Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1904-08-19

States has attained that eminence. Our
country became world power over CEN
fury ago, when, having thrown of foreign
domination, the people establish free
government, the source of whose authority
sprung, and was continuously to proceed,
from the will of the people themselves. 1t
grew as a world power as its sturdy citi
zens, to whose natural increase were added
immigrants from the old world seeking to
obtain here the liberty and prosperity de-
MED them in their own countries spread
over the face of the land, reduced the
prairies and forests to cultivation, built
cities, constructed highways and railroads,
till now a nation which at the formation
of the government numbered only three
millions in population has become eighty
millions, and from ocean to ocean and the
lakes to the gulf the country Is the abode
lakes to the gulf the country is the abode
or free and prosperous people, advanced
in the highest degree in the learning and
arts of civilization.
What Makes World Power.
1t is the liberty, the advancement and
the prosperity of its citizens-not any ca
reer of compassionate 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
them, to the energy, industry, moral char
acter and lawabiding spirit of the people
themselves.
We are not military people, bent on
mains In foreign lands or DESTROYS OF secur-
Ing 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
1t cannot bring to the country the brains,
Drawn and muscle of a single immigrant
nor induce the investment here of dollar
OF capital. OF course such armament as
q hn mr. fopf 6n. MI af "a
country and the protection of the rights Of
It's citizens, at home or abroad, must be
maintained. Any other course would be
not only false economy, but pusillanimous.
Should Avoid Foreign Disputes.
protest, however, against the feeling,
now far too prevalent, that by reason Of
the commanding position we have assumed
In the world we must take part in the dis
putes and broils Of foreign countries, and
that because we have grown great we
should intervene In every important ques-
ton that arises in other parts of the world.
l also protest against the erection of any
such military establishment as would be re
CURED to maintain the country in that at
t1tude. We should confne our international
activities solely to matters in which the
rights of the country or of our citizens are
directly 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
for the oppressed of every land who might
be fit to discharge the duties of our citizen
ship, and while we have always sympa-
thized with the people of every nation in
their struggles for self-government, the gov
eminent was not created for a career Of
political or civilizing evangelization In for
eign countries or among alien races. The
most efficient work we can do in uplifting
the people Of other countries is by the pre-
sentation of happy, prosperous, self gov
erning nation as an ideal to be emulated, a
model to be followed.
Patriotism and Military.
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, Gnd for
the truth of this refer the young Slen Of
to-day to the history of tie Civil War. For
fifty years, with the exception Of the war
with Mexico, this country had been at
peace, with standing army most of the
time of less than 10000 men. He who
thinks that the nation had grown effemf-
nate during that period should read the
casualty rolls of the armies on either sidJ
at Shiloh, Antietam, Fredericksburg and
Gettysburg, at Stone River and Chickamau-
ga. l 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 1 insist that their most
heroic deeds proceeded infinitely more from
devotion to the country than from martial