The Savannah morning news., 1902-04-27
SHAW ON AMERICA
UNADULTERATED GENERALIZATION
PREACHED.
IS A SIMoN-PURE IMPERIALIsT
SECRETARY HAS GLOWING VIEWS
OF FUTURE.


He Declares COmmercialism Was a
Big Factor in the Spanish-Ameri-
can War and That We Are Reap
ing and Have the Right to Reap
All the Benefits TherefrOm.
Pittsburg, April 26.-The sixteenth
annual dinner of the Americas Repub-
lican Club of this city, in commence
ration of the birthday of Gen. Ulysses
S. Grant, was held at the Hotel Henry
tonight, and because of the many
bright oratorical stars present, was one
of the most brilliant of the many ban
quets given by this we'll known organ
ization. Hon. P. C. Knox, Attorney
General of the United States, officiated
as POSTMASTER, and seated about him
were Hon. L. M. Shaw, Secretary and
Treasurer: Hon. H. c. Payne, Post
master General; Congressman C. E.
Littlefield of Maine, and others.
When full justice had been done the
menu, President Shaw of the Americas
Club, introduced POSTMASTER Knox,
who was heartily greeted.
Mr.. Knox said he was the bearer of
message from President Roosevelt,
regretting his inability to be present.
At the toastmaster's suggestion a
standing toast was drunk to the health
of the President of the United States,
which was followed by a silent stand
ing toast to the great general.
in commemoration of whose birth the
~ nnf~-lt Ion I.11l
Hon Charles E. Littlefield of Maine
was then introduced and responded to
the toast Grant
Mr.. Littlefield's- eulogy was received
with rapt attention, and at it's conclu-
sion Mr.. Knox introduced Hon. Leslie
M. Shaw, Secretary of the Treasury,
whose response to the toast Govern
mental Evolution" was greeted with
much applause.
Secretary Shaw hastily and in a few
words traced the development of the
country from scattered colonies to its
present commanding position as a uni
fed sisterhood of states.
The trend of thought he said, has
been ever towards a central govern
ment.'
He referred to the contending and
antagonistic schools of political
thought that during seventy years of
the national existence struggled for
supremacy. He did not intimate a. JUS
tification of the attempt on the part of
eleven states to establish a Confeder-
acy, but mentioned as he passed that
it had not been determined that a
state did not possess the right to with
draw at pleasure. He said it was by
no means certain that the Supreme
Court of the United States would have
unanimously held, prior to the war of
secession, had the question been prop
erly brought before it, that a state
might not secede. Thomas jefferson
usually, if not always, referred to the
United States in the plural number.
but" said Mr.. Shaw, "the court of last
resort rendered it's eternal decree at
Apponsattox that the United States is,
not are one and inseparable."
COmmerciaIism n Big Factor.
Referring to the war with Spain, he
said:
Disguise it as we will, deny it as we
may, the element of self-interest was a
factor in the equation in 1898. We were
masters of our own markets and were
reaching our for new ones. Yes, COM
mercialism, if you please, had touched
us, and so it was that our elf-interest
as we'll as our unselfishness were APP
pealed to. Then we gave notice to the
world that we proposed to police the
street on which we lived, and we chal-
lenged him who doubted our right to
step out into the open"
The Secretary then said that as a
result of the war the United States had
become the undoubted owner of Porto
Rico and the Philippine Archipelago
and the voluntary guardian of Cuba
What We Will Undertake Next.
1.-THE trend of thought and of events
has been toward a stronger central
government. If the door set ajar in
the spring of 1898 by the unanimous
vote of both houses of Congress ever
swings wide on its hinges, the United
States will police not only the street
on which it lives, but the entire West
ern hemisphere and with it all coun-
tries and all islands washed by the
Pacific. 1 give not audience to the
thought without misgivings, and
mention it only as the logical sequence
of the trend of our national develop
ment."
He then referred to the difficulty with
China, mentioning the fact that de-
tachment of the United States army
and a limited fleet from the United
States navy had been sent to the re-
lief, not only of our legation, but of
the legations of Christendom, in the
siege of Pekin, and that, too, without
an act of Congress. There was no prec-
edent for such a course, but there has
been no word of objection offered from
any source. Intensest partisanship has
not demurred to the proposition
that there is lodged in, the
executive of this nation authority to
protect, under any sky and ON any
soil the official representatives of the
great republic, the trend of thought
and the trend of events are still
towards a stronger government.
National Regulation Demanded.
There is now pending in the United
States court a suit begun by a rep
resentative of the executive depart
ment of this country to enjoin a great
corporation, organized under the laws
of a certain state, from owning, hold
ing and voting the capital stock, and
controlling the policy of GER
tain transportation companies
in a distant portion of the
country. Without expressing an
opinion as to probable results, it is in
teresting TO note that the most pro-
nounced disciples of state sovereignty
complain not of this action and utter
no other criticism than that Il should
have been commenced earlier. Note the
demand for national regulation of
railways, Of express companies, Of tel
egraph companies, Of insurance and of
trusts. Note the demand for Uniform
ity in labor laws, divorce laws, inter-