n now; and they are only in their beginning.
We cannot longer be indifferent to any statesmanship that involves the
commercial development of Asia. Solution of the great problems which
the Russo-Japanese war has stated, and the resultant steps thereafter
taken, are of keenest interest, and may be of most serious import, to
the American people.

It is very possible, as I pointed out in "The Russian Advance," that
Japan will attempt the reorganization of China. Indeed, that
development is quite probable. That is certainly Japan's plan and
ideal. Any one of a half dozen courses may be adopted. And, I repeat
it, any one of them may present the gravest of situations to American
statesmanship. As I write it is quite sure that Russia is beaten on
the field. Think now, young man, of the immensity of the statesmanship
required right now, _which five years ago everybody would have
declared impossible and absurd_.

Especially will Japanese dominance of the Orient, military and
commercial, upon which Japan is determined, bring us Americans face to
face with a new set of conditions, requiring the highest order of
careful thought, the clearest, firmest announcement of national
policy. Do not fear, young man, lest all of this be over before the
time has come for you to play your part on the stage of human affairs.
The new problems which the whole Orient will propose to the entire
world, and particularly to America, will last for a century at least.

Indeed, it is probable that our relations with the East will become
and remain one of the leading subjects of American statesmanship as
long as the Republic endures. For that matter, you may go further, and
say that the great human question of modern times is the meeting face
to face of Oriental and Occidental ideals, of the white and yellow
theory of life and morals, and the gradual destruction of one by the
other, or their mutual modification and adjustment.

But we are getting into deep waters now. That is the point I am
making. They show that, dive you ever so deep, young man, present-day
statesmanship has depths which not even the plummet of imagination has
yet been able to sound. And can we doubt that to-morrow's national and
world problems will be deeper still?

There are three or four great international questions for this
Republic to solve on this Western hemisphere, the working out of any
one of which means immortality for the statesman who does it.

Of course, the great i