Crawfordsville Weekly Journal, Crawfordsville, Montgomery County, 26 October 1900 — Page 11

TO YOUNG MEN ^AMERICA

At Indianapolis. Hon. AH HTI .7. Bev•rldge, United Slates Senator from Indiana. was greeted by 0110 of tlie most notable audiences of the campaign in Indiana. Ills crrcat address to the young men of America, delivered in Tonilinson hall, was received witli the closest attention, the many pointed references contained- in thai address creating the utmost enthusiasm. lie Baid part: Lndios niid Crntlrmpn:

America is the young man of the nations. In this campaign more than one million young men will enlist under the political banner under which the initial force of their first vote and all the influences that hind men to pai. ," will cause them to march for the remainder of their lives. It is to these young men that 1 speak tonight. It is to their lutiire that I appeal. The election of President MrKinley seems now an absolute certainty and no appeal is now nccessarv to insure the re-election of a man who has been great enough to understand the ocean currents of human affairs In which fortune has directed this republic since lie has been its President. But I am concerned for the future as well as for the present. I am concerned for the future of America as a national entity and therefore concerned for the political future of every young man in the republic, in whose heart and mind the future of the republic abides. ,And so I speak to these millions of young men who will bear th-? banner of the' American people into and through the coming century: because the allegiance to the party Which they make in this campaign w:il. with a great majority, determine tiiei.political allegiance far into the coming years.

There are two natural developments that determine the line* of cleavage upon which political parties are now reforming. Both of them profoundly and elementally affect every yonug man in the nation. Political parties are no longer made by politicians, riatforms. constructed by politicians, are disregarded by the American people if those platforms fail to state real Issues truly. Political parties and political issues are now constructed oy events. When a people reaches our period of maturity, political parties have their roots in human nature itself. And so the lirst new line of Cleavage upon which American politi cal parties are reforming is that of construction upon the one hand and destruction upon the other hand. The elements among the people which are constructive, the elemeins that build, plant, plan and advance, gradually crystallize into one party and against that party the elements that destroy, disintegrate and retreat, crystal 11 i/.e Into another party. No matter what names these parties may bear, this is the nature and purpose of each—construction on the one hand, destruction cn the other hand.

And this is the first natural develop mem that determines the line of Cleavage which is separating the AmeiIcan people into two parties for the present and for the future.

The second natural development, perhaps, grows out of this. When a people reach its young manhood, as the American people has reached its young manhood, they naturally look beyond their boundaries for opportunities for their energy and enterprise. The world becomes their field They must look beyond their boundar les, because they begin to produce more than they can consume because they have become conscious of a developed strength which the work of mere internal development does not satisfy because, by the very law of their being, they are no longer content to live to themselves alone becatise they iiear the voices of the sea calling to them: because visions of other lands rise before them because an expulsive energy sends them outward to the ends of the earth. It is a law of nature, whose compelling influence every nation that has written on history's pages a record of achievement lias felt and obeyed. And in obeying this natural law of national development, every people have achieved uieir greatest glory and accomplished their greatest duty in advancing the common civilization ol mankind.

But there arc, and always have been, and always will be, those who resist obedience to this great law of national advance, and, therefore, of international communication and civilization. In England, there is what is called the "little England," who has opposed England's policy of colonial and commercial advance. In Germany. there bas been and still is the party of "little Germany," which resists that great development of the German people which has made Germany's advance all around the world in the last Id years the wonder and envy of Ger many's rivals. In Russia there has been for 200 years the party of "little Russia"—the party that has resisted the- expansion of the empire of the Czar. They objected to the securing of Siberia, and actually checked for nearly 100 years Russia's expansion over that great dominion, which all men of all nations now perceive will soon be Russia's greatest source of strength. And just so in America, there has been and will always be, the party of "little America," who has resisted, now resists, and always will resist, the progress of his county because he lacks faith in the American people, and doubts, after all, the strength of our free institutions.

And this 1b the second natural de­

velopment that determines the line of cleavage which is separating the American people into two parties for the present and for the future.

