The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-12-21
SOME ELEMENTS OF DANGER.
The Safety of the Republic Is I'm the
Virtue of Its People.

/
current outlook in the United States
from the president of the Big Four
| Railway system, which is so sugges-
tive, and drawn upon lines so Jeffer-
| sonian. as to invite the serious atten-
ton of intelligent readers and to JUS
tify more than passing comment. Mr.
Ingalls, is a Democrat. Born, like so
many successful Americans, a farm
er's boy, he has merged the man of
affairs enough with the man of books
to evolve in one and the same per-
sonality both the thinker and the actor
upon the stage of real life. What
ever he says is weighty, because it
springs from mind richly endowed
and highly trained, and fortified by
varied experience.
In this latest contribution to the
reservoir of contemporary thought, Mr..
ingalls, recognizes the revolutionized
elepents no less than the momentous
problems with which we have to deal
Upon the very threshold of the new
century, as he clearly points out, po-
litical events and business conditions
are croWding each other so fast that
we stop and wonder what is to happen
next. New developments, new meth
DDS, new conditions, new obligations,
are upon us. To many the clouds in
the horizon have an angry look and
they fear for the future of the nation.
while optin1ists like Mr.. ingalls, may
not share their fears, they agree that
the national safety depends upon the
virtue and integrity of our citizens,
and 1T is just as well to look the sit
uatlon over and make up our minds as
to what should be done to meet the
danger If there be any In fact, there
is nothing better for an individual or
community than to stop and think
We rush along in our mad race, heed
less of the future. To many people the
close of the 18th century and the open
ing of the 10th century is not full of
promise for the higher ideals of life;
it seems to them that everything is
being sacrificed to the desire of get
ting rich; that religion, conscience,
truth and virtue are at a discount, and
the world only thinks of who will win
| in the race of piling up millions. 1t
is certainly time for serious thought.
Heretofore we have been e nation In
| insulation, a law unto ourselves, but
fast ships, cables, the intercourse of
people, the demands of commerce, cir
cumstances over which we had no con-
troll, have forced us from this position
and we stand forth to-day full-grown
| and compelled to take our share of the
responsibilities of the world.
Thus admirably and truthfully
sketching the situation, Mr.. Ingalls,
comes down to particulars, and in the
| following treats of the first and great
est of our outlying dangers:
The political ascendency of one
party by as large majority as the
| Republicans have had for some years
Of do
| condition for a republic is to have two
| parties, strong and evenly divided;
| then neither side will go very far
wrong for fear of the opposition.
THE great danger as to our foreign
| possessions is that, with our colonial
policy we shall drift along until in
fatal hour we will admit these differ
ent countries and islands as Terri
| tories, and then it is easy to make
| them States Then where will our
republic be, when presidents are elect
| ed by votes in Cuba, Porto Rico, Ha-
wall and the Philippines? You may
say that this can never be; that
! am supposing an impossibility, but let
me assure you that the danger is al
ready with us.
Hawaii has been admitted as a ter
ritory, and if by chance some party
in power should conclude that it need
| ed an electoral vote, 1t is very easy to
admit 1t as state, and then your
| presidential election may be decided in
| Honolulu. Do you dream that our Re-
public will last under such a condition
| as that?
Our mistake will be in drifting
along without providing safeguards
against the danger L have alluded to.
We should at once provide by con-
! stitutional provisions that no state
! could be admitted to this Union unless
it was composed of contiguous and
adjoining territory. This would cut
out Cuba, Porto Rico. Hawaii and the
| Philippines. Then we should create a
system of colonial government-or a
protectorate, as you please-so that we
may hold our trade and commerce in
| the Caribbean Sea, on the Pacific and
in the Orient. For the sake of extend
ing our trade we cannot trifle with the
life of a republic"
The crisis, as Mr.. ingalls, shows, is
upon hs. Our fleets and armies are
in the Orient; we are in possession of
new lands and countries; we stand,
as it were, sponsor for all the repub-
| lies and nations of North and South
America. When President Cleveland
took his stand in the Venezuela case
and the country supported him We
were committed to certain duties and
responsibilities in reference to all our
from them. The Spanish war and sub
sequnet negotiations placed on us the
burden of controlling and developing
other countries.
In connection with these imminent
and overwhelming international issues,
as Mr.. Ingalls, proceeds to show, we are
| confronted with further serious ques-
ton, which is continually raised and
| which must be considered-the strug-
gle between capital and labor. The
| organization of the most immense
trusts or corporations ever knows has
| brought this to the front. Certainly
4 there are grave issues to be settled by
us as people and as a nation. Are we
prepared to assume all these response
| bilities and can we successfully man
age them and still maintain our repub-
lie, still preserve "a government of the
people, for the people and by the peo-
ple?"
We quote the following:
rs there danger in the future from
the great business combinations that
are now being made--from the trusts?
You hear it on every street corner. At
every gathering men are inquiring and
discussing il. Has the struggle be-
tween capital and labor actually COM
menced and is the contest irrepressi-
BILE? My observation in the last twenty
five years has been that labor has
steadily won and capital lost in the
struggle which always exists more or
less. The compensation of labor has
constantly risen, the cost of the neces-
stiles OF life has decreased. On the
other hand, the earnings OF capital
have grown less and less each year,
| and the rasDOnsfbflitv. and trouble of