The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1899-09-22

tuiness enormously widened through |
the fortunes Of war and the valor Of |
bur soldiers and sailors.
Being in this desperate need of ar
guments. it is not strange that they |
should have recourse to fiction. An at |
tempt is made in the Ohio Democratic |
platform to excite the prejudice of GER
tain classes of voters against the pres
ent administration by accusing it of
en- alliance with England. The people
who make this charge know it to be
untrue; their making it is an insult to
the intelligence of those whose votes
they seek by this great misrepresenta-
ton But as one of their favorite
methods of campaign is to invent fic-
tion too fantastic for contradiction,
and then to assume it to be true be-
cause it has not been contradicted, you
may permit me to take one moment to
dispose of this ghost story, as it refers
to the department with which I am con-
nected. There is no alliance with Eng
Iduu, uUT Will duy OSuOl POWOA
heaven, except these known and pub
lished to the world, the treaties of Or
binary International friendship for
purposes Of business and commerce.
No treaty other than these exists; none
has been suggested on either side;
none is in contemplation. 1t has never
entered into the mind of the presi-
dent, nor or any member of the gov
ernment, to forsake, under any in
ducement, the wise precept and exam
pie of the fathers, which forbade en-
tangling alliances with European pow
ers.
need not dwell upon this fact. Even
the men who wrote the Ohio platform
know there is no alliance. But they
seek to make capital in this campaign
out of the undeniable fact that our re-
lations with England are more friend
ly and satisfactory than they have
ever been before. 1t is hard to take
such charge seriously; and if it is
taken seriously, how can it be treated
with patience? In the name of COM
mon sense, let me ask what is the duty
of the government, if not to cultivate,
wherever possible, agreeable and prof
liable relations with other nations? !?
And if with other nations, why not
with that great kindred power which
stands among the greatest powers of
| the world? What harm, what menace
| to other countries is there in this nat
ural and beneficent friendship? Only
narrow and purblind spirit could see
| in it anything exclusive. 1t is poor
starved heart that has no room for
only one friend. 1t is not with Eng
| land alone that our relations are i'm
| proved. We are on better terms than
| in the past with all nations. With
| Russia, our oldtime friend; with the
great German empire, to which we are
bound by so many ties; with our sis
| ter republic of France; with Italy
Austria, and in short every European
every Asiatic nation, our relations are
growing in intimacy sand cordiality
| every year; and our friendship with
our neighbors to the south of us, from
the Rio Grande to Cape Horn, grows
firmer, more genuine, day by day.
And why should it not be so? Every
one likes to be on good terms with the
peaceable and the prosperous, espe-
cially if their prosperity is of that ma
ture that other people profit by it; ant
this is precisely our condition. Oul
trade is taking that vast development
for which we have been preparing
through many years of wise American
policy, of sturdy American industry
of thoughtful invention and expert
ment by trained American intelligence
We have gone far toward solving tn
problem which has so long vexed th'
economists Of the world - of raisin,
wages and at the same time lowerin,
the cost of roduction-somethin!
which no other people have ever ac
complished in an equal degree. W.
pay the highest wages which are pait
in the world, and we sell our good
to such advantage that we are begin
ming to furnish them to every quartz
of the globe. We are building locomO
tives for railways in Europe, Asia an
Africa; our bridges can be built il
America, ferried across the Atlantic
transported up the Nile and fun
across a river in the Soudan in les
time than any European nation, wit
a start of 1000 miles, can do the work
We sell ironware in Birmingham; car
pets in Kidderminster; we pipe tn
sewers of Scotch cities; our bicycle
distance all competitors on the cont
nent; Ohio sends watch cases to Gen
eva. All this is to the advantage @
all parties; there is no sentiment i
: it; they buy our wares because W
make them better and at lower cos
than other people. We are enabled t
do this through wise laws and tn
American genius for economy. Gu
working people prosper because W
are all working people; our idle clas
: is too meager to count. All the ener
gies of the nation are devoted to thi
mighty task-to insure labor its ad
equate reward, and so to cheaper pre-
duction as to bring the product with
the reach of the greatest number fo
the least money.
OF course our prosperity would nc
bring us friends if we held an attitud
, of menace to other nations. But thi
we have never done, and l hope an
: believe we never shall do. We hav
great latent military power; we ar
, capable at short notice of remarkabl
military efficiency, but the habit an
spirit of the American people is essen
l TALLY peaceful. The vast majority {
| our people would be glad to think tha