92 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



cms crisis, and our sacred duty is to stop and take our bearings. If 

 we have manifested certain national traits hitherto scarcely sus- 

 pected, and now unwillingly confessed, every motive of patriotism 

 and of prudence should impel us to study our case, that we may 

 effectively prescribe for it. 



Are there not, then, certain signs which we may all agree are 

 discernible? Have not the waves of powerful feeling which have 

 swept over us, the storms of acrimonious debate which have raged 

 in our papers and forums, the paeans of praise which we have 

 chanted at our " peace jubilees " and hero parties, revealed the 

 prevalence and rapid growth of certain sentiments which we may 

 all, without regard to political belief, clearly recognize? I do not 

 in this place raise the question of the political wisdom or simple 

 justice of the course which the country has taken in its interna- 

 tional relations. I do not now challenge any belief as to these 

 matters which has been formed thoughtfully, honestly, manfully; 

 but I do maintain that the past few months have left lessons for 

 thoughtful, honest men to unite in studying. 



Probably the most striking phenomenon which we have wit- 

 nessed has been the tremendous display of excited feeling. How- 

 ever careful our national leaders may have been, however honest 

 in basing their actions on what they considered sufficient informa- 

 tion, or however careless and dishonest, no man who has read any 

 considerable number of our papers, who has listened to the clamor 

 of the crowds, can doubt that the force of blind passion has been 

 in hundreds of thousands of men the dominant force. If during 

 the war with Spain you stood in the cheering, surging crowds be- 

 fore the bulletin boards, if you heard storms of hisses greet the 

 name of the innocent boy-King of Spain, or noted the cheer of 

 triumph which applauded the capture of a lumber scow by an 

 armored cruiser, you will have no difficulty in agreeing with 

 me. You will smile at the idea of imputing to such men the 

 credit of serious thought. On the birthday of the greatest Ameri- 

 can, whose life was a message of liberty — " who," said a great 

 Spanish orator, " laid down his life at the foot of his finished work " 

 ■ — our papers printed jokes about the mistake of the Filipinos in 

 trying to fight Uncle Sam, and in our cities, at least, the report of 

 their slaughter was received with exultation. Whether they were 

 civilized or not, whether they were misled or not, whether they 

 were ignorant of America's carefully concealed intention or not, 

 the killing of thousands of men who thought they were fighting 

 for their freedom, who faced machine guns, and who crawled away 

 into the bushes to die for the cause for which they had fought, is 

 hardly a subject for jokes or for exultation, when people are gov- 