Tlii" I'arl.y 'oustruction. And now and for all 1 ho future the Republican party is to be the party of constructinn and advance, the party of an intelligent, systematic and definite foreign policy: the party that, at home, fosters and directs ihe energies that produce and then finds abroad an outlet for those products the party that sees in the American tiag something more than an apologetic emblem, and that beholds that banner the ensign of the people whom Providence has appointed lead the world until our work is done. The Democratic party is now. and lorever will be, the party of reaction against the progressive tendencies of the Republican party the pany that sounds retreat, at every suggestion of an advancing and definite American policy abroad.

And therefore the question for the milions of young men. who in this campaign are going to enlist in one ofthose two great political parties is. Where can they find their most congenial, most natural, most helpful and itiost hopeful comrades? In the ranks of which party can they help to carry the American Hag farther and farther up the hights of glory? Our nation is young. Our country is young. Our flag is young. Our destiny is the destiny of the youth among nations. The question for the young men of this republic to decide is whether they will enlist with ihe Republican party,which Is harmonious with all those natural elements of youth, of progress and of power, and whose foreign policy Is the policy of American advance, or with the Democratic party, which is at war with every constructive development of our civilization, and whose foreign policy is the policy of American retreat.

Trusts and Political Panics. There has been growing for years all over the world a tendency towards business consolidation and "co-operation, in order to accomplish more simply the greater tasks of production and ex change. This development began in France, in the great department stores of Paris, where, under one roof, the workingmen of that great capital secured the necessities of life at a cheaper price and better quality and with greater convenience than they were able to get them before in small and poorly-equipped and high-price-1 shops. And this development there has now reached the stage where all the employes in the great department stores are partners in the enterprise and stockholders In the company. This spirit of consolidation and combination spread all over Europe. lt. afleeted nations as well as business enterprises. It formed the German empire out or many separate governments, all weak *n themselves, but Irresistible wheu combined. In this country this 'great development of combination and co-operation has taken hold of every branch of industrial life. It has spread faster and wider In America than anywhere else, simply because the Ajuerican people are more intelligent than any other people: simply because we communicate with each other more than any other people simply because we depend upon each other more than any otlier people. And all this merely means that we are more civilized than any other people. We discovered that we could better facilitate business under a single roof than under separate roofs. Capital responded to that great need, and so the period of great buildings in our cities developed, and today the wealth, the intelligence and the business of a city is well measured by the number and magnitude of what is called its great buildings. This is the simplest form of what if? called a trust. The farmer discovered that his reaper was better than a scythe: that ihe thresher was better than a hall: that the stacker was better than a pitchfork. And all these wizard-like aids to the science of farming—for farming is a sciencehave been adopted by the American farmer. And yet these devices for simplifying the science of farming are merely the development on the farm of the same great movement of which the great building is the development

In the city. The workingmnn dis covered that as an individual he was powerless in the important question of fixing wages, the hours of work and all the terms of partnership between labor and capital—for labor and capital is a partnership. Workingmen therefore formed labor organizations, and when rightly conducted, tliey are one of the most beneficial develop­|trations ments of our civilization. And yet they are merely the same development In the world of labor that the great combinations of capital are In the world of capital. Railroad men discovered that by combining many different. short and separate roads better road-beds could be secured, through trains made possible, faster time at talneil, better service given, cheaper rates on freight secured, and yet more employment, better wages and larger profits to those who operated the railroad and so almost every railroad in this country has been absorbed into great systems. And this Is merel.v the same development In the world of transportation that the labor organlza tion Is in the world of labor. And so all industry and all enterprise of our civilization advances through this ten dency to consolidation, combination and co-operation. It may be that the day will come when every employe of every department store In America will be a stockholder in the- corpora tion, as Is the case in France. The Illinois Central railroad has already begun to divide its profits among its em­

ployes. making every employe of that great railroad a stockholder In the enterprise. All of these development* oil the farm, iu the store, on the railroad. in labor and capital of our industrial development, have their roi»ts in the increasing intelligence of the people and the increasing interdependence upon each other which our advancing civilization brings. They are as inevitable as they are natural, and they ought to be lull of blessings for all mankind. Hut in their development. evils have developed, just as evils have attended every advance of human progress. No man is perfect. No nation is perfect. No society is perfect. Not even all the people of the world are perfect. Their progress is full of crudities.

