HE PRESIDENT 
 ON THE WAR 
 
 THE UNITED STATES 
 IN THE 20 th CENTURY 
 
 In Graham's 
 Standard Phonography 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 ANDREW J. GRAHAM k CO. 
 
 THE WINTHROP PRE6S, NEW YORK 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2007 with funding from 
 
 Microsoft Corporation 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/addressesbypresiOOmckiiala 
 
ADDRESSES 
 
 BY 
 
 president Mckinley 
 
 AND 
 
 SENATOR 0. K. DAVIS 
 
 IN THE 
 
 REPORTING STYLE 
 
 OF 
 
 GRAHAM'S 
 STANDARD PHONOGRAPHY 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 ANDREW J. GRAHAM & CO. 
 
 744 Broadway 
 
Copyright, 1899, bj amuu.w .1. Qbahah >v Co, 
 
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 PRESIDENT McKINLEY'S ADDRESS 
 
 ON 
 
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THE PRESIDENT ON THE WAR. 
 
 HIS ADDRESS AT THE PEACE JUBILEE OF THE OMAHA EXPOSITION. 
 
 Gentlemen of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition and Fellow- 
 Citizens: It is with great pleasure that I meet once more the 
 people of Omaha, whose wealth of welcome is not altogether 
 unfamiliar to me, and whose warm hearts have before touched 
 and moved me. For this renewed manifestation of your regard, 
 and for the cordial reception of to-day, my heart responds with 
 profound gratitude and a deep appreciation which I cannot con- 
 ceal, and which the language of compliment is inadequate to 
 convey. 
 
 My greeting is not alone to your city and the State of Nebras- 
 ka, but to the people of all the States of the Trans-Mississippi 
 group participating here, and I cannot withhold congratulations 
 on the evidences of their prosperity furnished by this great 
 Exposition. If testimony were needed to establish the fact that 
 their pluck has not deserted them, and that prosperity is again 
 with them, it is found here. This picture dispels all doubt. 
 
 In an age of expositions they have added yet another magnifi- 
 cent example. The historical celebrations at Philadelphia and 
 Chicago and the splendid exhibits at New Orleans, Atlanta and 
 Nashville are now a part of the past, and yet in influence they 
 still live and their beneficent results are closely interwoven with 
 our National development. Similar rewards will honor the 
 authors and patrons of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition. Their 
 contribution will mark another epoch in the Nation's material 
 advancement. 
 
 One of the great laws of life is progress, and nowhere have 
 the principles of this law been so strikingly illustrated as in the 
 United States. A century and a decade of our National life 
 
PRESIDENT OX THE WAR. 15 
 
 have turned doubt into conviction ; changed experiment into 
 demonstration ; revolutionized old methods and won new 
 triumphs, which have challenged the attention of the world. 
 This is true not only of the accumulation of material wealth 
 and advance in education, science, invention and manufactures, 
 but, above all, in the opportunities to the people for their own 
 elevation, which have been secured by wise free government. 
 
 Hitherto, in peace and in war, with additions to our territory 
 and slight changes in our laws, we have steadily enforced the 
 spirit of the Constitution secured to us by the noble self-sacrifice 
 and far-seeing sagacity of our ancestors. We have avoided the 
 temptations of conquest in the spirit of gain. With an increas- 
 ing love for our institutions, and an abiding faith in their 
 stability, we have made the triumphs of our system of govern- 
 ment in the progress and prosperity of our people an inspiration 
 to the whole human race. Confronted at this moment by new 
 and grave problems, we must recognize that their solution will 
 not affect ourselves alone, but others of the family of nations. 
 
 In this age of frequent interchange and mutual depend- 
 ency, we cannot shirk our international responsibilities if we 
 would; they must be met with courage and wisdom, and we 
 must follow duty even if desire opposes. No deliberation can 
 be too mature or self-control too constant in this solemn hour of 
 our history. We must avoid the temptation of undue aggression 
 and aim to secure only such results as will promote our own and 
 the general good. 
 
