Speech #550144572

It would serve no useful purpose to now recall at length the history and tradition of the United States respecting this question. but the discussion would be incomplete if I did not direct attention to the fact that. from the organization of the Government of the United States to the present time. ours has been exclusively a domestic policy intended to advance the best interest and elevate our own people. To now change that policy and enter upon the uncertain and perilous career of imperialism would be an experiment that I am not prepared to make. I am not willing to incorporate in our population. as citizens of the United States. 15.000.000 people belonging to alien races. the most of them ignorant. brutal. hostile. and savage. and reduce the standard of our home civilization to that of a low and brutal Asiatic population. And that such would be the case if imperialism should prevail in our country no one who has given the question any serious thought can successfully deny. Henry Norman. in an article published in the Washington Post July 1. 1.898. says: Unless all signs fail. however. or I fail to interpret them. the old America. the America obedient to the traditions of the founders of the Republic. is passing away. and a new America. an America standing armed. alert. and exigent in the arena of the world struggle. is taking its place.