The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-12-31
The Good Old Year.

I 1t is q year Of no common signifi-
canoe to the United States and to the
world to which we must say goodbye
upon the stroke Of midnight. Standing
on the threshold OF new era, full Of
the prophetic tremor that tells Of great
things to come, It IL worth while to
cast one glance backward and say
word in memory and in praise Of the
days that are gone and the things that
are written on times enduring record.
1t has been an anxious year. an
eventful year, a year that stands out
large and full of meaning upon the
worlds great calendar. In this day as
of old the chapter to which men turn
first Ii that Of struggle. One great war
was terminated formally and another
was begun since the dawn Of New
Years day, 1899. Within our present
annals falls the ratification of the treaty
Of peace with Spain. Within 1t also we
may place the breaking down Of armed
rebellion in the Philippines, although
desultory and intermittent fighting con-
tinues there. From this year will date
the real freedom of Cuba, the linking
with our own of the destinies of Porto
Rico. the beginning OF the uplift Of CIV
ilization and enlightenment In the Phil
ippines.
Scarcely had the last Spanish gun
been silenced before the alarm Of COM
bat sounded in South Africa. Briton
and Boer are locked therein the grip
of death struggle that enlists the In
terest and the sympathy Of the world
on either side. From what seemed to
be swift and easy extension Of Inn
perial boundaries. this has developed
into a contest that shows the possibility
of the rise of new state and the de-
feat of mighty world-power. Out of
1t may come we know not what ebulli-
tons of ambition and unrest. For the
old warlike spirit is not dead, and out
of every grapple of man with man there
spread like exhalations the STRINGS Of
a primeval love of combat and lust of
power.
In the short recess between these wars
sounded the brief note Of cali to uni
versal peace. The conference that met
at The Hague will stand in future
chronicles as the first formal and uni
versal expression of the growing desire
of the peoples for the abolition of war.
1t will appear also as the embodiment
Of hope. a dream, an ideal for the
future. 1t moved and rose and futtered
white against the sky. only to beat
helpless wings against the limitations
where. The millennium waits not upon
agreements or protocols or acts of par
lament or congress. 1t Is conditioned
on those fundamental changes in human
nature that grow slowly through the
quiet ages. War will cease when the
passions OF men are moderated into
harmony with Justice: when fierce de-
sire melts into the holy passion for the
good of all mankind. 1t Is man and not
men by whose rise we will pass within
the gates of Utopia.
In all the vast multitude OF details
that constitute the actual life Of this
humming hive that we call the world.
the dying year has been kind to as. 1t
has seen prosperity march in like an
army with banners. 1t has brought to
our lips the fruit that was ripening
through less happy years. 1t has
pushed forward our country to the first
rank among the nations. Industry has
flourished and inventive genius wrought.