Year: 1879

We respect ourselves. / have noticed the


grandeur with which we have been estimated


by other powers, and their judgment should
give US higher estimate of our own great


ness. They recognize that poverty, as they
understand it. is not known with US, and the


man of comparative affluence with them is


sometimes no better clad or fed than our


paupers."


Some of our English critics in days past


have made much sport at our expense on the


point of our national vanity and propensity


to boast The youth of vigorous nation re-


sembles that of an individual, and there is


an undoubted tendency to magnify their


achievements and to think nothing is beyond


their power to accomplish. Age has sobered


US as it sobers the young man, no matter how


great his natural abilities. It is cheering


to hear that our growth has at length reached


such proportions that our own estimates of


our greatness no longer exceed the fact and


are actually surpassed by the estimates that


the rest of the world has formed of US.


Since General Grant has been abroad he has


seen pretty much all the civilized portions of


the earth. We know Of no one else who has


had so good an opportunity in very recent


times to learn the opinions of so large part


of the world as General Grant, and his mod


est estimate of his own deeds and sober
views on all subjects will go far in giving
| weight to the words we have quoted.


We h ave hada fearful war in which blood


and treasure were poured out like water, and


still throughout the whole of it our wealth
| and population have increased. There never


was case like it in all history. We lost and
destroyed enough in our short war to make
| nation poor, and yet we emerged from it
richer than when we entered upon it. Our
national overthrow was not only sought for
at home, but prophesied and plotted for by
the imperial dynasty of France and the aris-
tocratic and ruling classes of England, yet
out of all we came victorious, with disci-
plined army and experienced Generals that
would not have feared to face the standing
armies of the most powerful nation of Eu-
rope. Yet that army, which no European
POWSA NOuAN 10y UAOuSAL W DULL olUl0 VI
discipline and efficiency in half century of
exertion and expenditure, dissolved as dew
when the sun of peace once more shone out !
full -orbed over our land With the largest !
national debt ever created in so brief time, |
we have never repudiated or defaulted in |
paying interest, even before it was DUE |
What seems strangest of all to Europeans, |
we are actually paying off this debt, which !
no European nation ever thinks of doing
with its own. Our national bonds, held
abroad with some doubt and fear, have all
been redeemed in gold, and though we have
the most prolific mines of gold and silver in
the world, and it would be natural to suppose
that we should be exporting these metals, on
the contrary every steamer that crosses the
ocean brings additions to our fast increasing
boards, for we have other things needed more
than gold. Every nation in Europe is now
tributary to the United States. The great
valleys of the Danube, Nile, Euphrates, In
dus, and the Ganges, all combined. produce
less now than the single valley of the Mis-
sissippi. There would be suffering and per-
baps famine in almost every nation on the
continent but for the harvests grown on
our Western prairies. And it is not in ex-
ports of raw material alone tn at our nation
surpasses all others. We not only supply
England with raw cotton, but can manu-
facture better article and undersell British
manufacturers in their home markets. Our
cutlery has achieved equal superiority. Only
in the building of iron ships is England at
present our superior, for some reasons hard
to understand. Agricultural implements have
scarcely any competition, and are working in
other countries a revolution in the cultivation
of the soil. We have given to Europe tho
power press, the telegraph, sewing machine,
and other inventions of little less value and |
too numerous to mention.


It is more than doubtful if we have not
already more than repaid to Europe all that
we ever owed her. Year after year We
have been receiving the paupers of the Old
World and transforming them into prince7s
The refuse of Europe has been Our wealth.
The great secret of all is that we are nation
of workers-not heartless, thoughtless, hope
less laborers, but educated, inspired laborers,
with energy, hope. ambition, determination.
And instead of keeping our able bodied men
idling away their lives in standing armies,
they are in the field and workshop creating,
not consuming, wealth. While the best of
the nations of Europe are living from hand