 It has been said by some one that the normal condition of 
 nations is war. That is not true of the United States. We 
 never enter upon war until every effort for peace without it has 
 been exhausted. Ours has never been a military Government. 
 Peace, with whose blessings we have been so singularly favored, 
 is the national desire and the goal of every American aspiration. 
 
 On April 25th for the first time for more than a generation the 
 United States sounded the call to arms. The banners of war 
 were unfurled, the best and bravest from every section respond- 
 ed ; a mighty army was enrolled ; the North and the South vied 
 with each other in patriotic devotion ; science was invoked to fur- 
 nish its most effective weapons ; factories were rushed to supply 
 
16 PRESIDENT ON THE WAR. 
 
 equipments, the youth and the veteran joined in freely offering 
 their services to the country, volunteers and regulars and all the 
 people rallied to the support of the Republic. There was no 
 break in the line, no halt in the march, no fear in the heart, no 
 resistance to the patriotic impulse at home, no successful resist- 
 ance to the patriotic spirit of the troops fighting in distant waters 
 or on a foreign shore. 
 
 What a wonderful experience it has been from the standpoint 
 of patriotism and achievement ! The storm broke so suddenly 
 that it was here almost before we realized it. Our Navy was 
 too small, though forceful with its modern equipment, and most 
 fortunate in its trained officers and sailors. Our Army had 
 years ago been reduced to a peace footing. We had only nine- 
 teen thousand available troops when the war was declared, but 
 the account which officers and men gave of themselves on the 
 battlefields has never been surpassed. The manhood was there 
 and everywhere. American patriotism was there, and its re- 
 sources were limitless. 
 
 The courageous and invincible spirit of the people proved 
 glorious, and those who a little more than a third of a century 
 ago were divided and at war with each other were again united 
 under the holy standard of liberty. Patriotism banished party 
 feeling ; fifty million of dollars for the National defence was ap- 
 propriated without debate or division, as a matter of course and 
 as only a mere indication of our mighty reserve power. 
 
 But if this is true of the beginning of the war, what shall we 
 say of it now, with hostilities suspended and peace near at hand, 
 as we fervently hope ? Matchless in its results, unequaled in 
 its completeness and the quick success with which victory fol- 
 lowed victory, attained earlier than it was believed to be possi- 
 ble, so comprehensive in its sweep that every thoughtful man 
 feels the weight of responsibility which has been so suddenly 
 thrust upon us ! And, above all and beyond all, the valor of the 
 American Army and the bravery of the American Navy and the 
 majesty of the American name stand forth in unsullied glory, 
 while the humanity of our purposes and the magnanimity of 
 our conduct have given to war, always horrible, touches ©f noble 
 generosity, Christian sympathy and charity, and examples of 
 
PRESIDENT ON THE WAR. 17 
 
 human grandeur which can never be lost io mankind. Passion 
 and bitterness formed no part of our impelling motive, and it is 
 gratifying to feel that humanity triumphed at every step of the 
 war's progress. 
 
 The heroes of Manila and Santiago and Porto Rico have made 
 immortal history. They are worthy successors and descendents 
 of Washington and Greene ; of Paul Jones, Decatur and Hull, 
 and of Grant, Sherman, Sheridan and Logan ; of Farragut. 
 Porter and Cushing, and of Lee, Jackson and Longstreet. New 
 names stand out on the honor roll of the Nation's great men, 
 and with them, unnamed, stand the heroes of the trenches and 
 the forecastle, invincible in battle and uncomplaining in death. 
 The intelligent, loyal, indomitable soldier and sailor and 
 marine, regular and volunteer, are entitled to equal praise as 
 having dbne their whole duty, whether at home or under the 
 baptism of foreign fire. Who will dim the splendor of their 
 achievements? Who will withhold from them their well-earned 
 distinction ? Who will intrude detraction at this time to belittle 
 the manly spirit of the American youth and impair the useful- 
 ness of the American Navy ! Who will embarrass the Govern- 
 ment by sowing seeds of dissatisfaction among the brave men 
 who stand ready to serve and dje if need be for their country? 
 W T ho will darken the counsels of the Republic in this hour requir- 
 ing the united wisdom of all? Shall we deny to ourselves what 
 the rest of the world so freely and so justly accords to us? The 
 men who endured in the short but decisive struggle its hard- 
 ships, its privations, whether in the field or in the camp, on ship 
 or in siege, and planned and achieved its victories, will never 
 tolerate an impeachment, either direct or indirect, of those who 
 won a peace whose great gain to civilization is yet unknown and 
 unwritten. 
 
