The daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1904-1905, 1904-08-10

IIoIil tIc oltt "olId SCChii-
to obtain here the liberty and pros
perity denied them in their own coun-
tries, spread over the face Of the land,
reduced the prairies and forests to
cultivation, built cities, constructed
highways and railroads, till now a ma
ton which at the formation of the
government numbered only three mil
mons IN population, has become eighty
millions, and from ocean to ocean
and the lakes to the gulf, the country
Is the abode of a free and prosperous
people, advanced in the highest de-
gree In the learning and arts OF CIV
llization. 1t is the liberty, the adj
vancement and the prosperity or us
citizens, not any career OF conquest,
that make the country a world power.
This condition we owe TO the bounty
Of Providence. unfolded in the great
natural resources of the country, to
the wisdom of our fathers manifested
in the form of government established
by them, to the energy, industry, NOR
al character and law-abiding spirit of
the people themselves.
We are not military people, bent
on conquest, or engaged in extending
our domains in foreign lands, or de-
sirous Of securing natural advantages,
however great, by force; but people
loving peace, not only for ourselves,
but for all the nations of the earth
The display Of great military arma-
ments may please the eye and, for the
moment, excite the pride Of the citi-
Zen, but it cannot bring to the coun-
try the brains, Drawn andd muscle of
single immigrant, nor induce the in
vestment here of a dollar Of capital.
Of course such arrangement as may be
necessary for the security Of the
country and the protection of the
rights of it's citizens, at home, or
abroad must be maintained. Any 9th
er course would be not only false
economy, but pusilanimous. | protest,
however against the feeling, now far
too prevalent, that by reason of the
commanding position we have assum-
ed in the world, We must take part In
the disputes and broils of foreign
countries: and that because we have
grown great we should intervene in
every important question that arises
in other parts of the world. I also
protest against the erection of any
such military establishment as would
be required to maintain the country
in that attitude. We should confine
our international activities solely to
matters in which the rights of the
country or of our citizens are direct
~ involved. That is not a situation
of isolation, but of independence.
The Government of the United
States was organized solely for the
people of the United States. While it
was contemplated that this country
should become a refuge for the OPP
pressed of every land, who might be
fit to discharge the duties of our citi-
zenship. and while we have always
sympathized with the people of every
nation in their struggles for self-gov-
eminent the government was not
created for career of political or
civilizing evangelization in foreign
countries or among alien races by in
tervention in their affairs. The most
efficient work we can do in uplifting
the people of other countries is by
the presentation of happy, prosper
Gus, self-governing nation as an ideal
to be emulated, a model to be follow
ed. The general occupation Of our
citizens in the arts of peace, or the
absence of large military ornaments.
tends to impair neither patriotism nor
physical courage, and for the truth of
this Irefer the young men of today to
the history of the Civil War. For fifty
years, with the exception of the war
with Mexico, this country had been at
peace, with a standing army most of
the time of less than ten thousand
men. He who thinks that the nation
had grown effeminate during that pc
Rod should read the casualty rolls of
the armies on either side at Shiloh,
Antietam. Fredericksburg and Gettys-
burg. at Stone River and Chickamau-
GA. I would be the last man to pluck
a single laurel from the crown of any
one of the military heroes to whom
this country owes so much but | in
sist that their most heroic deeds pro-
ceeded infinitely more from devotion
to the country, than from martial
spirit.
As have already proceeded at too