422 Presidential Addresses 



port as great a population as, the Scandinavian 

 peninsula. It is curious how our fate as a Nation has 

 often driven us forward toward greatness in spite 

 of the protests of many of those esteeming them- 

 selves in point of training and culture best fitted 

 to shape the Nation's destiny. In 1803, when we 

 acquired the territory stretching from the Mississippi 

 to the Pacific, there were plenty of wise men who 

 announced that we were acquiring a mere desert, 

 that it was a violation of the Constitution to ac- 

 quire it, and that the acquisition was fraught with the 

 seeds of the dissolution of the Republic. And think 

 how absolutely the event has falsified the predic- 

 tions of those men. So when in the late 6o's we 

 by treaty acquired Alaska, this great territory with 

 its infinite possibilities was taken by this Repub- 

 lic in spite of the bitter opposition of many men 

 who were patriots according to their lights and 

 who esteemed themselves far-sighted. And but five 

 years ago there were excellent men who bemoaned 

 the fact that we were obliged during the war with 

 Spain to take possession of the Philippines and to 

 show that we were hereafter to be one of the domi- 

 nant powers of the Pacific. In every instance how 

 the after events of history have falsified the predic- 

 tions of the men of little faith! There are critics 

 so feeble and so timid that they shrink back when 

 this Nation asserts that it comes in the category of 

 the nations who dare to be great, and they want to 

 know, forsooth, the cost of greatness and what it 

 means. We do not know the cost, but we know it 



