Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-05-05

been composed. The judicial logic
of Marshall and the convincing elo-
quence of Webster were the chief
unifying and nation building forces
in the generation that followed.
Meanwhile sharp differences of econ
omic interest were manifesting them
selves, and the fatal question OF
slavery pressed forward both as an
economic and as a political issue. The
new nation which had already made
such progress upon the foundations
laid by the fathers fell apart, and
only after one of the most terrible
and destructive of civil wars were
the ruins of the disaster cleared away
and the ground prepared for the next
step in construction. Here mistakes
were made so numerous and so severe
that the unifying and nation-building
process was checked and neld back
for years.
Two Sets of Forces
"Then two sets of separating and
disintegrating forces began to make
themselves strongly felt. First, the
economic differences which must OF
necessity manifest themselves over sc
large and so diverse a territory, now
revealed themselves in new force, in
part as a result of the industria
revolution and in part as a result oi
purely American condition, as in
volving a class conflict between cap
ital and labor. Soon there were signs
that citizenship, with. its compelling
allegiance to the common veal, was
to he subordinated in discouragins
fashion, not once but often, to the
immediate interests and policies of an
economic class. Second, the immi'
grafton from older countries which
had been for long time substantially
q n n
rapidly heterogeneous. New material
tiles, new languages, new racla
affinities were drawn upon for the
recruitment of the population OF the
United States. The hopes and the
ambitions which one hundred and two
hundred years before had been the
peculiar property of the people oi
Western Europe had now spread faI
away to the East and to the South
With this heterogeneous immigration
there came, in no inconsideraDle
measure. the echo of the old world
animosities and feuds and hates
These did not manifest themselves In
any direct sense as anti American
but they did manifest themselves with
sufficient strength to deprive America
of unity of attitude, of feeling and
of policy in dealing with interna-
tional relations which every day grew
in importance and in significance.
Not Sure of Unity
80 it is that at this moment. with
world war raging about us and 8
presidential campaign opening In
front of us, with years full of fate
stretched out for us to walk in, we
are not sure of our national unity OF
thought and feeling and purpose be-
cause of the presence of disintegratine
elements and forces which weaken oul
sense of unity at home and which de-
prive us of the influence abroaC
which attaches to unity at home. The
grave problem before the American
people to-day is that of completinE
the process of nation building. 1t is
order. - Ft-is the problem integral
ing America. 1t is the problem ol
subordinating every personal ambition
every class interest and policy, every
race attachm6lt, to the one dominani
idea of an America free, just. power
full, forward-facing, that shall stant
out in the history of nations as the
name of a people who conceive the
mission and their true greatness tC
lie in service to mankind. We are
the inheritors of a great tradition
What poets and philosophers have
dreamed that we are trying day b!
day to do. Our stumblinGs, oul
blunders, our shortcomings arr
many; but If we keep our heart
clean and our heads clear he who {
thousand years from now writes th'
history of liberty and justice ant
happiness among men, will be able Il
/ tell to those far-off generations th'
story of the rise and influence of th'
American nation.
Duty of Moment
"The year 1916 is but one mem
Der of an infinite series. Counties
aeons have gone before it and count
less aeons will come after it, TIL,
physical forces of nature will go thei
way through indefinite time, perform
ing their allotted functions, obeyin'
their peculiar laws and undergoing
those manifold changes and trans
mutations which make up the heavens
and the earth. No so with the reputa
ton and the influence of a nation. Op
portunity will not knock forever a
any door. 1t is knocking now at th'
door of the American people. TX
come to a consciousness of nationa
purpose, to come to a conviction a
to wise method and policy at home
to come to an understanding of thu
character and aim of an attitude to
ward other nations that is to be main
tanned and defended before the fac,
of all mankind-that is the impera
tive and compelling duty of thi