Opportunities to Young Men. It is the plea of the party of destruc tion that this development of our civilization takes all opportunities for advancement away from the young men. I am willling to- leave that to the young man himself. Suppose a young man lias neither money, friends nor any asset but. his industry, his courage, his honor and his ability. Would he have as great an opportunity if all these combinations were destroyed, as he has today? Could he tiiul a position in the era of the small shop as easily as in the era of the department store? No, because each shopkeeper kept his own shop Could ho start up a shop of his own? No, because he would not have the money. And you could not start a shop then more easily than you can now without money. This industrial development of which the uepartment store, the railroad consolidation, the great building and the mighty manufacturing enterprise are examples AFFORD THE YOUNG MAN II1S OPPORTUNITY INSTEAD OF TAKING IT AWAY. Would the young man have greater opportunities in the hundred separate blacksmith shops which used to produce the crude plows of this section of the nation or in the great Oliver Chilled Plow works of our state- with its regiments of employes, its heads of departments, its distributing agencies, and all the ramifications of its vast industry? I put it to the young man himself: Would you rather take your chances of securing a position in one of the blacksmith shops which used to make plows, or in this great manufacturing organization? Would you rather take your chances of securing employment by one of the little storekeepers of former days, or at the hands of a great general mercantile trade like John Wananiaker or Marshall Field? Would there be better opporunity for advancement on one of the little bankrupt. railroads of the olden time than on the tremendous Pennsylvania system, whose operation absolutely demands the freshest thought, keenest alertness and the most willing industry? I repeat that these great enterprises give young .men their opportunities. THERE IS JUST ONE ELEMENT THAT THESE GREAT CONCERNS ABSOLUTELY NEED, AND THAT IS YOUNG BLOOD. YOUNG BRAIN, YOUNG ENERGY AND YOL'N'G NERVE. The head Of a great company in Indiana the other: day was asked by the head of a great financial institution whether his company did not want to borrow soil" money. "No." came the replv. "WE DO NOT NEED MONEY. WE ARE NOT LOOKING FOR MONEY. WHAT WE NEED AND ARE LOOKING FOR EVERY DAY IS YOUNG MEN WITH BRAINS." These great combinations of business are only posslble when conducted with mathemati cal accuracy, with an all-seeing omrepresent enterprise AND SO IT iS THAT THEIR FIRST NEED, THEIR

LAST NEED. AND ABSOLUTELY TIIEI It ONLY INDISPENSABLE NEED, IS THE STRONGEST YOUNG MEN THAT CAN BE FOUND IN THE LAND.

I'i.vampics to Sustain Theory. -^Tliis theory is clear, is it not? What, now are the facts? Mr. Schwab, the head of tlie great Carnegie Steel company, rose from a boy in the works, and he is only 37 years old today George W. Perkins, a vice-president of the New York Life Insurance company, and one of the most successful insurance managers in the world, i. 38 years of age, and rose to his pros-1 ent position from a boy in one of the company's western otlices, without money or intluence. The vice-president of the Chemical bank of New York, the greatest private banking corporation in the world -is William H. TorI fcer, now 3!) years old. He rose to that position from a messenger boy witliout an influential friend or acquaintance in all the world. These are illuswithin my own personal ohservation. And the history of every successful business enterprise in this country, which the party of destruction in this campaign declares is taking away from young men their opportunities, is on the contrary the history of the constant and certain and absolutely necessary advance of young men from the lowest positions to the I very head and generalship of these great industrial armies, all of which are developments of civilization itself I For civilization is nothing more than the inter-dependence of human being:* upon each other, instead of the de pendence of each Individual upon hlrnself. Therefore, civilization requires of each man the most exacting dis charge of his duties. And so It is that these great Industrial enterprises of production, transportation and distributlon, instead of taking opportunlties away from the young man, afford an increased number of opportunities to the young man.

To distroy this development of civilization, whose two great principles arc combination and co-operation, Is to deBtroy civilization Itself. Thatjs what

THE rUAWFOllDSVlLLI'] AVKHRLY JOURNAL.

that party's great leader declares to be his purpose. THAT PARTY'S PROGRAMME IS NOT TO REMEDY AN EVIL. IU:T TO DESTROY A DEVELOPMENT.

