Virginia gazette. [volume] (Williamsburg, Va.) 1893-192?, 1899-06-10
FAyORS EXPANSION.
Dr.. TalmaCe Discusses an Absorb
ing Theme.
P0ines out the Way for the Apnert-
caa reopie 40 Perform Mighty
Work. Splendid OP-
porsunity.
Ccopyright. 1850. by Louis Klopschl
k.aent..rfoa June L

our tirae and recommends thai which
Will meet the approval o. all who hope
for the perpctuity of our republic and
the welfare of other lands; text. Gene
sis 2s:Is: Thou shalt spread abroad
10 the west and TO the east"
Since the ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS war Is
conciLlsd and the United States am
bassador is on the way 10 Madrid and
the Spanish ambassador is on the way
to Washington the people OF our couu-
try arc divided into expanslonists and
anti-c1 Iansionists- Prom a different
standpoint from that usually taken 1
discuss this all-ab~orbing theme.
leave the political aspect of this subject
70 statesmen and warriors and pray
Almighty God that they may be enc
abicd 10 rightly settle the question
whetser the islands in controversy shall
be finally annexed or held under pro-
tectorate. or resigned 20 themselves.
while Z call attention 10 the fact that
a campaign OF moral and religious cN-
pansion oughtto be immediately opened
on widest and grandess scale
At the close OF this wax Cod has put
into the hands Of this country tAc kCy
the religious movement IN pa gan lands
had 10 prccedc the educational After
in China and India aud the islands of
the sea the missionaries have labo~cd
over 81 or IS years the printing press
and the secular school came in. Vow
20 better advantage than ever before
religious and secular enlightenment
may 20 side ly side. and 30 the work be
accomplished m short time ana more
thoroughly. Starting with the fact that
IN Cuba and Porto Rico and the pAilip-
pine islands at least thrcc-fourths OF
r the people can neither read nor write.
what an opportunity for school and
4 printing pressi Within Ave years every
man in those islauds may DC tau -ht TO
read not only the Bible. but the Dccla-
ration 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 20 those henightcd
I regions. Our national legislature by
one vote appropriated $4,000. 900 TO give
bread and medicine 20 Cuba. Why not
bv a similar generosity give S50.O0o.0c
/ FOR feeding and healing the minds and
souls of those ignorant and besotted
archipelagoeS. In the name OF God, /
! nominate "a school for every ueirhbor-
I hood OF Cuba. Porto Rico and the Phil
I ippincS. A. soon as the gavel falls at
- O'Clock OF next December { on the
table Of senate and house OF representa-
/ tives and he roll has been called and
the preliminaries observed let some
member OF our national legislature,
with mind and soul and voice strong
enough 10 be heard not only through
those halls. but through Christcndom.
propose a measure for the meutal and
moral disenthrallment OF the islands
in controversy.
What has made American civiliza-
tion the highest civilization the world
has ever seen? Next TO the Bible and
the church. schools, common schools.
schools reaching from the Atlantic 10
the Pacific. and from British America
10 the gulf of Mexico. Five years un-
der such educational advantages and
the whole subject that Keeps our public
men agitated. some OF them 10 froth-
'ng at the mouth, will settle itself. Give
those islands readers. spoilers, arith-
meucs, histories. blackboards, maps.
biographies. globes. Let the state leg
isiatures at their next meeting. some Of
them assembling in early autumn, take
parts of those islands under their espe-
cial educational patronage. What il
needed Is state and national action in
this matter OF schools.
Stiil furt her. here is wide open door
for Christianity. First of ali. we have
the attention of those people. The
heathen nations are for the most part
soporifie. The American missionaries
heretofore had great difficulty in get
ting be0thendom TO listen. They ex-
cited some comment by their attire.
SO different was the parting OF the hair,
and the shape OF the hat, and the cut
OF the coat, Snd the formation OF the
shoe OF the evangelizers, but the ques-
tons constantly arose in regard 10 the
missionary: Who is hep What is
be here for?" And then the interroga-
tor would relax into the previous stu
. pid indiference. But that condition of
things has passed. The guns of our
American navy have awakened those
populations They do not ask who We
are. They have found out. They are
now listening to what American civili-
zation and our Christian religion have
10 say on any subject. Now Is the time,
while their ears and eyes are wide open,