The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1901-07-11
WHERE We LEAD.
Judge Day on Americas Posi-
tiOn as a World Power.

Put-in-Bay. O.. July 1L-Judge VIII
liam r. Day, former secretary of state.
was the principal speaker at the an
nual meeting of the Ohio Bar associa-
ton today. His subject was our
Place in the International Family
and he said in part:
THE United States is now regarded
as a factor and an important one IN
the solution of the worlds problem iu
which she Is interested. Foreign gov
ernnnents which have long neglected
claims arising from nistreatmeut Of
our citizens no longer permit disre-
spectful conduct towards them and are
not unmindful of their rights Ihe
world has come to know that to be an
American citizen in every quarter OF
the globe implies the protection of
nation alive to the interests of its citi-
zens, however distant, however hum
BILE This by no means indicates that
we have become or likely to be "A
world power in the sense that we
shall adopt the policy of promoting our
own aggrandizement at the expense or
weak and defenseless people 1t does
mean the maintenance of our rights
abroad where they may be assailed.
while the advent and results of the
Spanish-American war in sense
forced us to a seat at the international
council table where our interests are
involved. IL did not create the cOndi-
tions which sooner or later must have
brought us into closer relations with
invention has so annihilated space;
means of communication have so
brought the world together that II was
impossible long to avoid the true reiA-
ton which a strong and powerful ma
ton must sustain to world affairs. Du-
fortunately the time has not come when
nation can go a field claiming ITS
rights If unprepared to enforce them
without war this new relation would
have led to the building of a navy, be-
gun several years before the Spanish
4
the rights OF American citizens and to
maintain their treaty rights. that our
people might have the opportunity to
which they are entitled in competing
for the markets of the world
THE American people have an ex-
cusable pride in the influence which
our domestic institutions have given
this country in eniarging constitution
al rights under other forms of gov
ernment and encouraging people or
other countries to insist uDon the right
to govern themselves. The torch OF
liberty rightly shines at the gateway or
our country.
while our policy has to a great ex-
tent been one of isolation. it is grati-
flying to note that we have had an "a
hnence in the development and im-
proVement OF the worlds code Of in
ternationaI law to which civilized peo-
pie have given their common consent
in determining it's rights.
More than any country we have
taken the lead in enforcing the prin-
ciple of arbitration of international
disputes Nothing can be better set
tied than the purpose Of the American
government to maintain the Monroe
doctrine in its true Interpretation as
preventing the imposition Of mo1ar-
chical government upon unwilling
Americans or the further extension OF
colonization upon American soil
THAT our relations to the outside
world will be extended and opportunity
for trade and commerce greatly ad-
vanced can not be doubted We shall
have an isthmian canal
ss,rhis new touch with the affairs of the
world brings new opportunities and in
wolves new responsibilities Our widen
ing horizon Will give US clearer, as wei
as broader visions. We must prepare
to acouft ourselves in these new rela-
tions in a manner creditable to our tra.-
ditions. We must never lose sight ot
the fundamental principles Of our gov
ernment. This obligation is all the
more binding now that q decision ot
the supreme court of the United states
has made the government and disnosl-
ton of the islands practically one OF
policy to be determined BY the Amefi-