A Trite Comparison

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This is no new attitude. The saneobjection was made against the steam engine and passenger train it wits said that they would destroy th" sale of horses and the business of the stage coach. The same objection wasmade to the improved machiuery of farming: it was said that the bar-, vesler. the thresher and the stacker would take the bread out of the! mouths of the farm hands and make the farmer an independent aristocra1. The same objection lias been made, to every step of human advance. And all these objections have culminaU"! today in the declaration of the Democratic pariv, as the party of destruc-. "lion, that :i proposes a war of anniliilation gainst this whole industrialdevelopment. On the other hand, the Republican party, as the parly of con struct ion, perceives that this great de velopmcnt. is merely another step In our advancing civilization. It perceives that (lie elementary principles of this advance are beneficial to all mankind. Hut. it perceives with Just as keen an eye that evil attends it. just as evils attend and always have attended, and always will attend, every development of human progress, just as each period of our physical life has its own peculiar ills. But th? difference between the Democratic party and the Republican party on this elemental question is that one party proposes destruction of this development it sen., whereas the other party proposes to regulate that development and to remedy the evils that attend it. And so I put the question to the young men of the nation whether there is anything attractive to their youth, their energy, their Initiative, their hope In the programme of destruction presented to them by the party of destruction. I can think wli" infirm age might possibly ally itself with Mr. Bryan's proposition to go back to the old days, but not of a single reason why vital, constructing, advancing youth should chain Itself to this body of death. On the contrary, by the very nature of your period of life, young man, by the swift currents of your blood of youth, by you: fresh brain, your clear vision, your daring heart, you belong with the party of construction and not with the party of destruction with the party that advances as civilization advances. and not. with the party whoso, perpetual purpose is to reverse the wheels of progress.

Young- Men and Foreign Policy. These are the aspects of this cai.ipaign vitally affecting every young man of the nation now and for all his life so far as our internal and industrial development is concerned. But even more important are the aspects of this campaign respecting the foreign advance of the American flag, the racial progress of the American people, the capture for the republic of points of power oil the ocean highways of

the future, the sovereignty of the sens by American ships, and the mastery of the world, in the glorious end, by the American nation.

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On this great issue of national progress. whose lines go out to everv ocean, touch every port of every coast of every country in the world, the Republican party is the party of advance, and the Democratic party is the party of retreat. It is an issue that will last as long as the life of every young man in the nation lasts—nay more it is an issue that will endure as long as the nation endures. And in the conquest of the commerce of the world, by the products of the America! people, and the conquest of the Institutions of the world by the institutions of the American people, born to all mankind by our trade and by our administration, the

question for the young man of this nation to determine is whether they will now enlist under the banner of a national policy of advance or under the flag of a national policy of retreat For those are the two forces that, henceforward will divide the American people, so far as our foreign policy is concerned. In which camp will the young American be able in his lifetime to take the greatest part in the glory, power and progress which the future will bring the American people? Young men of America, in which party do you think, when your hair shall have become gray, you will be able best to say. "My efforts helped to advance American interests all around the world my efforts helped to make the American people the sovereign power among the nations: my efforts aided the advance of tin American flag I have had a part, and I have been a part of the glory won for the American people by a constructive and advancing statesman ship?" Aye more than this! Under which policy will you be best able, 'n dividually, not. only to prosper, but even to survive?

Providing For Our Future. How are we to get markets for our Increasing surplus now and In the future? How lias England solved this problem? By securing control of possessions which would consume her products by securing control of other possessions which command markets for her productions in territory not under her control by making her name, her flag and her goods known pniong the people whom she wants to consume her products. And thus, by abroad policy of government England gives to her merchants opportunities for their industrial enterprise that they could not otherwise have had. Thus England opens the doors of advantage over all the world to the British merchant, the British manufacturer and the British laboring man. How Is Germany securing Increasing markets for German

froflucts? By tlie same simple method, llow is France scenting the same re suits? i!y the same natural method llow is Russia providing for the In ture a future whose tremendous shadow awes every rival but ourselves, a lut tire which will be surpassed onh by the future of the American people1! By extending her dominion into unbroken solitudes and over savage poo pies, even when the development of resources within her original borders scarcely yet begun, just as America heretofore has always done. Can we then longer ask how America is to pro vide for her future now? By the saint' methods adopted by the instinct on every vital people and approved by the judgment of all their statesmen—eve by the same method wo. ourselves have heretofore steadilv followed.

