to all coming generations, and that responsibility not one of us can escape. We must do our duty to our children as the fathers did their duty to us.

THE FUTURE OF OUR COUNTRY *

"The future of our country" is a subject upon which, at the present time, nearly every man has an opinion of his own. I can not doubt for a moment that the future of our country will be essentially what we choose to make it. The consideration of the subject, therefore, to-night, is not so much a matter of prophecy, as it is for the determination of a desirable policy. I am happy to believe that the opinions of our people are much less irreconcilable than might at first be supposed, the most conservative being willing to admit that the conditions by which we are surrounded must in some measure affect our traditional policy, and the most radical being willing to admit that even with these conditions, our traditional policy should not be without its influence. It should, however, be understood by both classes, that the policy of this country in the past has not been by any means as conservative as they are disposed to think. A people that, in their colonial state, waged eight years of war against the mightiest power of Europe, to obtain exemption from a comparatively insignificant tax imposed without

*Delivered October 19th, 1898, at the Auditorium in Chicago, at the banquet in celebration of the Peace Jubilee, President McKinley and members of his cabinet being present. This was the closing address, and was delivered some time after midnight.

their consent, and as a consequence, to their own great surprise and that of the rest of the world, secured their independence; that persistently and successfully maintained their right against the claims of all nations to the entire territories west and northwest to the Mississipi River; that purchased the im mense territory of Louisiana, stretching from the Mississippi and the Gulf west and northwest, nobody knew just how far, but beyond the limits of the wildest imagination of that day; that subsequently asserted and vindicated their right to the territory in the extreme Northwest, resting upon the Pacific coast; that took Florida from the grasp of Spain into their own arms; that annexed Texas; that wrested by war from Mexico what now constitutes half a dozen large states and territories of semitropical climate and production; that purchased of Russia, at the close of an exhausting civil war, icebound Alaska stretching away into the Arctic circle -a people that have done all this within a century can not be justly charged with a very wide departure from their traditional policy if they should conclude now once more to expand. Nor does it make the slightest difference that the expansion is now to be to the islands of the sea instead of to new parts of the continent as heretofore, for the people whose navies, under Dewey and his compeers, ride the ocean in triumph, need not care whether their territory is riveted to the Alleghanies and Rockies, or rests in tropical beauty on the bosom of old Ocean. The acquisition of new territory is not contrary to our policy in the past. It is, indeed, in perfect accordance with that policy. It is just what the nation has been doing from its earliest years.

But whether it is desirable for us to acquire more territory now, is not a question to be decided exclusively by our past policy, be that what it may, but it is to be decided by present expediency. It is a practical question to be determined by our interests and our duty. Let us look for a moment at the facts. We have just emerged from a short but decisive war with Spain, as a result of which Cuba, Porto Rico, part of the Philippine Islands and the Ladrone Islands are in our hands. This war was not entered into by the nation in any spirit of conquest and expansion. It was not a war forced upon the people of this country by the President, by Congress, by the politicians, nor by political parties. In the face of the most trying and irritating events, well fitted to stir the anger of the nation, the Presiident exhibited a marvelous moderation and selfcontrol, and, while firmly demanding, in as conciliatory a spirit as possible, that the cruelties in Cuba should cease, he did not proclaim hostilities until he was unmistakably required to do so by the almost unanimous voice of the American people. No other war ever entered into by the country was sustained with such unanimity of popular sentiment as was the war with Spain. In the prosecution of the war and in the diplomatic proceedings of a later date, the President carefully noted the drift of public opinion and in all respects as carefully followed the manifest wishes of the people. No president, not even the revered Abraham Lincoln, ever kept himself in time of war, in closer touch with the American people, or more scrupulously pursued the policy which they desired, and the American people are satisfied with what has been accomplished.

There are heroes of the war, not a few, whose achievements will be remembered in all coming time with admiration and with pride, but it is not too much to say, it is only just to say, that the central figure in the conflict, by reason of his comprehensive grasp of the whole situation, his unhesitating assumption of responsibility, and his wise and prompt direction of the forces on land and water alike, securing the greatest results in the briefest possible time, the real hero of the war, is undoubtedly the president of the republic.

The American people demanded the war with Spain in the interest of humanity. No holier war was ever waged. And even now, when the victory is ours, the American people have not been carried away by an insane desire for territorial expansion; they do not favor what some gentlemen are pleased to call a policy of imperialism. But they are not insensible to existing conditions, and not unprepared to act as the conditions may require. If Cuba is capable of self-government, and will maintain freedom and justice, our people will hail free Cuba with universal acclamation and will not regret a dollar of the millions spent for Cuban independence. In this hour of triumph the attitude of the American people, calmly waiting for the terms of peace, to ascertain what shall be the final disposition of the territory, which, as a result of the war waged unselfishly for humanity, has fallen into our hands, is simply sublime. There is no unrest and no distrust. With perfect confidence in the sagacity and patriotism of the President, the nation waits in silence and in hope, and "not a wave of trouble rolls across its peaceful breast," despite all the wails of

1