The record-union., 1899-06-16
WHITELAW REID
ON EXPANSION.
Delivers a Commencement Address
Upon ''0ur New Duties, .
At the Diamond Anniversary Jubilee Of
Miami University.

Nothing in Human Power Can Ever
Restore the United States to the
Position Occupied Before the
War With Spain-No Matter
What May be the Wish, the Old
Continental Isolation is Gone
Forever.
OXFORD Ohio, June 15.-The cul-
mination of the Diamond Anniversary
Jubilee of Miami University occurred
to-day, when a class of sixteen men,
was graduated. and the Hon. White
law Reid, of the class of 1856, deliv-
cred the commencement address upon
Our New Duties" This event marked
an era in this famous institution. Its
growth recently has been phenomenal.
The grounds and buildings and equip
ment have been improved, over S100,0D
being spent within three years. The
sons of Miami congregated to do honor
to the new Miami to-day and never in
its history has there been such large
percentage of It's graduates present as
upon this occasion.
Whitelaw Reids address was as fol-
lows:
with the ratification Of the peace of
Paris. our continental republic has
stretched it's wings over the West In
dies and the East. 1t is a fact and not
a theory that confronts us. We are
actually and now responsible not mere
ly to the inhabitants and to our own
people. but in international law to the
commerce. the travel, the civilization
Of the world for the preservation of Or
der and. the protection of life and
property in Cuba, in Porto Rico, III
Guam and in the Philippine Archipel-
ago. Shall we acquit ourselves like
men in the discharge of this immediate
duty, or shall we fall quarreling with
each other like boys as to whether such
a duty is good or bad thing for
the country and as to who got it fast
ened upon us?
Nothing in human power can ever
restore the United States to the posi-
tion it occupied the day before Con-
gress plunged us into the war with
Spain, or enable us to escape what that
war entailed. No matter what we wish,
the old continental isolation is gone
forever. Whithersoever we turn now,
we must do it with the burden of our
late acts to carry, the responsibility Of
our new position to assume.
But when the Stars and Stripes at
last bring the order and peaceful secu-
rity they typify, instead of wanton dis
order with all the concomitants of saw
age warfare over which they now
wave, we shall then be confronted with
the necessity Of policy for the future
of these distant regions. 1t is prob.
lem that calls for our soberest, most
dispassionate and most patriotic
thought. The colleges and the educated
classes generally should make it
matter of al painstakingly
considered on all it's sides with refer
ence to international law, the burdenS
of sovereignty. the rights and interests
of native tribes and the legitimate de-
mands of civilization-to find first our
national duty and then our national in
terest, which it is also duty for our
statesmen to protect.
I'VE have reached two conclusions
that ought to clear the air and simplify
the problem that remains First we
have ample constitutional power to
acquire and govern new territory abb
solutely at will according to our sense
Of right and duty-whether as depen-
dencies, as colonies, or as a protector
ate. Second, as the legitimate and
necessary consequence of our own pre-
vious acts, it has become our national
and international duty to do it.
Developments of power and trade
are the least of the advantages we
may hopefully expect. The faults in
American character and life which the
little Americans tell US prove the
people unfit for these duties are the
very faults that will be cured by them.
The recklessness and heedless sslf-
sufficiency of youth must disappear
Great responsibilities. suddenly de-
volved, must sober and elevate now, as
they have always done in natures not
originally bad throughout the whole
history of the world.
"The new interests abroad must
compel an improved foreign service.
On great occasions and in great fields
our diplomatic record ranks with tie
best in the world. At the same time,
in fields less under the public eye our
foreign service has been haphaZard at
the best, and often bad beyond belief
ludicrous and humiliating The harm
wrought to our national good name
and the positive injury to our trade
have been more than we realized We
cannot escape realizing It. now, and
when the American people wake up to
wrong they are apt to right it.
"More important still should be the
Improvement in the general public ser-
vice at home and in our new possess
sions New duties must bring new
methods. Ward politics were banished
from India and Egypt as the price of
successful administration, and they
must be excluded from Porto Rico and
Luzon. The practical common serse
of the American people will soon see
that any other course is ruinous. Gil
gantic business interests will reinforeU
the theorists in favor of a reform that
shall really elevate and purify the
civil service.
Hand in hand with these benefits to
ourselves which it is the duty of public
servants to secure go benefits 10 Cur
new wards and benefits to mankind.
Here. then, is what the United States
is to stand for in all the resplendent
future-the rights and interests of its
own Government; the general welfare
Of its own people: the extension Of orr
dered liberty in the dark places of the
earth the spread of civilization and
religion and the consequent Increase oe
the sum of human happiness in the
world.
Now use your lawn mower moGA 1t