If this great nation, if
this nation with its wealth, with its continental vastness of domain,
with its glorious history, with its memory of Washington and Lincoln, of
its statesmen and soldiers and sailors, the builders and the wielders of
commonwealths, if this nation is to stand cowering back because it is
afraid to undertake tasks lest they prove too formidable, we may well
suppose that the decadence of our race has begun. No; the tasks are
difficult, and all the more for that reason let us gird up our loins and
go out to do them. But let us meet them, realizing their difficulty; not
in a spirit of levity, but in a spirit of sincere and earnest desire to
do our duty as it is given us to see our duty. Let us not do it in the
spirit of sentimentality, not saying we must at once give universal
suffrage to the people of the Philippines--they are unfit for it. Do not
let us mistake the shadow for the substance. We have got to show the
practical common sense which was combined with the fervent religion of
the Puritan; the combination which gave him the chance to establish here
that little group of commonwealths which more than any others have
shaped the spirit and destiny of this nation; we must show both
qualities.
Gentlemen, if one of the islands which we have acquired is not fit to
govern itself, then we must govern it until it is fit.
Pages:
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233