Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1899-09-23


the fortunes Of war aud the valor Of
our soldiers and sailors.
Being tails desperate need of ar
guments, IL is not strange that they
should have recourse to fiction. An at
tempt is made IN the Ohio Democratic
platform to excite TIE prejudice of GER
tain classes OF voters against the pres
eat administration by accusing it Of
an alliance with England. The people
who make this charge know 1t to he
untrue; their making 1t is an insult to
the intelligence of those whose votes
they seek by this great misrepresenta-
tion. But as one of their favorite
methods of campaign is to invent fic-
tlon too fantastic for contradiction,
and then to assume 1t to be true be-
cause it has not been contradicted, you
may permit me to take one moment to
dispose of this ghost story, as 1t refers
to the department with which am con-
nected. There is no alliance with Eng
land, nor with any other power under
heaven, except these known and pub
lished to the world, the treaties of or
binary international friendship for
purposes of business and commerce,
No treaty other than these exists; none
has been suggested on either side;
none is in contemplation. 1t has never
entered into the mind of the presi-
dent, nor or any member of the gov
ernment, to forsake, under any in
ducement, the wise precept and exam
pie of the fathers, which forbade en-
tangling alliances with European pow
erS.
need not dwell upon this fact. Even
the men who wrote the Ohio platform
know there is no alliance. But they
seek to make capital in this campaign
out of the undeniable fact that our re-
lations with England are more friend
ly and satisfactory than they have
ever been before. 1t is hard to take
such charge seriously; and if 1t Is
taken seriously, how can it be treated
with patience? In the name of COM
mon sense, let me ask what is the duty
of the government, if not to cultivate,
wherever possible, agreeable and prof
liable relations with other nations?
And if with other nations, why not
with that great kindred power which
stands among the greatest powers of
the world? What harm, what menace
to other countries is there in this nat
ural and beneficent friendship? Only
- S.it pnt,1I
in it anything exclusive. 1t is a poor
starved heart that has no room for
only one friend 1t is not with Eng
land alone that our relations are i'm
proved. We are on better terms than
in the past with all nations. With
Russia, our old-time friend; with the
great German empire, to which we are
bound by so many ties; with our sis
ter republic of France; with Italy,
Austria, and in short every European,
every Asiatic nation, our relations are
growing in intimacy and cordiality
every year; and our friendship with
our neighbors to the south of us, from
the Rio Grande to Cape Horn, grows
firmer, more genuine, day by day.
And why should it not be SO? Every
one likes to be on good terms with the
peaceable and the prosperous, espe-
cially if their prosperity is of that ma
ture that other people profit by it; and
this is precisely our condition. Our
trade is taking that vast development
for which we have been preparing
through many years of wise American
policy of sturdy American industry,
of thoughtful invention and expert
ment by trained American intelligence.
We have gone far toward solving the
problem which has so long vexed the
economists of the world - of raising
wages and at the same time lowering
the cost of roduction-something
which no other people have ever ac-
complished in an equal degree. We
pay the highest wages which are paid
in the world, and we sell our goods
to such advantage that we are begin
ming to furnish them to every quarter
of the globe. We are building locomo-
tIves for railways in Europe, Asia and
Africa; our bridges can be built in
America, ferried across the Atlantic,
transported up the Nile and flung
across a river in the Soudan in less
time than any European nation, with
start of 1000 miles, can do the work.
We sell ironwaTe in Birmingham; car
pets in Kidderminster; we pipe the
sewers of Scotch cities; our bicycles
distance all competitors on the conti-
nent Ohio sends watch cases to Cen
eva. All this is to the advantage of
all parties; there is no sci timent in
it; they buy our wares because we
make them better and at lower cost
than other people. We are enabled to
do this through wise laws and the
American genius for economy. Our
working people prosper because we
are all working people; our idle class
is too meager to count. All the ener-
gies of the nation are devoted to this
mighty task-to insure labor its ad-
equate reward, and so to cheaper pro-
duction as to bring the product within
the reach of the greatest number for
the least money.
OF course our prosperity would not
bring us friends if we held an attitude
of menace to other nations But this
we have never done, and hope and
believe we never shall do. We have
great latent military power; we are
capable at short notice of remarkable
military efficiency, but the habit and
spirit of the American people is essen