The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-07-12
The Wider View.


The view of our national duty so elo-
quently expressed by Mr.. VIII II.
citation is the view that appeals to in
telligent and patriotic Americans with
out distinction OF party creed. 1t is
the view which is bound to prevail in
the future policy of our government.
Were II not so, we would be fit only TO
shrivel into the dry husk OF a nation
whose vital principle has turned to
dust. 1t is joyfully significant of the
vlrility and the proud determination
of this people of ours that no personal
or political associations can blind their
eyes or deaden their hearts in the pres
ence OF this great issue. They are in
favor of an America that goes march
ing on.
II is upon this bread OF life that we
have subsisted since our national in
fancy. Always there have been those
who insisted upon the policy of exclu-
sion who declared that the American
people. having achieved for themselves
the triumph that gave them liberty,
should build wall about them, shut
tight the gates and sit down in selfish
isolation to enjoy the blessings denied
to others. These were the people who
abused jefferson for the Louisiana pur-
chase and called him dictator: who OPP
posed the annexation OF Texas as an
act of criminal aggression upon a
friendly power; who branded the ac-
QUESTION OF California as robbery by
force of arms; who treated the purchase
OF Alaska with bitter contempt And
always the true national spirit has
pushed them to one side, as this people
of ours pressed on unerringly to the
work appointed them to do.
They tell us that our only function as
a republic is to show TO the world the
blessings that follow liberty and self
government and let them profit by the
example No man and no naticn ever
was content with that and escaped de-
terioration and shame. Forever stands
that Pharisee on the street corner as
a representative OF those who SO con-
strue their duty. persuading others TO
come to him by thanking God publicly
that he is not even as they. The spirit
Of sufficiency. the denial q direct re-
sponsihilty, the failure to accept the
work that presents Itself day by day
Is the beginning Of the decline Of ma
tional spirit. the emblem OF a sure de-
cay.
The great Americans, through all our
history, have been satisfied In dreams
Of their country's future with nothing
less than a worldwide domain for their
IDEAS when liberty and justice should
encompass the earth. and the rights OF
the meancst be established with the
highest. then only should the mission
Of the republic be fulfilled But how do
We accomplish the triumph OF truth7
Not merely by sitting down and waiting
for IT to come into It's kingdom without
the helping OF our hands. il Is the mis-
sionary spirit that has carried every
great religious movement. every revo-
luton in political IDEAS. beyond the mar
row confines Of sect and community.
lie whose desire s;ops short Of free In
siituuons FOR al The peoples OF the earth
Is not himself fitted TO be free.
We looSfurWard and see a world en-
fraHchlsel from Ignorance. from super
suton. from The low vices of the say.
axe from the tyranny % despotlc rulers.
II shl mot come without effort ana sac
rGce- Nothing inherently worthy 4,
born except through travail. II will not
accomplish Itself ike the tracery that
DEVELOPS upon the sensitive plate Of a
camera Looslng nothing Of our hold
upon the principles on which this gov
eminent is founded. 3, ls law ~ our
own hfe that we should carry them
hereyer the way opens To refuse
would be the coward and the dastard's
part. These are the IDEAS. the convic-
lions, the high moral resolves that make
the word expansion" like a kindl!nx
blaze as Il sweeps through the thought
and suFs the high passion " the Amer
loan people II is the eternal ..,or-