Page images
PDF
EPUB

No one has yet objected to more corn land, because corn bread is so nourishing it competes with wheat and grows 100 bushels to the acre.

The President's attitude toward Cuba is to be liberal in aid of Cubans, but in such form as not to conflict directly with any of our farming or manufacturing interests.

The logical consequence would be the annexation of Cuba, when the experiment of independence had demonstrated that the welfare of the people would be consulted by the great American islands becoming an integral part of the Greater American power. That which appears is that we of the United States, as well as the Cubans, need more of the teaching of experience, as well as the people of Cuba require it, that we may be broadened in views of selfgovernment, and not merely consent to, but command, the rule of the majority for the majority.

The President's policy, and we find him as always without reservations from the people, is against Chinese exclusiveness, unites reciprocity with protection, believes in strong combinations and not in ruthless monopolies, and holds the flag in its lofty place in history-"full high advanced," for our one country is big enough for the country Webster saw and Benton prophesied, the Jeffersonian and Jacksonian expansion, and the union of the excellencies of the old Whig and Democratic parties, Clay and Lincoln, Polk and McKinley, hand in hand.

CHAPTER XXIV.

PRESIDENT'S FIRST MESSAGE TO CONGRESS.

A Paper That Would Alone Give Its Author a Foremost Place among Public Men-One That Has Seldom Been Equaled, and Never Surpassed, in the Information It Contains, and the Ability with Which It Is Stated-The Courage of Conviction-The Wealth of Suggestion and Recommendation, and the Brilliancy of Literary Execution.

A

WASHINGTON letter of December 5th, 1901, that has had weight in the official circles of Europe, states concisely and precisely the home view of the immense message that distinguished the day. We quote these lines: "The first thing to be said about the President's Message is that it is the President's Message. It is his in an unusual sense. The custom has been that heads of departments should write each that portion of the Message dealing with the affairs of his own department. These contributions have been

incorporated in the document to which the President has signed his name. That is so no longer. The Message has been individualized. On the whole of it is the impress of the President's personality, and how strong that is people on both sides of the Atlantic are beginning to understand. The President is also beginning to understand. He has found his feet.”

The President's Message is, in effect, a programme which he asks Congress to adopt and the country to approve. By it he elects to stand or fall. It is his confession of faith, a declaration of his considered policy, the expression of views which he thinks not only ought to be adopted, but have a fair chance of being adopted. No President would put forth merely pious opinions or academic policies. The purpose of the Message is practical and legislative.

The President's Message, communicated to the two Houses of Congress at the beginning of the first session of the Fifty-seventh Congress, referred in the first sentence to the assembly of the representatives of the people and the States, "under the shadow of a great calamity." The sternly true statement followed that President McKinley had been "shot by an anarchist," and died. What the President said of his predecessor was heard with profound approval, not only by all Americans not degenerates, but by all enlightened people of this generation of the inhabitants of the earth. The President expressed the

public sense of loss, with a simplicity most appropriate to state the irreparable disaster of a crime hardly conceivable, and that touched all hearts with elevated emotion, and blended bereavement with consolation, befitting the civilization stricken, and Christianity assailed.

There is an august precedent, when the death of a President occurs, that the Senate shall address his successor, in words of sympathy, condolence, and celebration of the beneficent character of the Departed. When George Washington died, the Senate addressed John Adams, and received from him a reply. These venerable papers should reappear in the school books, for they are the shining pillars that adorn and are stately in the temple that is sacred to the literature that gives proof of, and permanence to our patriotism. "To the PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES.

"THE Senate of the United States respectfully take leave, sir, to express to you their deep regret for the loss their country has sustained in the death of General George Washington.-This event so distressing to all our fellow-citizens must be peculiarly heavy to you, who have long been associated with him in deeds of patriotism. Permit us, sir, to mingle our tears with yours on this occasion; it is manly to weep. To lose such a man at such a crisis is no common calamity to the world; our country mourns her Father. The Almighty Disposer of human events has taken from us our greatest Benefactor and ornament. It becomes us to submit with reverence to Him who "maketh darkness his Pavilion."

"With patriotic pride we review the life of our Washington and compare him with those of other countries who have been pre-eminent in fame. Ancient and modern names are diminished before him. Greatness and guilt have too often been allied, but his fame is whiter than it is brilliant. The destroyers of nations stood abashed at the majesty of his virtue. It reproved the intemperance of their ambition, and darkened the splendor of victory. The scenes closed, and we are no longer anxious lest misfortune should sully his glory; he has traveled on to the end of his journey, and carried with him an increasing weight of honor; he has deposited it safely, where misfortune cannot tarnish it, where malice cannot blast it. Favored of Heaven he departed without exhibiting the weakness of humanity; magnanimous in death, the darkness of the grave could not obscure his brightness.

"Such was the man whom we deplore. Thanks to God, his glory is consummated. Washington yet lives on earth in his spotless example-his spirit is in Heaven.

"Let his countrymen consecrate the memory of the heroic General, the patriotic statesman, and the virtuous Sage; let them teach their children never to forget that the fruits of his labors and his examples are their inheritance.

[graphic]

LIBRARY OF THE WILCOX RESIDENCE AT BUFFALO, WHEREIN

PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT TOOK THE OATH OF OFFICE

« PreviousContinue »