 The faith of a Christian nation recognizes the hand of Almighty 
 God in the ordeal through which we have passed. Divine favor 
 seemed manifest everywhere. In fighting for humanity's sake 
 we have been signally blest. We did not seek war. To avoid it, 
 if this could be done in justice and honor to the rights of our 
 neighbors and ourselves, was our constant prayer. The war 
 was no more invited by us than were the questions which are 
 
18 PRESIDENT ON THE WAR. 
 
 laid at our door by its results. Now, as then, we will do our 
 c'uiy. The problems will not be solved in a day. Patience will 
 be required ; patience, combined with sincerity of purpose, and 
 unshaken resolution to do right, seeking only the highest good 
 of the Nation and recognizing no other obligation, pursuing no 
 other path but that of duty. 
 
 Right action follows right purpose. We may not at all times 
 be able to divine the future, the way may not always seem clear, 
 but if our aims are high and unselfish, somehow and in some 
 way the right end will be reached. The genius of the Nation, 
 its freedom, its wisdom, its humanity, its courage, its justice 
 favored by divine providence, will make it equal to everv task 
 and the master of every emergency. 
 
THE UNITED STATES 
 
 IN THE 
 
 TWENTIETH CENTURY. 
 
 U. S. SENATOR CUSHMAN K. DAVIS S VIEW OF OUR PART IN A GREAT 
 SECULAR CHANGE IN THE WORLD. 
 
 From a Speech Delivered at St. Paul on July 27, i8g8. 
 
 It has recently been revealed with astonishing clearness that 
 the civilization of Europe, and also that of the United States 
 particularly, have been in an unconscious process of preparation 
 for destinies heretofore unperceived. In what manner the per- 
 formance is to be I do not venture to predict. To do so would 
 be the merest speculative temerity. The great movements of 
 humanity are originated, directed, and controlled by a Supreme 
 Power. Man merely utilizes them. If he attempts to thwart 
 them they crush him. No State ever yet succeeded in diverting 
 any of the purposes or ultimates of its own existence. 
 
 It is now apparent to the least attentive observer that a great 
 secular change is taking place throughout the world. Ancient 
 international balances have become unpoised. Old pivots of 
 equilibrium have ceased to be central. Commercial and terri- 
 torial advantages which, until recently, seemed to be impreg- 
 nably fortified by national wealth, by military and naval pre- 
 ponderance, by prestige, alliance, and prescription, have been 
 encroached upon and endangered. The process has been 
 irresistible. It has not been solely effected by wars ; they have 
 been merely its instruments. It has proceeded with the calm, 
 daily, resistless force of a great creative operation of nature. 
 Humanity has at intervals repeatedly accomplished such move- 
 
20 THE UNITED STA TES IN THE 20th CENTUR V. 
 
 ments. They have been more overpowering than conquests, 
 more enduring than empire — for monarchies have been built 
 upon their surface, have encumbered or adorned them for a 
 little time, as time is measured in the life of nations, and then 
 their ruins have been borne along in the august and unceasing 
 procession. The mysterious Aryan migration was one of these 
 evolutions. It went around the world. It re-entered India 
 with the English. It is now forcing its entrance into China. 
 
 The results of the mediaeval impulse or inspiration toward 
 maritime discovery are disclosed in history, but who can desig- 
 nate the cause that impelled the nations, at about the close of 
 the fifteenth century, to run the course of all the seas until by 
 that generation America was discovered, the Cape of Good Hope 
 was circumnavigated, the Straits of Magellan were traversed and 
 until great ocean held no secrets that were not locked in the ice 
 of either pole ? The results surpassed any political conception 
 ever bodied forth by statesman, philosopher, or poet. 
 
