The San Francisco call., 1899-05-14
Spheres of Influence and the
Chinese as Neighbors.
Points to the Philippines and Advises
That They Be Opened Up and the
Contents Removed.

growth and success of nations, because
he has been, above all other things, prac-
sional life requires advanced knowledge,
ii seems to me that the vast majority or
our young people spend too many of their
vigorous years of youth inside the school
room and not enough IN the practical work
of life. The years from 10 to q are i'm
mensely valuable, for they are the years
of keen observation, individuality and
confidence. In many cases-quite too
many-they are spent in crammtng the
mind with knowledge that is not likely
to help young man in the work he Is
best fitted to do. How many young men
with college educations are standing
about waiting for something that will
never come because the work that lies
nearest at hand is not to their liking?
Somehow or other our schools, which
teach young people how to talk, do not
teach them how to live. People need lit
California one-third of my daily mail is
made up of appeals for help. and these
calls are about equally divided be
tween requests for contributions to
help pay off debts and mortgages
which should not have been con-
tracted; applications of young men out
thy; and cries for succor from the sick
and suffering poor, who must be cared
for, whatever may be the cause of their
sickness or their poverty-and the poor
we have always with us. The sons of
farmers are forsakng the fields because
the cities are more attractive to them.
there Is growing up stronger
good honest labor on one side
and frivolous gentility on the other. We
seem to be fast outgrowing those things
which, when our fathers lived, were
called sterling qualities, but now. are
called follies, or work that a gentleman
should not do. as though all honest work
was not honorable work. The world has
grown small. When 1 was a boy it was
a very big thing.
l well remember the sad parting which
took place in my town when one of its
families left there to find new home in
1t was long journey, and those who said
good-by never expected to meet again.
To-day that family could have, started
out in the morning, got their luncheon
at the place they moved to, and returned
to Connecticut the same night. Benjamin
Franklin once said, as | recollect, that
he fully expected to see the time come
when the mails would be carried between
Washington and Boston in ten days, with
considerable regularity. What a change
the close of the nineteenth century has
brought us! We can read in to-night's
paper the events which have taken place
all over the civilized world this same day.
We ring a bell in San Francisco and talk
with our friend thousand miles away
with the same readiness and ease as if
he simply stood behind a curtain.
AS | said before. the young man Of to-
day has field of action before him that
is simply bewildering. In San Francisco
we stand opposite the open door of the
Orient. with all the vast possibilities of
trade and commerce implied therein The
telegraph has put the nations of
Asia and ourselves into the po-
stion of neighbors, and we want
to reap some advantages from that close
connection, for are nearer to China
than Western Europe is, with no eXpen-
sve canal tolls TO pay. do not, see. why
we should be any more afraid OF the
tries are, and they Will welcome him as
a factor in their development. 1t seems
to me that we can afford to give to all
ia Phanpp and tr1St to the survival OF
the fittest-not through the sword, but by
the test of industry, energy, economy and
material practical progress in the Things
bic
The outcome in the Philippines, so far
as the control of them by the United
States is concerned is not doubtful. When
we have once established peace there, the
next question will be how to maintain 1t.
The Filipinos have shown us that they do
not lack independence of spirit. courage,
determination and perseverance. These
are the qualities which make good citizen
ship in republic; although there are
others which are necessary in conjunction
with them. These others can be culuvat-
ed and, if the present generation should
not prove susceptible to such education,
the next one may be. 1t will become our
duty as citizens of a free and enlightened
republic to duly give to the Flipinos fair
representation with respect to the estab-
Iishment of government on those islands;
and in the meantime, having ourselves
obtained through the exigency of cir
cumstances arising out of our war with
Spain, foothold in the Orient, the Amer
lean republic must have a voice among
the great nations which are, as 1t were,
settling the future of China. l believe we
can. if we will, prevent the dsintegration
of that magnificent old empire, whose his
tory runs back into a past so dim and
misty that no man knows the record of its
years. l believe it to be in the interest of
the world that the unity of that empire
should be maintained; and believe fur
ther that her preservation and safety will
depend upon her commercial renovation;
in short, if she locks her doors against
foreign trade they will be broken down
and the land will be overrun by hordes of
greedy and ambitious peoples; but If she
swings them wide open to the whole
world guaranteeing equal rights to all
who may wish to enter her marts of trade,