^ ^-■..v IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 fM IIIIIM z 111 ^^ I.I 1.25 •4^ I 2.2 M 1.8 U IIIIII.6 V] A 'V^'^ -^^ 33 WIST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MS80 (716) 873-4503 ^4 '^ ^( meaning "CON- TINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Un des symboles suivants apparaTtra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbols -^ signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbols V signifie "FIN". Maps, plates, charts, etc.. may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the uppsr left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc.. peuvent dtre filmis A des taux de reduction diffirents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seui cliche, il est film6 d partir de I'angle supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite. et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mithode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 The Dominion offiih liNiTHnSTATH^ s. AN ADDRESS DELIVEHEl) BY HARRY RUBENS AT THE Union Lkagljk Cluh, CHICACiO. OCTOBER STH, ISU:.. ^gJjg^JSg^y-WAgBKN^INTi yo Co., 53 DKABBOB N 8T.. OHIC A(»0. iffr(/! 7S2^r Mi{. PUKSIDKNT AND (rKNTI.KMKN : The (|ue.sti<>n : " Shall the policy of the I'liitcd SlaU's )to to ex- tend its dominion r' whirh forms the theme of our disy the a«*(|uisition of California and of New Mexico and of Ariscona. Lastly, l»y the jxirchase of Alaska, we extended our dominion over a territory entirely di^con- nected from the main lK)dy of our coimtry, hut still on the North Anierican continent. With a territory of only S2T,S44 s<|uare miles in lis;? the dominion of the I'nited States was steadily extended so that in less than one hundred years it compriseil :^,«i(>3,- {SS-i S(juare miles, or more than four times its original teri'itory. With the exception of Canada on the north and Mexico on the south, our dominion has lieen thuscoiistantly extended over the entire North American continent. In the light of hi.story, therefore, the policy of the United SUites seems to have l)een unvarying and per- sistent in favor of an extension of its dominion, at least as far as the North American continent is concerned. Had it not l)een for this |)olicy and its constant aj)plication, sometimes in a manner of more than'doid>tful constitutionality, our country would hutown a frajrment of its present |)ossessions. Its position among the great nations of the earth would be one of hut secondary importance, nor wouhl we have been enal>led to enjoy the l)les->ings of peace with our neighl)ors, nor those of the highest agricultural and commercial prosj)erity. It is idle to conjecture what our lot wouM have been had not the patriots and statesmen from the earliest days to this been imlmed with the necessity, not only from a selfish standpoint, with extending the dominion of our flaj;, hut also with the sncred, lii^fhor mission of Hpreudinji; tlio gospel of domociiitic self-government, religious lilx-rty und eciiml rights over the entire eontines of the eonlinent. That tUo curse of slavery could not have been eradicated from North Ameri- can soil, that the great ircm highways would not now extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the far north to the Mexican (lulf, that the furnaces and mills of the east would not have been busy in supplying the needs and wants of a vast empire, and our Chicago W(»uld not have l>eeu able to rise to the grandeur and power of the present day, hud it not l>een for this extension of territory, is a probability amounting almost to a cerUiinty. The successful extension of our dominicm, the comj)lete amalga- mation of the vast territory thus accpured with the United States, the comparative ease and speed with which large populations be- longing to the Latin race have intermingled with, and been welded to, the great bulk of our Saxon population, now forming one mighty, and for all practical pur[)08es homogenous nation, the grand results thus accomplished, both from iho standpoint of material prosperity, as well as of moral, intellectiial and political progress, furnish the very l)est proof of the absolute correctness of the estab- lished policy of the United States with reference to this continent. And this policy has been carried out, despite the doubts and, often- times, the opposition of some of our greatest political thinkers ; carried out because in it lies the realization of the historical destiny of the republic. Daniel Webster, in a speech at Faneuil Hall as late as the 7th day of November, 1848, exclaimed : "And let me ask if there be any sensible man in the whole United States who will say for a moment that when fifty or a hundred thousand persons tind themselves on the chores of the f i- PaciHc Ocean, tlioy will long <^on8©nt to l»e under the rulen of the American CongroHs. They will raiHe the standard for thein- iielves, and they ought to do it." And before him that great, if not greatest of all Amerinin stiiten- men, Thonnis Jetierson, when referring in a letter to John Jaool» Aslor on March 24, 1H12, to a new settlement on Colnml)ia river, Kpoaks of — "Their descondantH spreading throiigli the whole length of that coast, covering it with free and indepondent Americans, n/iconwctetl inith m hut hij the tti'x of' hlood awl of Intcivat, en- joying like lis the rights of self-government." These predictions to the contrary notwithstanding, California i» today a loyal part of our Union, and with it Texas and the Floridas and all the states and territories gained liy the extension of our dominion. The policy to extend our dominion having lieen estal»lished as firmly impressed upon the history of our past national life, shall it, and will it he continued, and what territory should it embrace ^ Will anybody at this day dispute that the accession of Canada would not lie of the highest benefit to the United States J Its popu- lation is to an overwhelming degree com{)osed of people of our idood, of our religion, of our customs, trained in the arts of husbandry and of manufacturing, skilled in conunerce and trade and navigation, ac- custometl to self-government, peaceable, law-abiding and enjoying even to a highei degree than our own, the blessings of civil servico reform and of an impartial and swift execution of the laws of the land. As there can be no annexation of Canada except with the consent of its people, the problem is rendered difficult because of the political wistlom of the British government. While the Span- iards and Portuguese, after founding their colonies, have held them T mi^mm mi^i.