 It has always remained an insoluble problem of that great 
 achievement of discovery and conquest why China, which was 
 even then in the decrepitude of age, though retaining great 
 wealth with all the tenacity of senile avarice, was unmolested 
 until very recently by the forces which possessed America and 
 the Indies. It was, when the age of discovery began, the oldest 
 empire in the world ; it was the largest and richest ; it contained 
 one-fourth of the human race and it was easily vulnerable. 
 Why did England limit herself to India ? Why did Spain stop at 
 Manila ? Why did the Dutch remain satisfied with Java, Borneo, 
 Sumatra, and New Guinea? Why was France content with her 
 precarious Indian establishments ? Why was Portugal stationary 
 at Goa, Timor, and Macao? 
 
 Why China was spared is, perhaps, a profitless speculation. 
 We now encounter the fact that at the close of the nineteenth 
 century the oldest, the most populous, and one of the most ex- 
 tensive and richest of empires, immobile by the ossification of 
 an immemorial civilization which long ago did its work ; an em- 
 pire infected all throughout with official imbecility and corrup- 
 tion ; an empire which for a long time forcibly resisted the in- 
 fluences of Western civilization and then submitted to them little 
 
THE UNITED ST A TES IN THE 20th CENTUR Y. 2 t 
 
 by little, only to impede them by feeble and crafty evasions; an 
 empire which has not dissolved in its decadence, but yet remains 
 in respect of population the most stupendous national unit of 
 this or any age, industrious, productive, selling much and buy- 
 ing little even now as in her remotest ages ; which for thousands 
 of years has received the precious metals in an unreturning 
 stream ; whose inhabitants are skilled in all crafts and possess 
 unsurpassed aptitudes alike for mechanical construction and for 
 commerce; an empire which possesses the elements of national 
 greatness in the intelligence of its people, in the entire absence 
 of caste, in the absolute personal equality of all men. and in 
 their eligibility to all vocations and offices, in the non-existence 
 of any repressive religious system, and in universal education, 
 has all at once yielded without resistance to the encroachments 
 of Europe, and is about to become, as literally as were Mexico 
 and Peru, the subject of its designs, and in effect its territorial 
 dependency. History has nowhere recorded a change so vast 
 and portentous. It involves the most prodigious expansion of 
 commerce and empire ever effected. It influences the relations 
 of all civilized States, and from every point of view it endangers 
 the safety of many of them. In all respects the interests of the 
 United States in this transformation are of the most vital char- 
 acter. 
 
 It will be well to notice certain ethnic and national phenomena 
 contemporaneous with this great process and which have con- 
 tributed to it. Within the present century the nations of Europe 
 have politically and definitely arranged themselves by races. 
 The boundaries of empires have been readjusted to this classifi- 
 cation. The Slavonic, the Latin, and the Teutonic stocks pre- 
 sent themselves nationally and most determinately in this aspect. 
 The Anglo-Saxon race had long before classified itself into two 
 great political organizations. 
 
 But it was not until very recently that Great Britain and the 
 United States looked each other in the face with any sign of 
 recognition of their political relationship. It is well for them, 
 for civilization, for national independence, and for personal 
 freedom that they have begun to do so. The isolation of Eng- 
 land from the other States of Europe is manifest. Her isolation 
 
22 THE I 'NIT ED STATES IN THE 20th CENTVR V. 
 
 from the United States has always existed, and principally as 
 the result of petty differences as to boundaries, fisheries, sterile 
 treaties, and small conflicting policies in other respects. The 
 United States has been isolated by a special policy and by its 
 geographical position. This coalescence of nationalities has 
 been accompanied by a vast territorial acquisition by the Euro- 
 pean States by which the continent of Africa has been partitioned 
 among them. The boundaries of German Africa, French Africa, 
 Portuguese Africa, Spanish Africa, and English Africa are in 
 coarse of definite determination. An Italian Africa seemed 
 probable and would have been established but for the ability of 
 King Menelek, who defeated the European invaders and prac- 
 tically expelled them from his kingdom. It is now asserted that 
 the Abyssinian monarch was, throughout his struggle with Italy, 
 advised and aided by Russia, and that we may expect soon to 
 witness a Russian Africa. The general direction of this move- 
 ment in Africa is toward the Orient. Its most active manifesta- 
 tions and capital centres are on the east coast of Africa and in 
 Madagascar, fronting the Indian Ocean and looking toward 
 India. 
 
