The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-10-11
M,EINiGys WORDS

The beginning of this century was tine
occasion for tF publication of many
reviews in newspapers and magazines
OF the progress OF the nineteenth con-
tury and of many books reviewing at
greater length the same subject But
none Of Thorn In mastery strokes and
vivid sketchng equaied the compre-
hensiveness and certainty the few short
paragraphs President Mckinley devot-
ed To the subject in his last great adj
dress at the Pan-American Exposition
What could exceed IN beauty and in
civeness these words from that speech.
After ALL how near one to the other
is every part of the world Modern in
ventions have brought into close rela-
tion widely separated peoples and made
them better acquainted Geographic
and political divisions will continue 10
exist. but distances have been effaced.
Swift ships and fast trains are becom-
ing cosmopolitan. They invade fields
which a few years ago were impene-
trabe The worlds products are ex-
changed as never before and with in
creasing transportation facilities come
increasing knowledge and larger trade.
Prices are fixed with mathematical pre-
-cision by supply and demand The
worlds selling prices are regulated by
market and crop reports. We travel
greater distances in shorter space Of
time and with more ease than was ever
dreamed of by the fathers. Isolation is
no longer possible, or desirable. The
same important news Is read, though in
different languages, the same day in
all Christendom.
THE telegraph keeps us advised of
what is occurring everywhere, and the
press foreshadows, with more or less
accuracy, the plans and purposes Of the
nations. Market prices of products and
of securities are hourly known in every
commercial mart, and the investments
of the people extend beyond their own
national boundaries into the remotest
parts of the earth Vast transactions
are conducted and international ex-
changes are made by the tick of the
cable Every event of interest Is i'm
mediately bulletined The quick gather
ing and transmission of news, like rapid
transit,are of recent origin, and are
only made possible by the genius of the
inventor and the courage of the inves-
tor. 1t took a special messenger of the
Government, with every facility known
at the time for rapid travel, nineteen
days to go from the city of Washington
to New Orleans with a message to Cen
eral Jackson that the war with England
had ceased and a treaty of peace had
been signed How different now. We
reached General Miles, in Porto Rico,
and he was able through the military
telegraph to stop his army on the firing
line with the message that the United
States and Spain had signed protocol
suspending hostilities. We knew al
most instantly of the first shots fired at
Santiago, and the subsequent surrender
of the Spanish forces was known at
Washington within less than an hour of
its contamination. The first ship of
Cervera's fleet had hardly emerged
from that historic harbor when the fact
was flashed to our Capital and the
swift destruction that followed was an
nounced Immediately through the Won
derful medium of telegraphy.
$50 accustomed are we to safe and
easy communication with distant lands
that it's temporary interruption, even In
ordinary times, results in loss and in
convenience. We shall never forget the
days of anxious waiting and suspense
when no information was permitted to
be sent from Picking, and the diploma
tic representatives of the nations in
China, cut off from all communication,
inside and outside of the walled capital,
were surrounded by an angry and mis-
guided mob that threatened their lives
nor the joy that thrilled the world when
a single message from the Government
of the United States brought, through
our Minister, the first news of the safety
of the beseiged diplomats"