Where arc such territories to hi found? The great islands that Join (hi shoulder of South America to Flor: da's peninsula, and stand like seuii ueis over the Gulf of Mexico and tie Americiin-niade ent ranee to the

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cltic those are such territory. Tin group of material wealth anil military and naval power called Ihe Ilawaiiai Islands, stationed as though by SOUK great strategist: in the most Important ocean of the future—the ocean whicl the great scientist Humboldt declared would soon be the scene of the great est commercial activity of all the globe and of all history these are sucl territories. The island empire of tliij East, richer in itself, in vegetable audi mineral resources, than any equal! area on all the surface of the earth.! located at. a point through which tin I lines of the world's greatest, comnier-! cial navigation in the future must ot! necessity pass and even pijss today located with reference to the numberless millions of Asiatic consumers as a merchant would locate his sales rooms with reference to his customers this island empire constitutes the very ideality of such territory. These territories which thus secure our commercial solvency in the future, as England has similarly secured lier commercial solvency in the past, as Ger many and France are seeking to se-i cure their commercial solvency In tinfuture, the Republican party say? ought to belong, do belong, and shall forever continue to belong, to the American people. And these territories, thus securing the commercial solvency of the American people for the present and for the future, the Demociatie party asks you, young men of America, to help them surrender. In which proposition lies your great-j est personal and material safety? In! which proposition resides the most prosperous future of the Amerlcnri people? And the prosperous future oi' the American people necessarily in-1 volves the prosperous future of your-i self, considered as an Individual

And this is the material atid business side of flu subject. Future Glory of tlic ISepubHc.

Lift your eyes now from (lie balance sheet of profit and loss involved in this proposition up to the skies! where shine the stars of American glory and American power in the won derful future which is dawning a?! your young manhood dawns, and tell me, young men of America, in which of these propositions resides the stir est realization of the true grandeur oil the nation? Is the greatest glory oi this nation to be secured by cutting ourselves off from the world's activi-j ties? Is it a nobler destiny to keep our iiistitutions to ourselves or to ex tend their blessings over other lands The great movement of today is to spread civilization through the aggressive, commercial and administrative activity of the world's most powerful peoples over the dominions of barbarism, the administration of orderly government where savagery reigns, the development of the resources of lands whose Inhabitants have failed to develop them. Iff it a truer grandeui for our nation to take part—aye. and to lead in (hat great movement:- or to say to the world, "Behold me, I am the example you should follow.'' What is the fate of a man who as sunies that attitude of egotistic righteousness? It is the contempt: of his fellows, and not their regard and it is the degeneration of himself and not his improvement. So with Hie nation. If we withdraw within ourselves, our fate is the inevitable fate of internal dissensions, class hatreds, sectional divisions, and finally of death itsell through the process of disintegration. pporlti ni tics A fiord oil.

Think of the careers this plan of ma terial progress opens to the young mei of the republic in every direction. Om consular service must b*' improved ti mec# the needs of this policy of ad vance there are places in that servict for you, young men, if you have flit necessary ability and character. Oui diplomatic service must be improved broadened, systematized to meet tin necessities of the republic as iln world's first power. There are plaee.i in that service for you, young men. 1 you have the necessary ability and character. We are to become the ad nilnistrator of American possessions which need American guidance and direction and the strictest, ablest, purest, administrative service in 'hi world willl be that provided by t!u American congress for the government of our fortunate dependencies. There are places in that service for you, young men, if you have the necessary ability and character. But ill these places in all the service of the republic are few and arduous and poor compared with opportunities afforded you, young men, in private life, by the plan proposed by the party of construction. Because this great plau of national advance will In every direction create new Industries upon the land, launch new lines of ships upon the sea, sec in motion new activities

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hroiigliout the entire world of American enterprise. And in each of them a place for you. young men of Amerca. according to your ability, your inlusiry and your character.

