time I hid in the west,
As the sculptor uncovers his statue, when he has wrought his best."

Yet grand as this country has grown to be, "the eagle of liberty can
never reach the pinion heights its wings were made to measure," while
the shell of wasted resources to which I have referred bows low its
head. Money won't save us. Babylon had her gold standard; her images
were made of gold. Media, Persia, had her free silver standard; her
images were made of silver. Rome had her gold, her silver, brass and
iron; yet they were all dashed to pieces on the world's highway. "In
the hollow of the hand of God is the destiny of this republic," and we
cannot buy Him with money. The wealth that satisfies the ruler of
nations is character.

Some one said a few years ago, and it went the rounds of the press:
"The question during the Civil War was, shall we have two governments
or one; now the question is, shall we have any?" I quote to you with
as much confidence as any mortal ever proclaimed a truth: "This
republic will never fail or fall until God deserts it, and God will
not desert it until we desert Him."

"Come the world in arms,
We'll defeat, and then pursue;
Nothing can our flag destroy,
While to God and self we're true."

I am not one of those who believe our war with Spain was an accident.
For Dewey to cross that dead line at midnight; when morning dawned to
find mines of death behind him, an enemy's fleet of eleven ships
before him, these supported by shores belted with batteries; and yet
within six hours sink or disable every ship in the fleet, silence the
forts, lift the star spangled banner in triumph to wave, and not have
a warship sunk, nor a sailor killed, means more than the mere skill of
a Commodore. Some one may say we had a better navy. Spain didn't think
so. Before the war the Spanish papers said: "The United States is
bluffing. She can't go to war with us. She has only twenty-five
thousand soldiers, and they are kept out west to control cowboys and
Indians. Then the South is waiting for an opportunity to break out in
rebellion." Columbus discovered America in 1492; Spain didn't discover
the United States until 1898.

Do you ask what we are to do with the Philippine Islands? I cannot
tell you what is best, but I do know we didn't want them. The day
Dewey sailed from Hong Kong to Manila Bay, if Spain had said to the
United States: "Here are the Philippine Islands, we would like to make
you a presen