The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-01-02
GEN. HARRIsoN's COLUMBIA CLUB
SPEECH.

While all the speeches at the Columbia
Club banquet were very good ii would have
been surprising if General Harrisons had
serious thoughts he combined some in Il
lighter vein. introducing touches of wit and
humor that always embellish an after-din-
ner speech, no matter what its other mer-
its may be. An ex-President has to be care
full what he says. and even his humor must
be dignifed, but General Harrison never
makes a bad break-a remark, by the way,
that was often made during his memorable
speechmaking campaign of 1885, Nothing
could have been more wittily put than his
"reminiscences of Hail Columbia In the
army, his treatment of the idea of decapi-
tating ex-Presidents the moment their sue
cessor in office is sworn in. and his cutting
but good-natured allusion to the present
decentralization of the Democratic party.
Among the higher thoughts were the
allusion to America, or as he said it should
have been called, Columbia, as the birth
place of freedom-'the republican half of
the world-the hemisphere without a king
on the ground-the reserved world, where
God sent the trodden spirits of men to be
revived; to find. where all things were
primitive, mans primitive rights On the
same plane was his brief but pointed dis
cussion of the difference between the real
divine rights of men and the miscalled
divine rights of kings. His few sentences
ON this head contained a great deal of
thought Following this the speaker said:
II have no argument TO make, here or
anywhere. against territorial expansion, but
1 do not, as some do, look to expansion
as the safest or most attractive avenue of
nations development" Then he eulogized
attractive than territorial. To the Journal it
seems that while commercial expansion
certainly does offer an almost limitless
and very inviting field of national activity
there may be times when territorial ex-
pansion becomes almost a national duty. III
there are any who regard territorial ex-
pansion with favor as the safest or most
attractive avenue of national development
in the sense of making ii fixed national
policy, the Journal is not aware of the
fact. A political party that should declare
in favor of territorial expansion per-
manent policy would surely be repudiated
by the American people. The policy can
only be defended when some great crisis
or unexpected turn of events seems to make
1t imperative, unavoidable or essential to
the maintenance of national honor. Every
acquisition of territory the United States
has made from the beginning has been de-
Tended on special grounds connected with
each case and not on the ground that
general policy of territorial expansion
should be pursued. One of the reasons
ton of Hawaii in his message transmit
ting the treaty to the Senate was that cit
is the only course that will adequately Sc
cure the interests of the United States"
The taking over of Porto Rico and the
Philippines was the only possible chance
for the United States to secure war indem-
nifty from Spain. and it looked at the time
as IL 1t were the only course that would
adequately secure the interests of the
United States. The opposition of the Fill
pinos could not possibly have been fore
seen at that time. General Harrison also
said In his message recommending the
annexation of Hawaii: cit is essential that
none of the other great powers shall Sc
cure these islands. Such a possession
would not consist with our safety and with
the peace Of the world The same is true
of Porto Rico, from which we expelled
Spain. and of the Danish West India
islands. which are now in the market under
circumstances that almost compel the
United States to buy them. Thus it will ap-
pear on close examination that every ac-
QUESTION of territory is justified on the
ground Of peculiar advantages or peculiar
circumstances rather than on the ground
of pursuing territorial expansion as a fixed
policy and means of national development