Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-08-27

WIFI TIE couiitTy Soutn OF us. III
could hardly have anticipated, no ON
could have, the Spanish war and it's eff
fects. In consequence of that wa
; Americas interest in the tropic island
to our south and the seas and coasts
surrounding those islands, is IA,
J greater than ever before. The Munro,
doctrine is simply statement Of on,
very firm belief that on this continent
the nations now existing here must b.
left to work out their own destinie.
among themselves and that the con.
tincnt is no longer to be regarded as
colonizing grounds for any Europear
power.
4, The one power on the continent tina,
can make that doctrine effective is. al
course, ourselves; for in the world as il
is, gentlemen, the nation which ad-
vances given doctrine likely to inter-
fere in any way with other nations
must possess power to back it up If she
wishes the doctrine to be respected.
We stand firmly on the Munroe doc
trine, and the events of the last nine
months have rendered it evident tina.
we shall soon embark on the work of
excavating the isthmian canal to con-
! NtCl tue lN' SicuS oeOaho~d NOfk.
destined to be probably, the greatest
engineering feat Of the Goth century,
! certainly a greater engineering feat
than has ever yet been successfully at
tempted among the nations of man.
kind: and as it is the biggest thing of
it's kind to be done I am glad it is the
United States that is to do it. CAP
plause).
Now gentlemen, whenever a nation
undertakes to carry out great des-
! tiny it must make up it's mind that
| there will be work and worry, labor,
and perchance, risk in doing the work.
1t is with a nation as it is with an in
| dividual; if you are content to at
! tempt but little in private life you may
| be able to escape a good deal of worry,
but you won't achieve very. very much.
| The man who attempts much must
make up his mind that there now and
then come days and nights of worry;
there will come even moments of SEEM
ing defeat, but out of the difficulties we
! wrest success. And so it is with the
nation. 1t is not the easy task shat is
| necessarily the best.
Passing through your streets / see,
as is natural to a city having a great
Soldiers Home in it's neighborhood
many men who fought in the great war
for the Union, and no state relatively
to it's resources did more splendidly
gallant and efficient work than Maine
in that mighty struggle, (applause),
and the reason the Union cause tr-
umphed then was because our people
had in their hearts deep down the con-
viction that there We're certain things
which far outweighed ease, pleasure,
material success or even life itself
In 81 the easy thing to do was to let
the seeding states go. Not only the
timid selfish men, but the very good
men who did not think deeply enough
said that. in addition to the very good
men who were faint of heart. That
was the easy thing to do and if our
would be walking with his head as hign
as he now holds it, for this country
would have embarked upon a career
both mean and contemplate, a career
of being split up into half a dozen
Squabbling little rival nationalities. We
won out because our fathers had iron
in their blood. because they dared
greatly and did greatly, because when
they were convinced where their duty
lay they resolutely did it no matter
what the cost.
During the last four years we have
had certain lesser duties, but still i'm
portant ones. presented to the nation.
The war with Spain itself was q slight
struggle, an easy one, calling for
the exercise of but a fraction of the
nations giant strength. But follow
ing that war there came some real and
serious difficulties which commanded
the exercise on the part of this nation
of qualities not altogether remote from
those shown in the great days. the days
of the Civil war. The demand upon us
during this crisis for the qualities
shown from 81 to '65 was nothing like
as great as it was in that time, but it
did not differ greatly in kind; the de-
gree was much less, but the kind of
quality demanded was much the same.
We found ourselves for instance. in
the Philippines in possession of great
growth of tropic islands whose people
had moved upward very unequally
certain distance from savagery and
subsection, but whose people We're
wholly unable to stand alone. If we
went out of the Islands 1t was certain
that they would fall into black chaos
and Savagery. 1t was certain that
some other stronger power would step
in to do the work which in such case
we would have failed to perform
Now the easy thing to do was to get
out of the islands. and, as in 81 all the
men of little faith wanted to get out.
Every man who wanted to avoid
trouble. every man who put the avoid
ance of trouble above everything else.
and even the good men whose thoughts
did not strike down to the root of
things, wanted to get out. But exactly
as in 81 the heart of the people rang
true.
The average common sense of the
American people determined our course
far more than the leadership of any
one man. The average sense of the
American people was that we had got
ten into the islands. we had put our
hands to that job and we had to see it
through. And we have been seeing it
through. (Applause).
1t was not very easy. There was
great deal to puzzle and bewilder us.
| The warfare was carried on under very