Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-06-21
American sympathizers, the insurrec-
ton in the Philippines would long ago

tlOn IN the FnlllpplneS would long ago
Z have ended.
The obstacles to the establishment OF
8 civil government in the islands are
many, but we shall overcome them.
Mistakes will undoubtedly be made,
but we shall remedy them. We shall
in time extend over that archipelago
the aegis of our protection and of free
government, and we shall gradually
but surely, lift these alien and savage
races into the light of civilization and
christianity. Meanwhile, American
enterprise and ingenuity and push may
be depended upon to develop the re-
sources of the islands, and make them
an added source of wealth to our coun-
, try. The wise craftsmanship of the
president and our able secretary of
state has already brought from the
countries of Europe recognition OF
our right to share in the vast CONNER
1 cial advantages which will follow the
opening of the Chinese empire to for
eign trade; the Nicaraguan canal will
be soon constructed; Hawaii, with it's
valuable harbor, is ours; we possess
the best of the Samoan islands, with
its magnificent roadway; the Philip
pines are almost at the door of China,
and if counsels of fear do not prevail,
this generation will see the American
nation girdlipg half the globe with its
flag, extending its foreign commerce to
the uttermost parts of the earth, and
taking its place among the great world
nations,> power for good, for peace,
and for righteousness.
Never since '64, when the voters of
the country were called upon to deter
mine whether the efforts of Abraham
+ Lincoln to preserve the Union should
be continued, or whether they should
be abandoned and other measures at
tempted, have questions so vital been
presented to the American people for
settlement. Their decision must deter
mine the maintenance or the degrade
ton of both our national credit and
our national honor. Ademocratic pre-
sident could paralyze the operation of
the new currency law as effectively as
II 1T were wiped from our statute
books. A democratic victory would in
:. fuse new life into the Tagal insurrec-
1lon, cost US the lives of thousands of
our gallant army in the Philippines,
impair or destroy our prestige, if not
s our power, in the islands, make us a
pyWord among the other great nations
OF the world, and obliterate our infu-
ence in the settlement of the vital ques-
tions certain to arise when China shall
be opened to foreign commerce.
There is little room for fear. The
farmer and the artisan in their day of
prosperity still remember the impov-
erishment and blight of democracy, and
the Chicago platform has no allure
ments for them
Our national honor is equally secure.
lhe American people are neither pol
troons nor pessimists, and they will
not signalize the dawn of the new cen
! fury by the surrender of either convic-
tions or territory. Every soldier back
from the islands, and they are in al
most every hamlet in the land, returns
an advocate of their retention. Our
dead are buried along the sands of Lu-
1 zon, and ON its soil no foreign flag shall
ever salute the dawn.
High Aims for Future.
Whatever may be in store for us in
the new and unbeaten track upon
which we are entering, we shall not be
found with the unlit lamp and the
ungirt loin." Our way is new, but it is
not dark. In the REIMBURSEMENT of
world-eonditions where we must take
our place with the other great nations
of the earth. we shall move with eau
tion, but not with fear. We seek only
to lift up men to better things. to bless
and not to destroy. The fathers of the
Republic accepted with courage such
responsibilities as devolyed upon them.
The same heavens bend over us, and
the same power that shielded them
will guard and protect us, for what we
seek is to build still more firmly, al
ways upon foundations of probity and
of virtue, the glorious edifice Of the re-
public.
We stand at the dawn of the new
century. Before it shall have reached
Its meridian the youngest here will
have passed beyond this life or beyond
the sphere of usefulness. New recruits
will step into the ranks as we fall out.
This very year thousands of young
men will for the first time exercise the
right of citizenship and cast their bal
lots at the national election. The safe
ty of this republic must ever rest in
tiiS ESouA dSc VI young uSdItS Hnu Une
vigor of a noble manhood Youth is
buoyant and hopeful. No snarling
criticism, or gospel of little America,
or prophecy of despair, will find re-
Spouse from hearts that beat full and
strong with courage and with faith,
and whose creed it is that
Gods in His heaven,
Ais right with the world"
Whatever else in the past has suffered
change or decay, the republican party,
which for forty years has been identi-
n fed with everything ennobling and up
lifting in our history, was never as Vi
tai, as virile, and as vigorous as today.
And the heritage we shall transmit to
the new century, to the coming gener-
alton and to their children, and to their
children's children, shall be record
clean and untarnished, an unquencha-
BILE faith in free institutions, an unal-
terable belief in the patriotism of the
people, and an undying love of liber-
ty and Of country.
DIR. Swenson Is President