Conservative *
year (1899) ( ) alone showing a record of
over .15,000,000 devoted by him to the
good of the public. Among the many
benevolent institutions established , the
institute at Pittsburg which boars his
name , deserves special mention. Pitts-
burg being the home city of many of his
employees and the headquarters of his
great manufacturing institutions , prop
erly received special consideration , and
the magnificent Carnegie institute , cost
ing nearly § 4,000,000 , testifies to Mr ,
Carnegie's regard for that city.
Mr. Carnegie's private gifts are nu
merous and liberal and are known to be
in keeping with his public benefactions.
Ho does not refer to them as' 'charities , "
however , as ho does not want his benefi
ciaries to feel that they ore regarded as
objects of charity. He was the largest
individual contributor to the relief fund
for the Johnstown flood sufferers , and
during the financial stress of 1894 , when
so many workmen throughout the coun
try were without employment , ho offered
to duplicate every dollar subscribed by
the people of Pittsburg and Western
Pennsylvania for the relief of the unem
ployed of Pittsburg , besides keeping
his own large force of workmen in em
ployment at a sacrifice to himself. The
public contributed about $126,000 by
popular subscription to the fund , and
Mr. Carnegie promptly gave his check
for an equal amount.
Wo cannot take leave of Andrew
Carnegie without mentioning other
qualifications worthy of note. With
but little school education to commence
his career and with active responsi
bilities at an early age , which necessa
rily demanded his whole energies , one
would hardly expect to find in him a
man of great learning and profound
judgment on all questions of public im
portance and national welfare. Never
theless , this is exactly what we do find ,
and no man of our time has a better
understanding of the issues of the day ,
both social and political , and no man has
pronounced moro wisely upon them.
On the grave questions of national con
cern , which the past two years have
forced upon us , the strong stand taken
by Mr. Carnegie for national justice ,
national honor and true Americanism ,
is worthy of the greatest of American
statesmen. As a writer on the impor
tant questions of the day his work
shows the most careful analysis and ac
curate judgment , for the author of
"Triumphant Democracy" is not only a
j careful student of human affairs , but a
< j master scholar likewise , in the knowledge -
| | edge of those great principles which
control both individual and national
welfare.
So then , do we find Andrew Carnegie ,
ironmaster , philanthropist and scholar
an American citizen of whom his coun
try may well be proud.
A. J. TULLOOK ,
Leaven worth , Kansas.
differeUCG
OUK PUTTY
PRESIDENT. between clear-cut
statesmanship and
evasive wabbling is plainly shown in the
addresses made , respectively , by the
Hon. Whitelaw Reid before the
Massachusetts Club on Saturday , and
that made on the same day by President
McKinley before the Ohio Society of
New York. In the first instance , we
have the line of policy defined which it
is essential that our government should
follow , if not only the rewards of our
efforts in securing outlying possessions
are considered , but , also , if we are to
safeguard the future industrial and
political well-being of the inhabitants of
these possessions. In the latter address
we have nothing practical or tangible
brought forward , but , on the contrary ,
merely glittering generalities and
phrases , which can be construed either
one way or the other. The former ad
dress showed that the man who delivered
it had carefully studied the various con
ditions that qualify the problem , and
was prepared , as the result of this study ,
to outline a course of procedure which
our government should follow. The
latter address indicated , on the part of
the one who made it , a state of mind
which bad no firm , intellectual grasp on
any of the involved problems. It was
the address of one who did not dare to
commit himself to anything who was
so to speak , wholly at sea as to what was
the proper course to pursue , and was
disposed on this account to be influenced
by phrases as , for example , when he re
pudiated what he termed "imperialism. "
What imperial-
Meaning : of . . . / , . - . . -
imperialism. ism signifies m Mr.
McKiuley's mind
we have no means of knowing , but
we should judge that he looks upon
the word as embodying something
corresponding to the government of
the Czar of Russia or that of the
German emperor. As a matter of
fact , it has no connection whatsoever
with dynastic forms of control , but re
fers simply to the difference which
should exist between the government of
a homogeneous and of a heterogeneous
people. In this respect there is no trace
of cloudiness of vision in Mr. Reid's re
marks. Ho realizes that , having as
sumed the responsibility for the future
political control of people in the West
Indies and the East Indies we owe it ,
both to ourselves and to them , to devise
a form of government which shall con
form with their social and industrial
aptitudes. To assume that we are to
take them into our own country , to
make them one with us in the enjoy
ment of , and responsibility for , our poli
tical institutions , is to subject these to a
strain which they cannot by any possi
bility endure. The editor of that en
tirely irresponsible newspaper , the New
York Journal , has recently said :
"The eyes of all the western world are
fixed upon Porto Rico. If our flag had
brought instant prosperity and happiness
there ; if wo had welcomed the Porto
Ricaus in the spirit in which they wel
comed our soldiers , all Latin America
would have waited expectantly for our
next invitation. "
And further :
"Wo ought to have Mexico and Cen
tral America knocking at our gates beg
ging us to let them in. The realization
of Jefferson's dream of continental
union ought to bo prayed for by the
people of the countries not yet fortunate
enough to have boon invited into our
great partnership. "
This is expansion under territorial
conditions , in contradistinction to extension -
sion under what
Expansion. . , , , , - ,
might be termed
the imperial theory. But what does it
imply ? The transformation of the homo
geneous government of the United
States into what Mr. Reid forcibly
termed "a political crazy quilt" of dis
cordant patchwork. We have found in
the past , and are likely to find in the
future , sufficient trouble in maintaining
the purity and efficiency of our political
institutions in consequence of the extent
of our country , as it has been , with its
diversified sentiments and conflicting in
terests. We have had an illustration
recently afforded in the senatorship of
Montana of the demoralization which
may result among English-speaking
people from the absence of well-settled
political sentiments and a strong ,
healthy and well-organized public opin
ion. But when one takes into account
that the political institutions of Latin-
Americans , while republican in name ,
are simply military despotisms in dis
guise ; that the free will of the people is
no more expressed in these republics
than it is in Turkey , the vista that is
open to us by these clamorers for con
tinental extension and annexation , with
the corruption and violence in political
life that would result therefrom , can
hardly be shut out from the gaze of
Americans who have any conception of
what our country stands for and the
conditions which alone make possible its
future continuance.
Unless the people of a country have
boon brought up to the political level of
the American people
I'ollticiil Equality
Necessary. ple they should not
bo taken in as part
of our country , oven if we become pos
sessors of their country. If we should
thus take them in , we should inevitably
undermine the stability of our own gov
ernment. It would bo fatal to have
senators and representatives in Congress
nominally representing constituencies
which were in all rospeots alien to the
American political ideal. It may be
that in a quarter of a century from this
time the force of events will compel us
to possess ourselves of territory in Cen
tral and South America. This now
seems improbable , but no more improb-