The Washington herald., 1912-01-28

mere existence of the railway would
J suffice to preclude attack.
The railway and its proposed branches
vastly increasing the value of adjoining
property. would mean fortune TO every
property-hOlder in the Panhandle whose
ports would in five years develop into
| important cities-embroyonic Glasgows
and Dundees. The time required by the
Dominion TO equal the mother country
in population would be abridged by many
years. The twenty-year period Of free
trade would mean that Seattle. Portland
and San Francisco would continue un-
hindered to benefit by the enormous ex-
pansion OF the trade of the Panhandle
and its hinterland, due to the immediate
| construction Of the railway. for which
they might otherwise have TO wait till
their young men are graybeards.
The British West Indies, in the pos
session Of the United States, would serve
as a protection to the Panama Canal
and to the entire Gulf OF Mexico, and as
bridge OF commercial expansion toward
South America The French, Dutch, and
Danish Antilles could, thereupon. doubt
less be acquired either b. purchase or by
exchange, for which purpose the Philip
pines, providentially. would furnish ample
material. The Bahamas and Antilles
form a chain from Florida to Venezuela,
with interstices so narrow that, II we
chose. We could so fortify II that no
hostile ship could get through. The COM
mercial crisis endemic in the West In
dies proves how unnatural is their con-
nection with distant European lands.
Their acquisition by us would be for
them veritable baptism into prosper
ity, as It has been for Porto Rico, where
hundreds OF automobiles, many of them
owned by natives. are now whirling over
macadamized roads, which ten years ago
were mule trails.
AuEIo-Amerfcan Reunionf
The rejection Of reciprocity by the Can
adams, as tangible evidence OF their de-
votion to the mother country, may prove
to have been one Of the happiest events
In history, II both parties will but heed
the lesson Il conveys. To those expan-
sive gentlemen who are anxious TO con-
vert the nine Canadian provinces into
nine American States, II saws that they
cannot annex Canada except by anneXtng
the whole British empire. To the Can
adams. who think that the empire needs
their support, II suggests that the safety
of the empire would be assured for all
time II It could but reannex the frag
ment which unwilIingly broke loose 16
years ago. There is not an Intelligent.
sincere mind in the British empire or the
United States but knows that Anglo
American reunion would be the greatest
blessing that could be bestowed on the
world at this moment. II Is delayed not
by obstacles founded on argument. but
solely by the habit which civilized men
have inherited from their savage ances-
tors, to continue IN the rut into which the
caprice OF accident has kicked them.
How, then, shall the two nations be
hcsved out of the rut?
Actions speak louder than words; One
or two mutual concessions will advance
the cause of Anglo-American reunion
more n a day than fine speeches VIII IN
many years. The proposed concession
from. us to Canada would be equivalent
to virtual treaty OF alliance, eonnrmed
by the stratecie railway and by the
tacit Canadian appendix 20 the Monroe
doctrine IN favor ot ALASKA. ON the
other hand, by surrendering 20 US the
approaches of the American Meoiterran-
can aud Of the Panama Canal BRITAIN