The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-01-10

Where do senator's find constitutional war
rant for any special kind of government
in territory belonging to the United
States?'' The language affirming our power
to govern such territory is broad the
requirements of all possible situations
And there is nothing in the Constitution
to limit that comprehensive language. The
very reverse is true. For power TO adj
minister government anywhere and in any
manner the situation demands would have
been In Congress IL the Constitution had
been silent; not merely because il is a
power not reserved TO the States or people:
not merely because it is a power inherent
In and an attribute of nationality; not even
because it might be inferred from other
specific provisions of the Constitution; but
because ii is the power most necessary for
the ruling tendency of our race-the ten
dency TO explore, expand and grow to sail
new seas and seek new lands, Subdue the
wilderness, revitaiize decaying peoples and
plant civilized and civilizing governments
over all the globe. For the makers of the
Constitution We're of the race that produced
Hawkins and Drake and Raleigh and
Smith and Winthrop and Penn. They were
the great exploring, pioneering. coloniZing
and governing race who went forth with
trade or gain or religious liberty as the
immediate occasion for their voyages, but
really because they could not help 1t; be-
cause the blood within them commanded
Them because their racial tendency is as
res1stless as the currents of the or the
process of the suns or any other elemental
movement of nature, of which the racial
tendency itself is the most majestic. And
when they wrote the Constitution thew did
not mean TO negative the most elemental
characteristic of their race, of which their
own presence in America was an expression
and an example. You cannot interpret a
constitution without understanding the
race that wrote it, And if our fathers had
intended reversal of the very nature and
being OF their race they would have so
declared In the most emphatic words our
language holds. But they did not, and in
the absence of such words the power would
remain which is essential to the strongest
tendency OF our practical race. to govern
wherever we are and to govern by the
methods best adapted to the situation But
our fathers were not content with silence
and they wrote in the Constitution the
words which affirm this essential and i'm
perial power.
WHOLE QUESTION ELEMENTAL.
Mr. President. this question is deeper
than any question of party politics, deeper
than any qestion of the isolated policy of
our country, even; deeper, even, than any
question of constitutional power 1t is ele-
mental. 1t is racial. God has not been pre-
pairing the English-speaking and Teutonic
peoples for a thousand years for nothing
but vain and idle self-contemplation and
standardization. No! He has made us the
master organizers of the world to establish
system where chaos reigns. He has given
us the spirit of progress to overwhelm the
forces of reaction throughout the earth
He has made us adopts in government that
we may administer government among saw
age and senile peoples. Were it not for
such force as this, the world would re-
lapse into barbarism and night. And of
all our race He has marked the American
people as His chosen nation to finally lead
in the regeneration of the world. This is
the divine mission of America, and it holds
for us all the profit, all the glory, all the
happiness possible to man. We are trustees
of the worlds progress, guardians of it's
righteous peace. The judgment of the mas
ter is upon us: 'Ye have been faithful over
few things; I will make you ruler over
many things
What shall history say of us? Shall II
say that we renowned that holy trust, left
the savage to his base condition, the will
derness to the reign of waste, deserted
duty, abandoned glory, forgot our sordid
profit, even, because we feared our strength
and read the charter Of our powers with
the doubter'S eve and the quibbfer'S mind?
Shall it say that, called by events to cap
tain and command the proudest, ablest,
purest race of history in historys noblest
work, we declined that great commission?
Our fathers would not have had it so. No!
They founded no paralytic government, in
capable of the simplest acts of administra-
ton. They planted no sluggard people, pas
sive while the worlds work calls them.
They established no reactionary nation.
They unfurled no retreating flag.
GODS HAND IN ALL.
That flag has never paused in it's onward
march. Who dares halt it now-now when
historys largest events are carrying it
forward-now when we are at last one
people, strong enough for any task, great
enough for any glory destiny can bestow.
How comes it that our first century closes
with the process of consolidating the
American people into unit just accom-
plished, and quick upon the stroke of that
great hour presses upon us our world OPP
portunity, world duty, and world glory
which none but people welded into an in
Invisible nation can achieve or perform?
Blind indeed, is he who sees not the hand
of God in events so vast, so harmonious,
so benign. Reactionary, indeed, is the
mind that perceives not that this vital peo-
pie is the strongest of the saving forces of
the world; that our place, therefore, is at
the head of the constructing and redeeming
nations of the earth; and that, to stand
aside while events march on is surrender
of our interests. betrayal of our duty as
blind as 1t is base. Craven, indeed, is the
heart that fears to perform a work so
golden and so noble; that dareS not win a
glory so immortal
Do you tell me that it will cost us
money? When did Americans ever meas
ure duty by financial standards? Do you
tell me of the tremendous toll required to
overcome the vast difficulties of our task?
What mighty work for the world, for hu-
mainly even for ourselves, has ever been
done with ease? Even our bread must we
eat by the sweat of our faces. Why are
we charged with power such as no people
ever knew, if We are not to use 1t in
work such as no people ever wrought?
Who will dispute the divine meaning of
the fable of the talents? Do you remind
me of the precious blood that must be
shed, the lives that must be given, the
broken hearts of loved ones for their slain?
And this is, indeed, a heavier price than
all combined. And yet as a nation every
historic duty have done, every
achievement We have accomplished, has
been by the sacrifice of our noblest
sons. Every holy memory that glori-
fies the flag is of those heroes who nave
died that its onward march might not be
stayed 1t is the Nations dearest lives
yielded for the flag that makes 1T dear to
us; it is the Nations most precious blood
poured out for it that makes it precious
to us. That flag is woven of heroism and
grief, of the bravery Of men and women's
tears, of righteousness and battle, of sac
rifice and of glory. 1t is these which make