New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-07-04
independence Day, 1917


II is al years since the founding OF our
ration. the first of the great modern re-
publics. In that period we have fought
four wars with enemies abroad; we nave
faced revolt within, involving the greatest
of all civil wars; we have seen nights OF
trial and dawns of new hope and promlse'
in hundred different moods and circum-
stances has fate brought us to the fourth
Of July, our birthday as a nation.
But never in all that long roll of years
has Independence Day lifted above the
horizon so big with future life as on this
Fourth of July, 1917. On that original
dav il was to Independence Hall, In Phlla-
delphia, that the eyes of the colonists were
turned. In the century and the four dec
AIDES since our eyes have likewise been
turned within, upon our own continent
with perhaps one exception. That excep-
tion was during another war, the July atm
If 1898. when news reached us tEat our
American navy off the harbor of Santiago
lad lived up to its best traditions OF hard
swift fighting. A prologue that whole
small war might we'll be called to our
present great adventure. For IN 1t, at
Manila Bay and upon the waters and
islands of the Caribbean, America had Its
first awakening to the world problems that
Law at its door. that already knocked for
answer.
We did not heed the prologue and Its
moral. We fought the Spanish War as
niece of small-town fireworks. Its grim
and terrible lesson in unpreparedness, Its
wicked cost in lives and suffering OF our
Youngest and bravest, was the talk of an
hour. When it passed we sank back into
cur comfort and self-absorption, our sup
posedly secure isolation; we continued TO
delude ourselves with the notion that three
thousand miles of water and kindly dis
position made it unthinkable that we
should ever fall foul of great power;
more. that thus located and equipped we
were under some high and holy obligation
70 hold ourselves aloof from the rest OF
the world. its gains, its duties, It's respon-
sibilities.
Looking backward now, it seems amaz-
ing that we could have thus shut our eyes
TO what was happening not only IN Eu-
rome but here on our own continent,
among our own people. Even then, IN
1898. the ambitions of Germany, her atti-
tude toward the rest of the civilized world,
were formed and certain; they were work
ing upon our C-rman-bOrn population;
they even found one brief but significant
expression in the open conduct of a certain
German admiral at Manila. Trusttulness
and plain ignorance were our international
continent in those days Of '9S-as they
continued to be the weapons of our gov
eminent and far too many of our people
clear down TO that 9th of April last when
the truth could no longer be ignored and
we acknowledged the existence Of fact
that had been for months a cry upon the
winds Of heaven.
We cannot expect as a nation to shift
our point of view in a night slow
growth it must be away from the old isola-
tion 10 the new participation in world
affairs. Action must speak here rather
than words. OrIundVeiy, CIldI 10 Jul pm
ton now and to come. This is the first
Fourth of July in which our eyes natural
" turn not to our home celebrations, but
to few distant countrymen marching for
us. for America in the Great War, upon
the streets Of Paris.
There our hearts are to-day. There
upon the fields Of France, our fortune as a
nation will be decided tomorrow. Behind
this vanguard we march to our destiny in
the great world of nations. A solemn day
Il must be to every American, only less
solemn than that first Independence Day
al years ago. For the new nation that
vas then born steps forth to-day in full
manhood to do battle with the world.