^m:mmL.. \ i w I nndwr dospotic subjection, rind hnvc djMiiod tlioin {hv v\lri|»('s shall float from t'vory housetop of llu* ('anadian Nonunion. Still more iniproliahh* i id far r<'nioviM|, and to man\ , indcsiraliic. will the aci'ossion of Mcxi. o appc ul the pn'scnl lime. And yet. HS illustrious a statosuian r.^ Lucas Alannm in his iri'cal work on the llistor. of the Mexicat RepultJic speaks of jiis country as ''A land ()f prospei-ity, '>ut it will not he so for the races who now inhaliM it," and prophetically points to ^^ in'nf/ifr i^'rc'^ destined to siippiani it. Will not and shoidd not Mexico share tln' fate f the Kloridas. of Louisiana, of 'H'xas and of California, and will not he, who no\v shakes his head in 'el)ster and Thomas detlerson were .vith reference to the land kissed l)y the blue wav«>s of the l'aciti<' ocea i '. A problem of annexation nnich m«)re pressing upon tlie attention of ))atriotic Americans relates to the pearl of the Antilles the island of (Julia. The problem is not a new one. It is almost as old as the history of our Republic itself. In 1823, when Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams wrote: *' Numerous and formidable objections to the exterision ()f our territorial dominions present themselves to the tirsl contem- plation of the subject ; obstacles to the system of policy l>y which ahuie that residt can be compassed and maintained are to 6 he foreseen and .snrniountcd, lK)th from sit home and uln'oad ; but there are hi\v.s of |)olitieal as well as of physical gravitation, and if an a[)i)le severed l»y the temi)est from its native tree can- not choose but fall to the ground, Cuba, if forcibly disjointed from its own unnatural connection with Si)ain and incapable of self-support, can gravitate only to the North American Union, Avhich by the laws of nature, cannot cast her otT from its bosom.*' Thus early was the Cul)an (piestion of annexation clearly and pre- cisely stated l)y an American patriot and statesman of the highest au- thority. And before and since those days, at every attempt of the unfortunate people of that island to cast off the j'oke of Spanish op- pression, the (]aestion of extending the dominion of the United States over Cuba has been agitated, and political scholars and states- men have predicted the annexation of Cuba as the inevitable and lojrical result of existincj conditions. I do not underrate the difficulties, diplomatic and otherwise, which still have to Ije overcome before the stars and strij)e.s will iloat on the public buildings of Havana, nor do I underrate the difficulties, i)erhai)s still greater, of dealing with the new member of our political family, after its admission. But a people which conceived and carried out the problem of American independence, which devised our Constituti(m; which suppressed rebellion and managetl.the problem of reconstruction, which enlarged its original territory by almost three millions of square miles in less than a hundred years and successfully amalgamated with it large popula- tions of Spanish and French and Indian origin, which built the Pacific railroad and invented the cotton gin, and the electric tele- graph and the telephone, and, last but not least, conceived and car" ried out the miracle of the World's Fair at Chicago, will not fail in ) ' the solution of the prohleni how to deal with and make contented a niillion ana, when, in his letter of Novcndter T), l"^"."), to Mr. Cushing, Cnited States Minister at .Madrid, he said : " While remembering and observing; tlie duties which this government, as one of the family of nations, owes to another meml)er, by pul>lic laws, treaties, or the particular statutes of the United States, it would l)c idle to attempt to conceal tlie interest and sympathy with whii-h .Auiericans in the I'liitcd States regard any attempt of a numerous jwopU' on this conti- I wmm I uent to he relieved of the ties which hold them in the position of colonial subjection to a distant power, and to assume the independence and ri yf^^f \ increatied, but more uitelUxjent patriotism. Let us have u little less conceit and a little more determination to improve the administra- tion of our [)ul)lic affairs. Let us realize our true condition, and \ stop thinking that we are, and that everything pertaining to us is, the best and the greatest on earth. Let us, abovo all, realize that the material prosperity of a nation caiuiot, in the long run, be maintained except l)y the exercise of wise and trained statesmanship. Let us (piit thinking that one fellow is just as good as another and a great ileal l»etter, and that every one of us is fitted for every oflSce in the gift of the American paoplc. Then the dream of Charles Sumner of "Our country covering the continent from the frozen sea to the tepid waters of the Mexican Gulf," will be realized as well as the projjhecy of the great Spanish states- man, Emileo Castolar, when, in his celel)rate(l speech in the Spanish Cortes on June 22, 1871, he said : " America, and especially Saxon America, with its immense virgin territories, with its republic, with its equilibrium between stability and progress, with its harmony between liberty and democracy, is the continent of the future — the innnense con- tinent stretched by God between the Atlantic and Pacific, where mankind may plant, essay and resolve all social problems.'' And then only will the words of Alexis de Toc(jueviIle l)ecomP true : " There will then arrive a time when there will l)e seen in North America one hundred and fifty millions of men, equal together, who will have the same point of de[)arture, the same civilization, the same language, the same religion, the same hab- its, the same manners, and over which thought will circulate in the same form and paint itself in the same colors. All else is 10 doubtful, but this certuin. Here is u fact entirely new in the world, of which civilisation can hardly seize the extent. The Americans of the United Stattis will become one of the greatest people of the eaith ; they will cover with their offshoots ahnost all North America. The continent which they inhabit is their domain ; it cannot escape them." \m. «» Ai*»4f 1.)- > "P,