The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-07-12
GIBBONS AN IMPossIBILrrr.

7 HE suggestion of some papers that
Cardinal Gibbons of Baltimore
may be selected b. the conclave TO
succeed Pope Leo. the sands of whose
life are now ebbing away. is based on
complete misunderstanding of Eu-
ropean sentiment toward America. ANY
cardinal. rather than Gibbons. is like
ly to be chosen. And he will fail. not
because Of unhtness in character, lack
Of ability or learning, but because he
belongs to the new world. whose strides
forward have filed with fear every ma
ton of the old world.
Cardinal Gibbons is a typical Amer
lean. Beginning life as a newsboy in
New Orleans. he has earned enduring
fame and the highest reputation as a
scholar and churchman. His sympa-
thies are broad and essentially Amer
lean. HIS selection would please the
entire English speaking world among
whom are millions Of the most highly
educated Of all Catholics.
Strange as ii may seem at first blush,
it is trade conditions that win initiate
against Gibbons. America. which Car
dinal Gibbons represents, is too pro-
gressive: il is garnering too great an
amount of the worlds trade; the older
nations are suffering the consequent
loss. At the present time every coun-
try in Europe which lays any claim 70
being a commercial nation is exerting
every energy toward stopping the trend
of trade to the United States. No
point, however Insignificant, is over
looked. In consequence the very sug-
gestiOn of an American pope would
cause a storm of indignation among
the Europeans that the papal conclave
would not dare ignore.
As matters stand, there is a general
pessimistic sentiment among Europeans
regarding the possibility of successful
competition with the United States. A
celebrated French writer, Jean Izou-
let, discusses American supremacy IN
a recent number of Figaro. He be-
lieves that the decadence Of Europe is
unmistakable. and he says that the
present century viii mark the worlds
supreme geographical. COM
mercial and political. He believes that
just as the Suez canal gave the Eng
lish a tremendous advantage, so will
the Panama canal give the United
| States an overwhelming advantage
| over the nations Of the world. He con-
! tinues:
Bordering on the Pacific are all of
the great undeveloped and habitable
/ portions of the earth. saving Africa
OnIy-cOUutries capable Of incredibly
enormous development, namely North
America, South America, Australia, ST.
IBERIA and the rest The coun-
tries bordering on this ocean are sin
! gUlarly rich in precious metals, which
abound in Australia. the Philippines,
Japan, Korea and China. and on the
American side from Alaska to Pata-
gOnia. The Pacific is. in truth, the
great sapphire Of the world. set In gold
and silver. On the Pacific coast Amer
lea is to build her real facade. San
Francisco, they say, is now 5000 miles
from New York The time will come
when New York will be 5000 miles from
san Francisco. And across the Pa
cifc the two giants, Yankee and Slav,
will presently find themselves face to
face for the death struggle prophesie1
sixty years ago by PalmerstOn.'
With a sentiment of this sort general
in Europe. it is easy to understand why
the granting Of the papal throne to an
American is impossible.