The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-08-07

upon any mere point of pride. We are
not the owners of the Philippine Is
lands. We hold them in trust for the
people who live in them. They are
theirs for the uses of their life. We are
not ever their partners. 1t is our duty,
as trustees, to make whatever arrange
ment of government will be most SER
Viceable to their freedom and develop
ment Here, again we are to set up the
rule of justice and of right.
Il do not know any greater question
than that of conservation. We have
been. a spendthrift nation and must
now husband what We have left We
must do more than that. We must de-
velop, as well as preserve our water
powers and must add great waterways
to the transportation facilities of the
nation, to supplement the railways
within our borders as well as upon the
ISthmus. We must revive our merchant
marine too, and fill the seas again with
our own fleets. We must add to our
present postoffice service parcels post
as complete as that of any other nation.
We must look to the health of our peo-
pie upon every hand, as well as hearten
them with justice and opportunity. This
is the constructive work of government.
This is the policy that has vision and
a hope and that looks to serve man
kind.
Opposed to Subsidies.
with regard to the development
of greater and more numerous water
ways and the building up of a mer-
chant' marine, We must follow great
constructive lines and not fall back
upon the cheap devices of bounties
and subsidies In the case of the Mis-
sissippi river, that great central ar
terry of our trade, it is plain that the
federal government must build and
maintain the levees and keep the
great waters in harness for the gem
eral use. 1t is plain, too, that vast
sums of money must be spent to de-
Velop new waterways where trade will
be most served and transportation
most readily cheapened by them.
Such expenditures are not largess on
the part of the government; they are
national investments.
The very fact that we have at last
taken the Panama Canal seriously N
hand and are vigorously rushing it
towards completion is eloquent of our
re-awakened interest in international
trade. We are not building the canal
and pouring out million upon million
of money upon its construction mere
ly to esta blish a water connection be-
tween the two coasts of the continent,
important and desirable as that may
be, particularly from the point of view
of naval defense. 1t is meant to be "a
great International highway. 1t
would be a little ridiculous if we
should build it and then have no ships
to send through it. There have been
years Wnen not a single ton OF freight
passed through the great Suez Canal
in an American bottom, so empty are
the seas of our ships and seamen-
We must mean to put an end to that
kind of thing or we would not be cut
ting a new canal at Our very doors
merely for the use of men-of-war. We
shall not manage. the revival by the
mere paltry device of tolls. We must
build and buy ships in competition
with the world. We can do it if we
will but give ourselves leave.
Another State Duty.
There is another duty which the
Dem ocratic. party has shown itself
great enough and close enough to the
people OF perceive, the duty of gov
eminent to share in promoting agri-|
cultural, Industrial, vocational educa-
ton in every way possible within it's
constitutional powers. No other plat
form has given this intimate vision of
a party's duty. The nation cannot en-
joy it's deserved supremacy in the mar
lot ant af fhn ri