The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1901-05-03

Ae@0s wv ~ WI ~
the interior, or on the coast of the
Atlantic or of the Pacific, we are
bound in every way, by every tie of
patriotism, by every consideration of
that loftier kind of self-interest which
looks far into the future. to help in
all measures which tend to upbuild
any part of the nation, confident that
thereby we can most surely upbuild
the nation in it's entirety. Our inter
ests, whether in the Gulf of Mexico,
in Central America, or in the Philip
pines, whether as regards the nations
of Europe or the ancient peoples of
Asia, are to be looked AZ always from
the standpoint of our, people as a
whole.
1t is, Of course, impossible that we
should undertake these new duties
across the e a without being brought
into closer and more frequent contact
with foreign nations than has been
the case in the past; and indeed our
mere growth in wealth and population
would alone ensure such growing
frequency of contact. This should
necessarily mean an increase in So
briefly and in long-headed s~elf-restrain-
ing when we deal with these foreign
powers. To buster. and above all
to buster and then back down. is a
very bad trait in an Individual, and if
possible it is an eve worse trait in
a nation. We earnestly hope and be-
lieve that in the future the chance of
any military complication will be
small indeed; but in u commercial
relations with foreign powers difficult
questions are almost certain to be
more frequent hereafter than they
have been hitherto. In all such ques-
lions we must of course first consider
our W interests; but we must also
realize that in the long run we can
best get justice by doing justice.
Above all, let us for the sake of our
s~elf-respect see to it that our public
men understand the peculiar unwis-
dom of the loose tongue in dealing
with any foreign, and especially with
any friendly foreign nation. Vain
glorious boasting, and readiness in
frothy denunciation of others, are not
the signs of a strong man in private
life; nor does the public man who re-
sorts to such ex%pedients tend to ele-
vate his people either in their own
eyes or in those of other nations. Let
us insist firmly upon our rights, but
let II ever remember that temperate
language goes best with a readiness
to perform great deeds, and that we
should be equally careful not to get
into trouble needlessly, and if we
to get into it. always to get out
of it honorably.
The only way to play a great part
we'll is to do well each of the lesser
thing which in the aggregate make
up that great part. The way to fit
ourselves to do any great world duty
in the future is properly to perform
the particular duties of the present.
Since the close of the war with Spain
our chief problems as regards the out
side world have been those in Cuba,
the Philippines and China. We have
a right to feel proud of the way in
which in our action as regards all
three we have been able to combine
a proper disinterestedness with a
just regard for our w national inter-
ests.. We have neither failed in our
duty to ourselves, nor in our duty to
We could not afford to take
upon ourselves world burdens with
out paying heed to what is due to our
Still less could we afford to
take them up unless willing to per-
form them in accordance with the
of the higher law and with a
view to the ultimate benefit of man
kind at large. In other words, we
must approach this work, if we expect
to do it well, just as we approach our
at home-failing neither in the
qualities OF the head nor in those of
heart. To be merely sentimental
would of cours result not simply in
heavy damage to u.s., but in irrepar- |
able wrong to those on whose behalf
our sentimentality was nominally ex-
ercised. To act in a spirit of cold
neatred selfshness would be perhaps
more for outsiders, but would be
even more destructive to ourselves.
AS regards China l need say
out little, for it is hardly worth vast
ng breath on the very few who crit
else our Chinese policy. We have
simply performed our part in a bit of
International police duty; we, at any
ate, have neve sought aggrandize-
nent as a result of our action; and
whoever feels We were not justified
n what we did ought logically to OBJ
ect to all exercise of the police power
1t home. There was no more mil
tarism' in what was done by us in
jhina than there is 'militarism' when
policeman arrests a highway robber
II murderer. We would have been
with infamy had we no
AIKEN immediate measures to put a
top to the unspeakable cruelties Of
boxers, and to protect our accred-
representatives at Pekin from the
attack upon them. All
iyiliZed nations were a unit in this
natter, and it is greatly to the credit
f u government that we were
mong the few who we're ready to act
time; that the gallant force under
allant General Chaffee was a part
f the expeditionary army which
cached Pekin in the nick of time to1
vert a fearful tragedy. Proud, in
eed, should we be as Americans
hat the stars and stripes 1uttered
mong the flags whose approach
leant safety from torture and MUIR
er and worse than torture and muir
or RI tho huntad uyoron and ohildron