The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-04-25

during the days of revolution and of
the first steps toward a national gov
eminent An enormous step forward
was taken when the national govern
ment was built; in the adoption of the
constitution of the United States the
cornerstone was laid for one OF the
most splendid structures in all the his
tory of all nations. Then followed
sharp political divergence There
were those who would lay stress upon
the new national unity; there were
still more who thought 1t important
to emphasize the separate elements OF
which that unity had been composed:
1.-The judicial logic of Marshall ana
the convincing eloou .nce of Webster
were the chief unifying and nation
building forces in the generation tnat
followed. Meanwhile sharp differences
of economic interests were manlIeStlnS
themselves and the fatal question OF
slavery pressed forward both as an
economic and asa political issue. The
new nation which had already made
such progress upon the Ioundaton
laid by the fathers fell apart ana only
after one of the most terrible and de-
structive of civil wars were the ruins
of the disaster cleared away and
ground prepared for the next step in
construction. Here mistakes were
made so numerous and so severe that
the unifying and nation-bu1ldlnS pro
cess was checked and held back for
Echoes of Trouble.
1.-THE two new sets of separating and
disintegrating forces began to make
themselves strongly felt. First the
economic differences which must OF
necessity manifest themselves over so
large in part as a result of the indus
trial revolution and In part as a result
involving a class conflict between cap
ital and labor. Soon there were signs
that citizenship, with its compelling
allegiance to the common veal, was TO
be subordinated in discouring fash
ion, not once but often, to the I'M
mediate interests and policies of an
economic class. Second, the immigra-
ton from older countries which had
been for a long time substantially
homogeneous became increasingly and
rapidly heterogeneous. New national
tiles, new languages new racial al
finities were drawn upon for the re
cruitment of the population OF the
United States. The hopes and ambl-
lions which one hundred and two hun
bred years before had been the pc
culiar property of the people of West
ern Europe, had now spread far away
to the east and south. With TINS
heterogeneous immigration there
came, in no inconsiderable measure,
the echo of old-world animosities and
feuds and hates These did not mani
fest themselves in any direct sense as
anti-American, but they did manifest
themselves with sufficient strength to
deprive America of a unity of attitude,
of feeling and of policy in dealing with
international relations which every
day grew in importance and in sig
nificance.
so it is that at this moment, with
a world-war raging about US and
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 d1sintegrat-
ing clements and forces which weaken
our sense of unity at home and which
deprive us of the influence abroad
which attaches to unity at home. The
grave problem before the American
people today is that of completing the
process of nation-building. 1t is the
problem of setting our house in order.
1t is the problem of migrating Amer
lea. 1t is the problem of subordinat-
ing every personal ambition, every
class interest and policy, every race
attachment, to the one dominant idea
of an America, free, just, powerful,
forward facing, that shall stand out in
the history of nations as name OF
people who conceive their mission and
their true greatness to lie in service
TO mankind. We are the inheriters of
a great tradition. What poets and
philosophers have dreamed, we are
bling, our shortcomings are many; but
if we keep our hearts clean and our
heads clear he who a thousand years
from now writes the history of liberty
and justice and happiness among men
will be able to tell to those far-off
generations the story of the rise and
the influence of the American nation.
Opportunity for America.
1.-THE year 1916 is but one member
of an infinite series. Countless aeons
have gone before it and countless
aeons will come after it. The physi-
cal forces of nature will go their way
through indefinite time, performing
their allotted functions, obeying their
peculiar laws, and undergoing those
manifold changes and transmutations
which make up the heavens and the
earth. Not so with the reputation and
the influence of a nation. Opportun-
ity will not knock forever at any door.
1t is knocking now at the door of the
American people. To come TO a con-
seriousness of national purpose, to
come to a conviction as to wise meth
DDS and policy at home, to come to
an understanding of the character and
aim of an attitude toward other ma
lions that is to be maintained and de-
Tended before the face of all mankind
6af iS iYonPrafiUR PnTonaIl-