Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-30
GREATNESS OF THE UNION.
Progress Which the Republic Has
Made and is Making.
By Kogoro Takahira, Japanese Minister to Il
United States, in the Independent.

by hOg0fO lakah1ra, japanese Minister TO the
United States. in the Independent.
At this season of the year the whole of
christendom should be dominated by feel
ings of peace on earth and good will toward
men. Particularly should this kindly feel
ing permeate the length and breadth of this
great country. stretching, it does, from
ocean to ocean and bounded on the north
and south only by the extreme of latitude.
Your farmers are prosperous: your mines
are yielding enormous returns. so far as
they have been developed; your factories
are working full time; your railroads
burdened with traffic, and every channel of
commerce Is at flood tide; and yet vast as 1t
is in area and populated with over $4,000 600
of contented people, this nation is but in its
infancy to what it will grow in the next
fifty years. What will be its place among
the nations Of the world at the end of that
period? 1t takes no prophet 10 predict what
that position will be. Forecast the future
with what has been accomplished in the
past, and the question answers itself.
Less than half century ago your from
tiersmen were battling with marauding In
dams and struggling at the risk of their
lives to build homes in places now not so
remote from the center of population The
only means of transportation Were the fat
boats of the Ohio, or the prairie schooners
of the plains, while your foreign commerce
was carried on fast-sailing Baltimore clip
pers. Today the emgrant from Europe
travels in rapidly moving steam cars, and
YOUR SAILING vessels nave given place to
steamships, so that the journey Of months
is now reduced to days.
At that time agriculture was the chief
industry, and undoubtedly in the years to
come the largest percentage of your popu-
lation Will be engaged in that calling. In
this connection / learn that the prosperity
of your country is said to depend upon the
prosperity of the farmer. When the crops
are good, the factory runs full hours, and
the storekeeper does not hesitate to order
fuli stock Of goods. 1t would seem i'm
probable, however, that in this wide coun-
try there should be In the future a univer-
sal failure or crops, so that either the farm
erS as q class or the other inhabitants of
this country Should suffer. This might
have happened twenty years ago. but when
one considers that since your great civil
war there have been developed the vast
wheat fields of the northwest: the far
greater area of land in the corn-planting
belt In the middle west; the enormous cat
tie and sheep ranches, and that all this vast
territory is compactly Joined together by
your splendid systems Of railroads there
should be but little chance of a universal
crop failure and financial depression among
farmers What is true as to the develop
ment OF the great west is also true as to the
SOUTH Inc southern states now have
larger acreage of cotton than ever before
the character of crops is more diversified
and fortunes are being made in raising
enormous quantities of fruit and veeeta bles
Tor northern markets.
Many of your eminent statesmen have
confidently asserted in the past that the
United States must always remain distinct
lVely an agricultural country, and am in
formed that there are millions of acres of
land under cultivation; that MANY more
have not yet been reclaimed, and also that
the last census gives large percentage of
your population as engaged in tiling the
SOIL, Nevertheless. l believe 1t needs no
acute mind to discern that the wealth
strength and prosperity of the United States
goes not depend entirely upon agriculture.
10 ,1
seems to me there is greater prosperity en-
Joyed by the other industries of your coun-
try.
I am amazed wherever I travel to see the
varied industries; the thousands of men en-
ployed and the unostentat ious display of
wealth back of these teeming busting sue
cessful enterprises. l have been told most
OF them have come into existence, within the
past thirty years. and that every wear new
enterprises are starting up.
IN TINS period of. great prosperity your
country is now enjoying one becomes san
gu1ne and fails TO keep in mind that de-
preston and adversely may come ar the
most unexpected time. Such is the history
or trade, in all nations and all times
But 1t is well also TO reflect that in this
great country you now have a population
winch Is increasing at the rate of about
l,VOoooo year, and that your home Indus
tries have made but a small though keen
impression upon the foreign commerce of
the world You are manufacturing to sup
ply home demand. The time is coming
Wnen your merchants and manufacturers
VIII reach out and grasp their share of that
foreign commerce: when your industries
varied and great as they look now will be
considered Insignificant. When that time
comes Americans will compare the future
with the present, and the comparison will
be as striking as the present is with the
past of ten to fifty years ago. With all
these natural, resources, which have barely
been developed. the United States of Amer
lea is bound to become the most powerful
nation in wealth and influence in the world.
And what strikes me most keenly is that
even with the enormously rapid increase of
population America will never be compelled
to buy abroad her foodstuffs or any other
articles of daily necessity as most other
countries do This is the most important
point where lies the great strength of this
country 1t may, therefore, be predicted
that the position the United States will
gain among the nations will be most promi-
nent and powerful. 1t will not, however, be
maintained by force, such as maintained in
some countries, although that force may be
latent, for the traditions of your country
are against it. It will, in fact be main
talned by pacific measures, fair treatment
and dignif1ed peace.
Such a code of conduct has controlled the
United States in the past, will be potent in
the future, and Is characteristic of your
people as the result Of your education. 1t
is true your population of 00000G0 is not
all native born; but the power of assimila-
ton peculiar to this nation, encouraging
the foreign-born emigrant to quickly ac-
auire the attributes of American citizenship.
is an emphatic Endorsement of those car
dinal principles of the American people
to maintain law and order. and an unvary-
ing adherence to the doctrine that the ma
iority shall rule. Under such institutions
the solid and vigorous growth of this al
ready great nation must be most assured
and the power consequent upon Ii must be
most telling in backing the position of the
United States among the nations and iii
contributing to the peace of the world