The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1899-08-23
OUR ISLAND PROBLEMS
KEEP THEM ALL.

| the cherished OO]eCGS Wui0h hS en
his ancestors had venerated In IN
past. ... ~o
gress of history during the past twelv
months swept away absolutely AM
beyond recovery many time. .honore'
ideals of political life and action one
held by the people OF the Cnlte'
States. Overwhelmed and beWildere'
by the splendid progress of the Spar,
|ish war. the citizen suddenly nna
himself face to face with new aspect
of political life and action that thl
contest has pressed Immediately u
the front.
In the solution of new and weighty
questions of the hour, the citizen cal
no longer trust to the traditions OF tn
past. He must take new bearings II
view of the new political landscape II
which be finds himself.
In making the decision as to ou
Colonial Policy he must consider no
the traditions of the past, but the his
tory of the future.
In what condition does the NatloI
and the individual find itself to decide
upon these mementous questions?
Our Physical Supremacy.
The American citizen finds himsel
today a member of a nation which ha:
developed naturally, symmetrlcallJ
and enormously as race Inheritance
and a superb physical environment
has dictated from the first. In mere
material progress the advance OF the
Nation has far exceeded the widest
dreams that might have been baseo
upon the most eXtravagant standards
of the past. In a single century o1
national existence the Nation has
covered practically the same ground
that other peoples have painfully ira,
versed in the progress of a thousand
years.
Without undue pride, the American
people should today clearly realize
that the United States Is far and away
the most powerful nation the history
of the world has seen.
In population, in intelligence, in
the accumulated wealth, which makes
for success in peace or war, this nation
far outranks in effective power any
single nation Of the ancient or modern
world. The mere existence of 7O,0O0,'
900 intelligent people, living harmon
iously under one accepted govern
ment; seated securely is the single
largest area of fertile land upon the
globe of blood either inherited OF
assimilated, embodying the best
virtues of a race that has made history
for a thousand years ; safe from Sll
attack abundantly prolific; pacific
by disposition, yet of aboundlng sell.
other characteristics oi
this people present a spectacle of ma,
tional unity and power that should
make every American citizen proud OF
his race and land.
It should fill him. with just sense
of the responsibility resting upon him
as q member of the. race that has here
tofore, and must hereafter, shape the
history of the world.
Nor alone in intellectual and material
strength does this nation outrank any
Civilization of past or present times:
Its moral strength Is of a stamp and
vigor that renders doubly effective the
resources of land and intellect.
This combination of physical resour.
ces, vast population and moral vigor
united in new race whose veins are
filled with clean, fresh blood-unlike
the Latin peoples now tottering to the
grave-present phenomenon which
the worn peoples and tyrannical
of the European continent
will do we'll to consider in their law.
less and arbitrary division of the East
ern world.
With a full knowledge of our pre-.
ponderance with desire to mould
our policy according to what has been
considered right and moral among the
the best Civilizations of the past
above all, with firm faith in the Ger
man-Anglo-Saxon Civilization as
representing the best conception OF
Government and Morals that history
presents-with these things in view
should the American citizen approach
the duty of the hour.
Our Historic Views OF American
Destiny.
A people that has hitherto attended
strictly to its own affairs, and stud
iously remained within the limits OF
it's own continents, the United States
is today called upon to arrange the
destinies of three different peoples in
three different quarters of the globe
Happy, for an entire century, in the
universal belief that the nation would
never extend its boundaries beyond Its
own continent, the United States finds
itself to-day the embarrassed owner o.
colonies of whose acquisition its people
had never dreamed.
Foreign nations, judging our Civili'
zation by its own, can never be con
vinced that we had not cleverly plan
ned the acquisition Of these island:
beyond the sea. Happily, our owr
prepon derance and the knowledge O.
our own Integrity may render u!
totally Indifferent to what these for
eign nations think or do not think.
In solving the problem of oul
colonial domains, we are accountable
to ourselves alone.
Proceeding in due order, it may b,
said that our first founding was clear
ly a case of Manifest Destiny, long
thwarted in her efforts. Tht
Hawaiian civilization of today is {
product Of American hand and brair
that has been at work in this outlying
island for fifty years. The trade o
Hawaii is largely American. He
industries, material resources ant
accumulated wealth are almost who'll.
the result of American enterprise
But for American civilization Hawai-
would be to-day bowling canni
balistic isle, or a European non
productive colony, under the iron hee
of military law.