Rensselaer Democrat, Volume 1, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 July 1898 — PEARS A NEW POLICY. [ARTICLE]

PEARS A NEW POLICY.

Mr. Cleveland Warn* Against Terri* torial extension. Grover Cleveland, in the course of an address on “Good Citizenship” before the graduating class of the Lawrenceville, New Jersey, school, said he was opposed to the acquisition of new territory by the United States. He said in substance: The American people are tempted every day and every hour to abandon .raeir accustomed way and enter upon a course of new and strange adventure. Never before in our history have we been beset with temptations so dangerous a* those which now whisper in our ear* alluring words of conquest and expansion and point out to us field* bright In the glory of war. I believe there la sometime* a tendency to think of patriotism as something bellicose and defiant, best Illustrated by noisily bragging of our national prowess, quarrelsomely seeking some one who dares dispute It, and threatening war against the combined world on the slightest pretext. In view of those things and considering our achievements In the past and our promise for the future, recalling what we have done and what we have been and what yet remains for us to do under the guidance of the rule* and motive* which have thu* far governed our national life, you surely are entitled to demand th* best of reason* for a change In our policy and conduct, and to expect a conclusive explanation of the conditions which make our acquisition of new and distant territory either justifiable, prudent, or necessary.