The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-10-27


should belong TO the United States.
The world moves. and no force
on earth can stay its progress. We must
live in the present, and be in touch with
the progress of the age. We must be an
active, progressive and suggestive force.
We must get in front of things, and di-
rect the course of events. II will do no
good simply TO stand and cry halt" for
the world Will barely pause at our com
mand. 1t will march on in spite Of all
distractions
Henry Watterson of Louisville. whose
Democracy viii not be questioned. en-
dorses the position of Governor Stone.
and puts himself in line with the broader
and higher Americanisn. Mr. Waiter
! son declares:
-" 'Anti-exiansion is Democracy.
! The Democratic party of jefferson and
Jackson was yer the apostle of national
. expansion. Manifest destiny" was its
rallying cry. That idea is none the less
living and vital today than 1t was fifty.
sixty, eighty years ago. Al these new ter
ritorial acquisitions are with us 10 stay.
I They came to us unbidden. They were
sent to us by that mysterious power TO
which we owe all that we are and all
| that we have. Who shall say it nay? He
that does this-and the more surely If he
be a party leader-pronounces his own
political damnation. The activities of the
Atlantic are being gradually but certain
ly transferred TO the Pacific. We are
there already. Shall we seize upon the
means of confirming our power which
God has given US, or shall we let them
go, and later on, at infinite cost, be oblig
ed to fight TO recover them? No party
ever threw itself across the pathway of
its country's greatness and glory and
lived to tell the tale and no party ever
can. or will. or ought
From the south. the influence of the
Atlanta Constitution is used TO sustain
the national policy and uphold the glory
and honor of the flag, and illustrates
that broad patriotism is not confined to
the Republican party alone. I read:
Who would be so craven as TO give
the poltroon advice that our men should
retire under fire. bushwhacked in the rear
by enemies either abroad or at home?
It is possible that in the realization Of
the fact that our boys from north to
south, from east to west under the broil
ing sun of the antipodes. stood with de-
termined front to the foe, there should
be at home either Democratic or Repub-
lican, contractionist or epansionist-any
line other than American citizenship who
should not pray for victory for those
brave sons of ours? No question of poll
tics, or trimming of said. no debating Of
details. but Godspeed and triumph for the
men on the firing line. That is the pol
icy. the spirit, the grit which patriotism
calls for The Constitu-
ton is an American paper, and has no
bullets to fire into the backs of the men
who are awaiting Aguinaldo's attack.
This illustration completely defines our
position in regard to the present phase Of
the Philippines question
THE last three quotations I have made
are from different citizens and lelading
journals of three of the states whose citi-
zens a generation ago were in armed re-
sistance to the authority of this govern
ment and it is one Of the hopeful signs
of the times. and one that all true Ameri-
cans hail with infinite pleasure. that from
this section of the country come these
words Of lofty patriotism.
1T seems but yesterday when there
came from one of the Islands Of the sea
the cry of an oppressed people struggling
for liberty. No nobler act was ever done
by nation than that formed by the
United States wben its soldiers marched
away to strike of the manacles Of Span
ism oppression and bring liberation to the
Cubans And when the men who in other
days wore the gray. and the men who
the blue, marched side by side Dn foreign
soil beneath the same flag TO bring de-
liverance to the oppressed. and when
Roosevelt from the northland. and
Wheeler from the southland. marched
side By side in the same cause, fighting
the same battle 10 uphold the honor Of
the same flag, il made us all larger and
better Americans. and buried forever in
the black sea of oblivion the last yes
tige Of sectional feeling IN this country
between the north and the south: and
now that the strong sons Of Missouri and
Georgia and Kentucky are adding their
voices in sustaining the administration IN
IFS battles in the Orient 1t gives a new
and larger significance 70 American cItl-
zsnship and ought % bring the blush %
shame 10 those whose efforts would PIT
obstacles in the way Of the advancement
o. This government. or impede its onward
march IN the great cause Of free govern
ruart