The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-02-23

will sit the labOrer; lifeless will be the
throbbing mill; deserted the producing
mine; chained 10 the rotting docks the SHIPS
of export. And this is true of the fabrics or
cotton and Of wool; true Of meats, nOur
and all the stuffs that feed and clothe the
human race. For other nations have fac
tories. too. Other nations spin and weave
and plant and SOW and reap. They viii not
always permit US TO supply their cluzens.
The words home marAet.' which yester-
day was our talisman. tomorrow Will De
theirs, and for the same reason that II was
once ours. Conditions have turned the Ia
bles; and where yesterday we asked pro-
lection from them, to-day they are oe-
handing protection from us. They VIII
erect tariff walls against US as we once
erected tariff walls against them Where,
then, shall we turn with our ships OF mer-
chandise? What. then. will be the destina-
tion of our weighted trains of freight? Not
to ourselves, for we are already supplied,
and it is our surplus that fills those ships
and burden those countless cars or com
merce. We cannot turn entirely to the ORR
ent, for that market is not yet sufficiently
understood although it will he. 1t is not
yet sufficiently exploited although 1t Will
be. 1t is not yet our monopoly. although II
will be. And when the Oriental market is
opened in its fullness and monopolized by
us: 1t will be our commercial and financial
salvation.
RECIPROCITY.
But that is a question for tomorrow.
We must consider the requirements of to-
day. We must turn to the instant need of
things We must make those common
sense arrangements with our neighbors
among the nations by which our surplus of
American products may be taken across
the seas. This is the craftsmanship of
common sense The eye of Blaine perceived
II in the distance, and too soon announced
its principle. The even more prophetic eye
OF Grant whose elemental craftsmanship
will be better appreciated a hundred years
from now than it is to-day, perceived 1t
even before Blaine saw it. And even if both
had failed to grasp it's meaning, that mean
ing would be unmistakabe at this hour,
for, gradually, foreign statesmen are clos
ing their markets to us. They will do II
more swiftly in the future than they have
done 1t in the past or else they will fail in
their duties to their peoples. The miracu-
louS growth of our export trade is lessen
ing; and on the other hand our productive
ness wakes until its magnitude to-day
makes little its proportions of yesterday
which then were wonderful.
Decreasing markets, increasing produc-
tions-this is the situation. 1t is not a stu
alton that calls for fanaticism in favor Of
any law; it is not a situation that calls for
fanaticism in favor of the destruction Of
any law. II Is a situation that calls for the
patient. intelligent adjustment of means to
ends. 1t is a situation that calls for mod
Grafton. 1t is a situation that calls for the
councils of conservatism. Out upon the sell
fish interest that would enrich itself at the
expense of the permanent prosperity of the
Nationi Out upon the passionate demand
for the destruction of all protection! Up
with the standard of moderation and let all
the forces of American cOnSerVa tiSm rally
around it! So shall employment continue
to wait labor. So shall investment con-
tinue to plead with capital. So shall this
marvellous American civilization. whose far
meaning even the most prophetic mind
cannot grasp to-day. continue to evolve out
of the play of our free and unfettered ac-
tivities.
OUR FOREIGN POSSESSIONS.
"It a wisdom higher than our own
that drove us into the markets of the
world. You may say that IT was the wis
dom of events. You may say 1t was the
wisdom that springs from the wealth Of
our resources and the ingenuity Of our
brains and the skill of our fingers. 1 prefer
to believe and do believe that 1t was a
higher wisdom still, the universal wisdom
of the Father And II was His wisdom, too
that placed in our guardianship new peoples
and alien races. You may say that ii is a
blunder that did that. / will not quarrel
with you. You may say that it was con-
junction OF circumstances. L Will not argue
the point Whatever the compelling cause,
the fact exists and the duty is ours. Call it
circumstance, call il events. call 1t blunder.
pies are our wards and we will not desert
them. Their lands are our trust and we will
not betray it. All will admit that if we
could succeed in discharging this trust so
that these dependent peoples would be
happier. our Nation better and the civiliza-
ton of the world thereby advanced, it
would be a noble conclusion for which the
most doubtful heart might yearn. All this
we may accomplish. All this will ac-
complish. Let no man doubt our ultimate
success, for we will proceed according to
the councils of conservatism. Moderation
will direct us.
I'VE daily hear dogmatic demands for the
independence of our Malay wards, without
considering concrete conditions Is This
m TC no Of
reason? Is 1t not better to find the facts
and fit our acts to these? Adaptablity is
the American characteristic. We are told
that self-government Is the American
characteristic. We are told that this apt
that is the American characteristic We
asked to frame our action upon this
tradition or that. regardless of changed
situations, of absolutely different facts
But adaptability is the American charac-
teristic Adaptability, adaptability. adapt
ability The fitting of means to ends, the
adjustment of measures to conditions-this
is the heart of Americanism.
SECRET OF AMERICAN SUCCESS.
THE secret of American success has been
that we have looked the facts squarely in
the face and then made our measures fit
those facts. We have done this regardless
of maxims, Indifferent to theories and even
over. the letter of our Constitution itself
when it stood in the way President Madi-
had no power to build a national highway
The power to make internal improvements
was not conferred on Congress by the Con-
stitution, he said. This was the view of the
fathers. Rivers, roads and harbors were
matters of local concern, they thought The
theory of self government, the sovereignty
of the State, the independence of the COM
munity. required that the national govern
ment should not better local conditions (
a river was nonnavigable at a point within
a State through which it ran, it was not
the mission of the general government to
dredge ii. Its care was in the keeping of
the people who lived upon its banks Local
self-government. they said. was an end and
not a means. But progress said that the
prosperity Of the people is the end. and To-
cal Self-gOvernment, general government
or any other kind of government nothing
but means Progress said, The logic OF
strict construction is built on words: l de-
mand logic built on facts. And so into the
written Constitution, the necessities of ma
uonal intercourse read the power of the
general government to make internal inn
provements. And to-day that power is so
much matter of course that not one man
in ten thousand knows that that power was
originally denied. Thus ii was that the spir-
il of American adaptabiity triumphed even
over the letter of the Constitution.
Business is the great expounder of our
fundamental law. Conditions cOnstrue our
Constitution more completely than all the
lawyers who ever lived Geography. inverl-
ton, exploration. are the immortal inter-
prefers of that great instrument. Noun
tains, rivers, plains and lakes, railways.
telegraphs. the planting of new communi-
ties, the discovery of new resources the
interchange of thought and products-to
these great natural and human facts the
spirit Of American adaptability has con-
formed ancient customs. hOnored tradi-
tons. written constitutions. There is no
written power in the Constitution for the
national government to charter banks, but
a man would be considered mad to-day