Whitelaw Reid

The worst possible introduction for the Asiatic trade would be an irresolute abandonment of our foothold because it was too much trouble to keep, or because some Malay and half-breed insurgents said they wanted us away.

They belong not merely to the seventy-five millions now within our borders, but to all who are to extend the fortunes and preserve the virtues of the Republic in the coming century.

To what height would not the three hundred millions of Americans whom even that ratio foretells bear up the seething industrial activities of the continent!

To what corner of the world would they not need to carry their commerce?

Is it said that our Nation is already too great, that all its magnificent growth only adds to the conflicting interests that must eventually tear it asunder?

What cement, then, like that of a great common interest beyond our borders, that touches not merely the conscience but the pocket and the pride of all alike, and marshals us in the face of the world, standing for our own?

Stand firm in the place where Providence has put you, and do the duty a just responsibility for your own past acts imposes.

Stop wasting valuable strength by showing how things might be different if something different had been done a year and a half ago.

Use the educated thought of the country for shaping best its course now, instead of chiefly finding fault with its history.

Bring the best hope of the future, the colleges and the generation they are training, to exert the greatest influence and accomplish the most good by working intelligently in line with the patriotic aspirations and the inevitable…

Unite the efforts of all men of good will to make the appointment of any person to these new and strange duties beyond seas impossible save for proved fitness, and his removal impossible save for cause.

It will make an end forever of Spain in this hemisphere.