Preventative of Militarism. Can the young men of this nation be frightened by the words "imperialsm," "militarism" and all such shibboleths of tear? Who can establish an empire, young men of America, without vour consent? Where will come lie soldiers who will set their bayonets at the throat of our free In st it ill ions, it you. young men of America, yourselves, do not become those soldiers? Militarism! Imperialism! Young men of America, will you strike your colors to a fear, and that fear a fear of yourselves? Vour future is In your own hands. Vour fate is in your own hands. There can be no standing army which vou yourselves do not provide from among yourselves. Such a standing army is powerless except as you equip it: purposeless except as you direct it. And how will this programme of national advance require standing armies? England, whose possessions make crimson the map of every continent, and every sea, has less than 00,000 English soldiers 111 all her world-wide possessions. The rest of her standing army, which altogether is smaller tliau that of any

European power. Is required by European conditions and not by her colonial, conditions. Sludy the standing armies of the world. Study the causes that produce them. You cannot find a single instance of militarism caused by a colonial policy. On the contrary. In America, such a policy will prevent a standing army. Our energies will have an outlet prosperous employim ut will keep busy those hands which, when idle, are always dangerous, for Idleness in the ranks of labor. In the ranks of business. In the ranks of finance- aye, even in the ranks of professional life—is the only danger this nation lias to fear. Class hatred, sec tlonal strife, Internal disseusion—these are the rocks on which this republic will founder, if it ever does and it Is from these rocks of disturbance at homo that our active policy abroad draws us safely away. It Is better to employ a few American soldiers to maintain that order which American administration will bring In other lands, and at tlie same time supply a field abroad for American activities and work for American hands at home, than to employ many soldiers at home to suppress riot, disorder and Insurrection here, caused by the very fact that we have failed to find an outlet abroad for American energy and a market abroad for American surplus products.

Standing army! All this nation is a standing army. There Is a soldier In the breast: of every free man. Our blood is the most militant blood on earth. Indiana furnished -JO years ago, with what, was then her scanty population, nearly 220,000 soldiers—more soldiers than have been enlisted by the government from the beginning of the Spanish war till the present hour. Indiana alone, today, can place in the field, in a single year. fiOO.OOO armed nieji. Militarism in America! It is here, indeed-hcrc in the blood we young men of America have inherited from our fathers. Every generation of Americans have been soldiers. Militarism in America! Yes, indeed there is enough militarism in the blood of the frt young men of this republic not only to defeat the world in arms but to defeat every military uprising among ourselves which might, seek to overthrow the republic. The future of the institutions of the republic are in the hands of the republic's young men, and in their hands those institutions are secure. I have faith in you, young men of America. I have faith in our institutions. I have faith in our ting.

But I lie parly of destruei foil doubM you, fears you, denies the strength of your patriotism, I ho power of your lniiiils. the purity of your purposes. The party of destruction fears thai you will change the flag of the republic into a flag of an empire. Will you enlisi with them or with us? Will yon march with the parly of ad vatic-', whose very soul and breath of life faith in the American people anil belief in the vitality of American im.uituflons: or will you march with ties party of retreat, whose very soul and breath of life is dVbelief in the American people and infidelity to Anierict-n institutions?

If tiie party of retreat tells you that this policy of administering American government in lands whose people cannot govern themselves, robs those penpie of their liberties, ask them what liberty Is.' Ask them whether turning those people over to the slaughter o't each Other is giving theni liberty? Ask them whether giving them orderly government is denying them liberty? Ask them wffetlier building schoolhouses for all their children is denying them liberty? Ask them wlietht the administration of impartial justice by incorruptible judges is denyimthen, liberty? Ask them whether the gnat diansliij) of free speech, among them is denying them liberty? Ask them whether the bestowal on them of every one of tin* saereil privileges enumerated In our hill of rights Is ienying them liberty? Ask the party of destruction and retreat whether they will not have more of the blessings of both liberty and life under your administration. you sons of an administrating race, than they would have if left to the anarchy their dissension would produce? The party of destruction and retreat declares that thes« children of barbarism will establish a better government than the government you will administer to them fof you, young men of America, are tha administrators of the future—aye, even of tho present, for your hour hi at hand.