Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 October 1898 — SPIRIT OF A NEW ERA [ARTICLE]

SPIRIT OF A NEW ERA

WHAT ONE SUPPORTS IN VOTING FOR REPUBLICANS. i An Illustration of American Patriotism and Progress That Have Electrified the World and Started the Wheels of Commerce. If one asks what are the cardinal principles of the Republican party, he need only absorb the following epigrammatic patriotism uttered by President McKinley at the Omaha exposition to find out. “One of the great laws of life is progress, and no where have the principles of this law been so strikingly illustrated as in the United States. A century and a decade of our national life have turned doubt into conviction; changed experiment into demonstration; revolutionized old methods and. won new triumphs, which have challenged the.attenticm of the world. “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 farseeing sagacity of our ancestors. “We have made the triumphs of our system of government 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 affect not ourselves alone, but others of the family of nations. “In this age of frequent interchange and mutual dependency, 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. ‘‘We must avoid the temptation of undue aggression and aim to secure only such results as will promote our own and the general good. “We never enter upon war until effort for peace without it has been exhausted. Ours has never been a military government. Peace, witjj whose blessings we have been so singularly favored, is the national desire, and the goal of every Americau aspiration. “The war was no more invited by us than were the questions which are laid at our door by its results. Now, as then, we will do our duty. The problems will not be solved in a day. Patience will be required; patieuce, 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. “Patriotism banished party feeling; $50,000,000 for the national defense was appropriated, without debate or division, as a matter of course, and as only a mere indication as our mighty reserve power. “But if this is true of.the beginning, what shall we say of it now, with hostilities suspended and peace near at hand, as we fervently hope? “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 of noble generosity. Passion and bitterness formed no part of oiir impelling motive, and it is gratifying to feel that humanity triumphed at every step of the war’s progress. “The intelligent, loyal, indomitable soldier and sailor and marine, regular and volunteer, are entitled to equal praise as having done their whole duty, whether at home or under the baptism of foreign fire.

“Who will (Jim the splendor of their achievements? “Who will withhold from them their wellear ned distinction? “Who will intrude detraction at this time to belitte the manly spirit of Americau youth and impair the usefulness of the American navy ? “Who will embarrass the government by sowing seeds of dissatisfaction among the brave men who stand ready to serve and die, if need be, for their country? “Who will darken the councils of the republic in this hour requiring the unit- i ed 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 hardships, its privations, whether in the field or in camp, whether on ships or in siege, planned and achieved its victories, will never tolerate impeachment, either direct or indirect, of those who won a peace wMbse great gain to civilization is yet unknown and unwritten." Hou. William Vanamee, a lending lawyer, came from the recent New York Democratic state convention at which he was a delegate, and expressed his intention to vote for the Republican candidate for congress in his district. He will vote that way because he says: “It would be a national calamity, while the foreign policy of the present admidlstration is being developed and enforced, if the hands of President McKinley should I be tied during the last year of his term I by a Democratic majority in the house , of representatives under the ridiculous leadership of Mr. Bailey of Texas." The Democrats have saved one issue this campaign out of the several they , tried to raise. They are “agin the government."