New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-06-16

life under the flag OF his country. and welcoming
the tread Of Massachusetts men, marshaIed Tor
war, II had thought Massachusetts, wholly chokeo
with cotton dust and cankered with gold" II Lit
tie Americans have thought so OF their country IN
these stirring days. and have fancied that initial
reverses woud induce II 10 abandon It's duty, It's
rights and its great permanent interests, they VIII
live to see their mistake. They will md II giving
deaf ear 10 these paltry complaints or temporary
trouble or present loss; and turning gladly from
all this incOherent and resutess camof TO the new
world opening around us Already II draws US out
of ourselves The provincial isolation Is gone; ana
provincial habits OF thought will 60 There Is q
larger interest In what other lands have TO show
and teach: a larger confidence I'm our own hgner
resolve that It shall do its whole duty to mankind,
moral as we'll as material international well
national. IN such fashion becomes Times latest
offspring and its greatest We are grown more
nearly citizens of the world.
This new knowledge these new duties and In
terests must have two efects-they must extend
our power influence and trade, and they must
elevate the public service. Every returning soldier
or traveller tells the same story-that the very
American has taken a new significance
throughout Orient The shrewd Oriental no longer
regards a second or third class Power. he
has just the only signs he recognizes OF a
nation that knows It's rights and dare maintain
them-a nation that has come TO stay, with an en-
pire of its own in the China Sea, and Navy wnicn
from what he has seen he believes Will be abe 10
defend II against the world. He straghtway con-
cludes after the Oriental fashion. that 1t Is o
nation whose citizens must henceforth be secure
IN all their rights. whose missionaries must DE- en-
dured with patience and even protected and whose
friendship must be sedulousy cultivated The Ma
tonal prestige is enormously increased. and trade
follows prestge-especialy in the Partner Eas''
Not within n century. not during our whoie MS
tory has such a field opened for our reap'ng'
Planted directly in front Of the Chinese Colossus OF
n great territory of own. we have the hrst ana
best chance profit by his awakening Con'-
handing both sides OF the Pacific, and the aVaiiapie
coal supplies on each. We command the ocean lhdl'
according TO the old prediction IS TO bear the ouk
of the worlds commerce in the twentieth century
That glorious land between the Serras and the sea
NAV then become as busy a hive as New hnsiai'
Itself and the whole continent must take Tres" "ie
from the generous blood of this natural ana heceS
sarv commerce between people of different climates
and zones who gladly buy from each 0'her ""''
they do not produce themselves.
But these developments OF power and trade are
the least Of the advantages we may hopeluiiy eA
pect The faults In American character ana NE
which the Little Americans tell US prove the peo
pie unfit for these duties are the very fauits tha'
| will be cured by them The recklessness ana need
lass sslf-suf1ciency OF youth must disappear Great
responsibilities suddenly devolved. must sober ana
| elevate now as they have always done IN natures
not originally bad, throughout the whole history Oh
| the world.
The interests ADrOdu Iuuol SOlhPN' 60 800
| proved foreign service 1t has heretofore been
| worse than we ever knew, and also better on
| great occasions and IN great fields our diplomatic
| record ranks with the best in the world NO
nation stands higher In those new contributions TO
| international law which form the hghwater marx
! OF cviliza ton from generation TO another AT
! the same time in fields less under the public eye
our foreign service has been hEpha7ard at tire best
! and often bad beyond beliei-ludlcrous and buml-
iating The harm thus wrought 10 our National
| good name and the positive injury TO our trade
| have been more than We realized. we cannot
! escape realizing them now, and when the American
people wake up 10 a wrong they are apt TO right IT,
More important stu should be the Improvement
| In the general public service at home and In our
| new possessions New duties must bring new
| methods Ward politics were banished from India
! and Egypt as the price of successful administra-
| tion and they must be excluded from Porto Rico
| and Luzon. The practical common sense Of the
| American people will that any other
| course is runous. Gigantic business interests will
| reinforce the theorists in favor Of reform that
shall really elevate and purify the Civil Service.
Hand in hand with these benefits to ourselves.
which is the duty public servants to secure go
benefits 10 our new wards and benefits 10 man.
| kind. There, then. is what the United States Is
to stand for" In all the Respondent future:-the
| rights and interests OF its own Government; the
general welfare OF It's people; the extension of
ordered liberty in the dark places of the earth; the
| spread OF civilization and religion and the conse-
| quent increase OF the sum OF human happiness In
| the world