The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-06-17

Continued from Page One.)
is. We had made no special prepare
ton for this war. We had been Ions
at peace with all the world. We had
no desire to disturb this peaceful con-
dition- We hoped till the last to avert
but one morning the Maine was blown
| up and two hundred and sixty odd
| brave American seamen were plunged
| into eternity. Then a message flashed
out from the White House to Dewey
| in Hong Kong harbor. Find the
Spanish fleet in Asiatic waters and de-
stroy it" How the heart beats with
patriotic pride as we recall the en-
| trance of Dewey into Manila bay that
beautiful May morning; his cool, calm
! observation to the commander of his
| flagship, You may fire, Gridley, when
ready" The story is soon told. With
out the loss of a life in few hours
| time the Spanish fleet in Asiatic waters
! had gone to join McGinty at the bot
tom of the sea. With equal pride we
remember Santiago and the brilliant
page it contributed to naval warfare.
Wars Have No TerrOrs.
Men of the navy, 1 come to you from
| an interior state, from the central state
| In the union. in fact, because lines
| drawn across a map of the United States
/ from north to south and from east to
west intersect in the very heart of
\ Kansas. Our shores are washed by no
ocean waves; no great rivers flocked
with ships of commerce traverse our
| territory; no battleships greet our gaze
except when we make long journeys to
see them. Our cities and towns cannot
be destroyed by any FoStile fleet and
we are in no danger from an invading
army because we share with the immor-
/ tai Lincoln his enthusiastic declaration
that The allied armies of the world
with all the money of the world in their
military chest and with a Napoleon for
a commander, could not take a drink
out of the Ohio river by force in a trial
of thousand years. Wars and rumOrS
of wars have little terror for Kansas.
Kansas is the granary and meat market
of the nation. No other state equals 1T
in the combined value of its corn and
wheat and no two states equal it in the
production of the last named cereal.
It sends more fat cattle to market than
any other state in the union. Because
of it's ability to feed armies and the
remote possibility of it's suffering from
invasion there is a narrow sense in
which for commercial reasons Kansas
might be Indifferent to war, but Kansas
IS an inseparable part of that indies
tructible union Of states which is many
like the pillows but one like the sea-"
And Kansas which furnished more SOL
diers during the civil war to defend the
flag and maintain this union in proper
ton to population than any other state,
more in fact than it had voters at the
beginning of that war, is still intensely
patriotic. Kansas believes that the
American navy should be the most mod
ern and the most powerful in the world
Our country is in fact practically an
inSlIlar country We have but two land
frontiers. Canada on the north and
Mexico on the south. From neither of
these are we likely ever to be In jeop-
ardy. Our danger must ever be along
our immense coast. The wars of the
future in which we may be interested
are to be naval wars.
Tho White Name Rurden
without intending it, without expect
ing it, and without desiring it, the Unit |
ed States have become a world power. |
The white mans burden is upon US. The |
events of the last decade have brought |
us duties and responsibilities which We
did not seek, but which we cannot shirk |
Let us believe, as 1 do fervently and |
firmly believe, that there is divinity !,
which doth hedge us about and which |
doth lead us on. Let us believe, as 1 |
when Columbus stepped upon the shores |
of this new continent and kneeling in |
the sand consecrated it to God and hui |
mainly his Feverent act had in it both |
providence and prophecy. Let us believe |
that George Washington, Abraham Lin
coin and William Mckinley were as di- |
vinely commissioned to lead this nation |
through the crimson carnage of three |
great wars as was Moses divinely COM
missioned to lead the children of Israel |
the Red Sea. He reads Ameri- !
can history with poor vision, in my
who does not see upon every
page of it the imprint of an Almighty
hand.
My friends, a great duty is upon us
and a great destiny before us If we
shrink not from the task committed to
our hands. Let us catch the lofty spir-
1t of the great Mckinley who said, IT
have no knowledge not common to my |
/ do not prophesy. But
I cannot bound my vision by the blood
stained trenches around Manila, every
drop of whose blood whether of Ameri-
can soldier or of misguided Filipino, is
anguish to my soul, but I must bound
my vision by the larger circle of the
coming years when under the provi-
dence of God and the genius of the
American people those islands shall be
made to blossom as the rose. and their
blessed
War With Spain.
Our war with Spain marked an epoch
N the annals of war and lifted aloft a
of dignity and nobility I'M
known to history. AT Santiago we
clothed them. We doctored them. We
made new men of them. And then,
while yet at war with Spain, we hired
Spanish transports, paying our enemy
hree million dollars for their use. put
hose Spanish boys aboard and sent
hem home. L have tried to picture in
nv mind the arrival of those trans
ports at Spanish wharfs. 1 have pic
ured the wives and mothers, and
,weethearts. and other loved ones
bronging the shores to witness and
Welcome the home coming of their SOL
Her boys, and 1 have fancied Uncle
sam stepping out upon the deck and
hcuting to the waiting thousands on
ave brought them home. We don't
iced them over yOnder-" / have re- |