The Saint Paul globe., 1900-04-15
A sANE-MAD AMERICAN.

about TO build steamships for the Pacific
trade that will carry $4,000 tons of freight,
or a third more than any Atlantic liner
afioat. That he will have the first ready
for use by the fall of 1901.
The imagination is a great factor in
The worlds affairs. When linked to the
science of small things, it is prodigious
in its consummations. From curves.
tangents and grades, to switches frogs
| and transfer yards, Is from conception to
birth and breeding, and the Imagination
| has not then had much chance at the
world. But from the end 4ef the railroad
| line at deep water off across the seas and
! oceans. to new peoples and new markets.
the imagination. sweeps like the swells of
the tide. TO build great railroad sys-
tenn, valued at $2a. .0a0,0 GOO, is worth the
work of any mans lifetime But to ac-
compiish that, and still have left the
| vigor of sixty years, to enter upon new
| campaigns, new projects, and to dream
| of conquests upon other continents, that
is the glory of power. The same mind
that promised ten years ago to build YES
/ sells OF 1000 tons capacity on the great
lakes. as soon as the channels had been
deepened, and that sees,its promise full
filled twice over-for 1000 to 5000 tons
are now common cargoes on those inland
| seas-proposes now to make jump Of
twenty years. into the future. 1t has
learned something of the tensile strength
of steel and. iron, of the capacity of steel
| beams and girders to carry a burden,
and VIII step into the traffic of nations
with the same gusto that carried him
| over state lines and across the continent
to the coast.
The old Grecians said that the sky
vaulted because Hercules was beneath it.
There IS something in It; for every strong
man adds to the sky line of. human en-
deayor, and sets new stars In the flrma-
neHt of his people. The Maeedonians
were bqrbarians until Alexander came.
The Gauls had been whipped for seven
teen centuries until Bonaparte arrived.
Both men of the imagination, of the
sword and spear. and of. gunpowder The
combination Is irresisuble-the poet and
the man of affairs, the martial spirit
and the care for commerce. the scout and
the engineer.
1t is barely a month since the country
went wild over am injustice to a new
possession. which predtcated such action
by the government at Washington as
would apapder to thessilly fears of cigar
makers that a few million Tagafogs would
swamp the Tabor markets of the country,
If given free trade with their own coun-
try. AS ifathe. cigarmakers and cotton
mill operatives of the East had not al
ready gone through an experience Of the
sort and come out whole, in the case of
the cheap labor of the Southern states.
1t willestin take twenty years for the
mills of the South to do justice to their
own fields, with cheap labor on all sides
of them. Half century has already
gone by since the Southern slaves were
set at liberty. and England and Germany
are still making cotton goods for the
world. Eight millions of Filipinos, 600
miles away, are far less dangerous to
the labor markets of this country than
were 100000 back men at the close of
the War of the Rebellion. The Iabering
man of the United States must learn not
to set up his men of straw at every turn
of the international wheel Whether
the Puerto Rican bill came from the
laboring mems organizations or from the
sugar trust, those 2O,000-ton steel ships
will have to have the benefits of the
coastwise navigation laws between Seat
tie and Manila. Given that, and the two
great trahscontinental Zines that cross
Minnesota will do justice to their stock
holders, and will truly need transfer
yards at Seattle ard Superior to aston
ish Buffalo or Chicago.
Let the sugar trusts and tobacco trusts
beware. This. new Lord Nelson has the
blood of the vikings surging in him, and
the iagless courage of the Celt He is
out of and OF the North, where the mag
netic currents are strong. The northern
lights are his beatitudes, and the sun
does not set upon his resolution He
can run a railway station and he can
finance. He is already fully advised of
all the contents and possibilities Of the
Chinese empire and of the oceanican
archipelago. His agents have been
abroad for years. His haste and his an
nouncement Of his plans are only the
putting of his best foot forward to keep
along with the leader of the band. His
appeal to the country will be more pow
erful than that of the trusts. for It Will
get the imaginatinns of the people To
perform. that is the test of the man OF
power. To win battle is to have the
country with you. And the conception
of the 29,90e-ten ships is as vast and as
startling in It's possibilities as was the
performance of Dewey at Maniia-the
| one was the John the Baptist for the
Eother Empire shouts for him, and
statesmen may well listen. at his key
| hole He is the reasonable hope of the
! SFest--tae symbol of exports and imports.
OF gold exchange and of aggregations Of