The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1902-07-16
ONE NATION. ONE PEOPLE
The Spirit tofNationality is Stron-
ger Today Thar at Any Pre-
viOus Period IN American
History.

History.
Foreigners who have not studied
the United States intelligently.
and whose assumption of knowl-
edge on the subject is generally
in fair proportion to their ignor-
ance. cannot comprehend the
strength and force of the patriot
ism which prevades evesy section
of the Union, and every class of
citizens They see the distinction
of character, almost radical, be-
tween the South and the North,
the East and the West. They know
that millions of American people
are of alien birth, and that millions
more are children of parents born
abroad. They see the race prob
lem still unsettled in the South,
and they imagine that the issues of
the Civil War await only an op-
portunity to be tried again ON the
battle field. Hence they draw the
conclusion that the American Re-
public is composed of elements too
discordant to be national, in the
real sense of that word.
The truth is that the national
spirit is as strong in America as in
any country in the world, and far
stronger than most of the mon-
archies of Europe Great Britain
and Ireland, for instance, consti-
tute the Omitted Kingdom" yet
the Englishman, the Scotchman
and Irishman remain English,
Scotch and Irish, just as before the
Union. Ask Scotchman his ma
tive land, and he would answer:
"Scotland"-not "Great Britain"
and it goes without saying that
Irishmen are distinctly and ag-
gressiveIy Irish. Ask man from
Maine or Florida, or Iowa, or Cali
fornia, his nationality, and his an
swer would be "American" His at
tachment to his native State might
be strong, but his sense cf nation
ality is immeHsurably stronger.
Europe has it's Austro- HLngar-
ian monarchy,-a sort of organized
truce between hostile races and
states; its union of Sweden and
Norway. the Norway continually
tugging at the chain; its German
Empire, with Prussian bayonets
bristling from every battlement,
and the spirit of German nation
ality struggling to break the bonds
of feudalism. The American Union
is not like any of these. 1t is q
real union, composed of states,
whose borders define a civil juris-
diction, but do not limit or confine
the spirit of nationalism.
One of the most significant indi-
cations of the growth of national
sentiment is the disuse of the word
Fedora" This word can be cor
rectlJ applied to the rnion and
government organized under it,
but it has become distasteful and
Objectionable as suggesting simply
a federation of states, and not the
complete, indissoluble union in
which all Americans believe. The
word National" Las taken the
place of Federal in the common
thought and speech, and Nation.
al" it will remain. Another indi-
cation, small in itself, but signifi.
cant, is the common use of the
singular. instead of the plural, in
speaking of the United States.
The United States "is," not "are, -
in the ordinary talk of the people,
and in the language of many who
are acknowledged to be good wri-
ters of English. The American
thinks instinctively of the coun-
try in the singular-as one and
inseparable. A writer in Harper's
Magazine. in the 'fifties" spoke of
the United States as family of
nations. There is not communi-
ty in America that would read OF
listen to such an utterance with
patience to-day. The American
people believe in America; they
glory in its past, they strive to
make the present worthy of the
past, and they have supreme con.
fidence in the future. America is
potentially the greatest of military
and naval powers. Some other
countries exceed the United States
in population, but America is fore.
most in that of intelligence, with.
ont which mara nnn have ora ral1a