New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-04-12
NEW OCCASIONS AND NEW DUTIES.

Governor Roosevelt received greeting in
Chicago on Monday night of which he had a
right to be proud and made a speech which
justified the interest excited by his visit. 1t
was a fine exposition of the ideals and the en-
thusiasm which he is carrying unimpared into
middle life from n young manhood of joyous
and strenuous endeavor. We do not doubt that
the speech expresses the prevailing sentiment
of the country and will be influential in ex-
tending and terrifying that sentiment If
there are persons who, either because they are
constitutionay suspicious or because they are
affected by political or personal considerations,
are inclined to look for discrepancies between
Governor Roosevelt's conduct and his aspira-
tions and are pleased to think they occasion
ally find them. they should nevertheless well
come his Chicago address, for there is no flaw
in It's enuncation of the new duties which
have devoved upon the Nation, and the spirit
which informs it Is the spirit in which the Ma
tons obligations must be met
It is possible for men Of intelligence and high
character to contend that the war with Spain
might have been avoided by this country with
honor and advantage, and we cannot deny that
there are men of that kind who are able to
persuade themselves that the territories in
which the defeat of Spain extinguished her
power and could have left her nothing more
than worthless claim to sovereignty ought
to have been abandoned by us to their fate.
But It Is still harder to discern a trace Of rea-
son and morality In the latter proposition than
in the former. II ever an memorable duty
was clearly presented TO the mind and con-
science of a people, such duty is now i'm
posed upon the people Of the United States with
respect to the possessions which Spain has lost.
They were not put Mt our disposal by the prog
ress of events in order that we might shuttle
off our responsibilities and leave them to be-
come first Frey to anarchy and then the cause
and prize of a desolating European war. This
Nation. and this Nation alone, was In position
to make the end of Spanish rule the beginning
OF order. tranquility, contentment and prog
ress Evil counsels here retarded the trans
formation, and we must bear the blame and
the burden Of that default. But there is only
one conceivable way to atone for the error, and
that Is the way which has been adopted The
first task, a more painful and difficult one than
It might have been, Is the establishment Of the
supremacy Of the United States. That must
be the initial process of the civilization which
we are bound to promote in the interest Of
| mankind.
There is ample evidence that these present
and continuing duties are comprehended and
acknowledged by a great majority Of the
American people. and that the recognition Of
them is already purifying the National con-
science and developing those higher qualities
| of the National character upon whose exercise
| the success Of the work in which we are en-
gagged depends. This effect we gladly believe,
is seen in the selection Of men to execute the
purposes of the Government in the regions
lately subjected TO its authority, in the skill
and fidelity with which they have applied them
selves to their administrative tasks and in the
universal satisfaction with which their pure
and benefcent rule Is regarded by the American
people