic and the welfare
Of other lands; text, Genesis xviii. IA,
..Thou shalt spread abroad to the west
and to the east.
Since the AmericanoHispanic war IL
concluded and the United States EN-,
bassador is OH the way to Madrid ana
the Spanish ambassador is on the way
TO Washington the people of our coun-
trv are divided into eXpansionists ana
antiexuansionists From il different
standpoint than that usually taken l
discuss this all absorbing theme. leave
the political aspect of this subject to
statesmen and warriors and pray Al
mighty God that they may be enabled
rightly to settle the question whether
the islands in controversy shall be ilnal-
" annexed or held under protectorate
or resigned to themselves, while call
attention. to the fact that campaign
of neral and religious expansion Ought
to he Immediately opened on widest
and grandest scale.
At the close of this war God has put
into the hands of this country the key
10 the worlds redemption. Heretofore
the religious movement in pagan lands
had to precede the educational. After
in China and India and the islands OF
the sea the missionaries have labored
over so or - years the printing press
and the secular school came in Now to
better advantage than ever before re-
ligious and secular enlightenment may
90 side by side and So the work he ac-
complished in short time and mole
thoroughly Starting with the fact that
in Cuba and Porto Rico and the Philip.
pine Islands AT least thre.'-fonrths OF
the people can neiiilrr read nor write.
what an opportunity for schcol and
printing press Within five years every
man in those islands may be Taught to
read not only the Bible hut the Declar'
alton OF independence and the consti-
tuition of the United States and the
biography Of George Washington and
Of Abraham Lincoln
II seems to me that the government
of the United States ought by vote OF
congress afford common schools and
printing presses TO those benishted
regions. Our national legislature by one
vote appropriated $50, 600, 600 to give
bread and medicine to Cuba Why not
by a similar generosity give $50, OOO,-
600 for feeding and healing the minds
and souls of those ignorant and besotted
archipelagoes. In the name of God |
nominate school for every neighbor,
hood of Cuba. Porto Rico and the Phil
ippines. AS soon us the gavel falls at II
o'clock of next Dec. on the table of
senate and house of representatives and
the roll has been called and the prelim-
inaries observed let some member of
our national legislature. with mind and
soul and voice strong enough to be
heard not only through those halls, but
through Christendom. propose meas
ure for the mental and moral olsen
thrallment OF the islands in controversy
What has made American civiliza-
ton the highest civilization the world
has ever seen? Next to the Bible and
the church, schools common schools
schools reaching from the Atlantic to
the Pacific and from British America
to gulf of Mexico. Five years under
such educational advantage. and this
whole subject that keeps our public
men agitated, some of them to frothinS
at the mouth. will settle itself. Give
those islands readers, spoilers, arithme-
tics histories, blackboards, maps, geoS-
raphies. globes Let the state legisla-
lures at their next meeting, some Of
them assembling in early autumn, take
parts of those islands under their es'
pecial educational patronage. What Is
needed is state and national action in
this matter of schools.
| Work of the Printing Press.
Then let the editorial associations of
the United States. as many of such
organizations as there are states. resolve
at the next convocation to establish IN
every region of those islands a printing
press, to be supported by people of this
country until it can become self sup
porting. Each of these state editorial
associations sending ont to those islands
at least one editor and two reporters
and enough typesetters. down will go
the ignorance and superstition Of those
islands as certainly as the Spanish fleet
| under Cervera sank under the pound
ing Of our American battleships, and
into their every port will go intelli-
gence and love of free institutions as
certainly as into the harbor of Manila
went Admiral Dewey on that famous
night when he was not expected. Hoes
printing press Nothing can stand be,
fore its bombardment Editors OF
American newspapers and publishers OF
American books Take the ordination
for such magnificent service Flo
quence on yonder Capitol hill cannot
meet the exigency. Epigrams of politi-
cal platforms or in state legislatures
will not hasten the desired consumma-
ton one week or one hour or one mo-
ment.
When Cubans and Porto Ricans and
Filipinos see the morning and evening
newspapers thrown into the doorways
and hawked along the streets of Ha-
rama and Santiago and Manila. those
who cannot read by the force of curiosi.
~ will learn to read so that they may
know what information is being scat
tered. and that which may be mission
AIRY effort ut the start and Carried Oh
BIZ Americans sent forth to do the work
will soon be done by educated natives
Porto Rican editorsl Porto Rican re-
porters Porto Rican typesetters Porto
Rican publishers 1t was great mercy
to take these islands from under the
heels of despotism, but it will be
mghtier mercy to emancipate them
from ignorance and degradation. The