 There is also to be noticed another significant eastward tend- 
 ency. Whether it is a mere coincidence or is a part of the gen- 
 eral political and commercial movement is at present purely 
 conjectural. It is not a conjectural statement, however, that 
 these great human precessions are always accompanied by an- 
 cillary changes of pre-existing forces and conditions with which 
 their connection cannot always be distinctly perceived. The 
 centre of manufacturing production in Europe is moving east- 
 ward. Germany has become within the last thirty years a great 
 manufacturing nation. She has ceased to be a market in any 
 great degree for any other country. She builds her own ships. 
 She produces an infinite variety of manufactured articles of all 
 kinds— textile, metallic, and miscellaneous. Her sugar product 
 is greater than that of any other country. She has become a 
 great maritime and commercial nation and is seeking for mar- 
 kets with astonishing energy in South America, in Africa, and 
 most rapaciously in China, where she has recently established 
 herself by military and_naval force, and is seriously to be reck- 
 
THE I 'jVI TED STATES IX THE 20th CEN TURY. 2 J 
 
 oned with in the process of exploiting her power in that great 
 empire. 
 
 The movement of Russia toward the East is not a mere 
 tendency. It has been in actual operation ever since Peier the 
 Great sent Vitus Bering overland from St. Petersburg to the sea 
 which bears his name. It is now exhibiting its Titanic energy in 
 the construction of the trans-Siberian railway. This under- 
 taking has accelerated the recent action of the other European 
 powers in regard to China, and has stimulated Japan to 
 exertions which will soon make her the fourth naval power of 
 the world. It will conduct a stream of European migration into 
 Asia. This route to the Orient portends so much and has made so 
 secondary the importance of the way to Constantinople, in com- 
 parison with this greater highway toward Asiatic empire, that 
 the guideboard which Catherine set up at Kherson and inscribed, 
 "The road to Constantinople," marks merely a footpath to a 
 hamlet. 
 
 It is not necessary to elaborate upon the interests of the 
 United States in the present and prospective situation. They 
 present and enforce themselves from every point of view. The 
 maritime, commercial, and political genius of the American 
 people will not permit their government to be indifferent to 
 to them. It will not suffer the United States to be made the 
 China of the West. The great question remains, and compre- 
 hends the commercial and all other subjects : What action by the 
 United States do its peace and safety require to insure to it the 
 rightful and most advantageous results of these new inter- 
 national relations and adjustments? The situation in the 
 Chinese Orient is pregnant with wars, and wars in these days of 
 fleets built of steel and driven by steam are different from those 
 of the times of wpoden walls and sails. There is not a habit- 
 able spot on the earth's surface too remote or secluded r>r too 
 strong to be exempt from the attacks of rapacious and un- 
 scrupulous military and naval power. All history is false, or 
 this is true, that such wars are inevitable. Their arena has been 
 enormously extended. The recent aggressions by the powers of 
 Europe upon China were acts of war. It is not long since the 
 war between Japan and China ended by depriving the latter 
 
 448530 
 
24 THE UNITED ST A TES IN THE 20th CENTUR Y. 
 
 power of her fleet, by compelling her to pay an enormous in- 
 demnity and provisionally to cede a portion of her territory of 
 the greatest military and naval importance, of which Japan was 
 in her turn deprived by the duress of Russia and Germany, only 
 to see Russia substantially acquire the same territory and 
 Germany make a compensatory seizure near by. 
 
 Next to China the Pacific possessions of the United States are 
 the most inviting objects of attack. Under existing conditions 
 their defence would be difficult. Had Spain triumphed at Manila 
 as decisively as did the United States, her navy could have 
 seized Honolulu and have operated from there upon the entire 
 coast of the United States from Mexico to the Yukon. An over- 
 powering European force in Asiatic waters could do the same 
 thing ; so could Japan. 
 
 The situation is plainly one of alternatives. The United 
 States must become an efficient element in the Asiatic situation, 
 or it must entirely abstain from any participation in it, return to 
 its own shores, receive the smallest possible share of its com- 
 mercial advantages, and prepare for its own defence against the 
 same aggressions which have reduced China to her present con- 
 dition. It may be objected that all this is without precedent. 
 So it is. But all great human evolutions must precede pre- 
 cedents in order to create them. 
 
 The present war has restored confidence to those who feared 
 that the spirit of our people and their patriotism had been 
 enervated by a long and prosperous peace. That they would 
 support the government no one doubted. But it only faintly 
 hoped that a war, not onerous when compared with our resources, 
 would completely fuse all political and sectional differences into 
 unanimity of support to the honor, dignity and safety of the 
 nation. 
 
 It is now manifest that the United States will be at the con- 
 clusion of this war a great and actual naval and military power. 
 Many thousands of her citizens will be trained to modern war- 
 fare on land and sea. The military spirit has inspired the peo- 
 ple. They have been raised to a higher plane of patriotism. 
 The additions to our fleet have been very considerable, and that 
 fleet will never be less. The appropriations for its increase, 
 
THE UNITED ST A TES IX THE 20th CENTURY. 25 
 
 already liberal, will continue to be so. The astounding victories 
 at Manila and at Santiago have convinced our people of the 
 vital importance of the sea power. The organization and oper- 
 tion of a great army and navy will teach them their own 
 strength. 
 
 The heroism of our soldiers and sailors will be a heritage of 
 national glory and honor. Our people were carried to the high- 
 est top of national pride by witnessing at Manila and Santiago 
 (to paraphrase Napier), with what majesty the American sailor 
 fights. It is also perceived with the greatest satisfaction that 
 certain exponents of European opinion, who until recently spoke 
 with a condescending assumption of superiority of intervening 
 in the present contest, have abated their arrogance of expression. 
 
 The Monroe doctrine, in the sense of an intention by this Govern- 
 ment to intervene to prevent encroachments by European nations 
 upon the republics of the Western hemisphere has been con- 
 firmed, and has received a steadying force. The press of Con- 
 tinental Europe has adopted during the last few years a fashion 
 of resenting even any theoretical assertion of this great principle 
 of American security, which was recently characterized by 
 Prince Bismarck as a doctrine of "uncommon insolence." It is 
 now probable that any European power will deliberate before 
 acting upon that assumption. 
 
 The necessity for the immediate construction of the Nicaragua 
 Canal has been undeniably demonstrated by recent events. The 
 voyage and perils of the Oregon are conclusive upon this pro- 
 position. 
 
 The unpleasant relations which have existed between the 
 United States and England for so many years were caused by a 
 traditional aversion which was aggravated by certain events of 
 our civil war and by many minor irritating controversies, the 
 worst feature of which is the fact that few of them have ever 
 been settled. But through all this it has been felt by the people 
 of both countries that a tie binds them together, however much 
 they may irritate each other by straining it. 
 
 Aversion and even specific controversies between peoples so 
 related are often composed by the force of events with which 
 their connection seems merely ideal and sympathetic. Such 
 
26 THE I XI TED ST A TES IN THE 20th CENT I *R V. 
 
 pacifying force* are so subtle and impalpable that they can often 
 be perceived long before they can be described. The difficulty 
 of indication exists in the present instance, but, notwithstanding, 
 it is very plain that a change of sentiment, of expression, and 
 of the general contour of relations between the two nations has 
 taken place. 
 
 The conviction, heretofore only imperfectly felt and only par- 
 tially, infrequently, and fitfully acknowledged, is now clearly 
 operative, and is openly and spontaneously expressed, that the 
 125,000,000 people who speak the English language, who have 
 established representative governments and maintained per- 
 sonal liberty in every portion of the world, whose conceptions of 
 faith, literature, morals, education, popular government, and 
 individual freedom are cognate at all times and everywhere, 
 whose civilization, though developed is not decadent, but is still 
 progressive, who have heretofore taken no step backward in an 
 expansion of influence and empire without comparison in history, 
 are amicably approaching each other under the pressure of a 
 great human evolution. 
 
 Fro?n the New York Sun. 
 
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 NON-RENEW 
 
 
 MAY 2 6 2000 
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