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enterprise and intellect of the people, and quicken human genius. They go into the home. They broaden and
brighten the daily life of the people. They open mighty storehouses of information to the student. Every
exposition, great or small, has helped to some onward step.
Comparison of ideas is always educational and, as such, instructs the brain and hand of man. Friendly rivalry
follows, which is the spur to industrial improvement, the inspiration to useful invention and to high endeavor
in all departments of human activity. It exacts a study of the wants, comforts, and even the whims of the
people, and recognizes the efficacy of high quality and low prices to win their favor. The quest for trade is an
incentive to men of business to devise, invent, improve and economize in the cost of production. Business life,
whether among ourselves, or with other peoples, is ever a sharp struggle for success. It will be none the less in
the future.
Without competition we would be clinging to the clumsy and antiquated process of farming and manufacture
and the methods of business of long ago, and the twentieth would be no further advanced than the eighteenth
century. But tho commercial competitors we are, commercial enemies we must not be. The Pan-American
Exposition has done its work thoroughly, presenting in its exhibits evidences of the highest skill and
illustrating the progress of the human family in the Western Hemisphere. This portion of the earth has no
cause for humiliation for the part it has performed in the march of civilization. It has not accomplished
everything; far from it. It has simply done its best, and without vanity or boastfulness, and recognizing the
manifold achievements of others it invites the friendly rivalry of all the powers in the peaceful pursuits of
trade and commerce, and will cooperate with all in advancing the highest and best interests of humanity. The
wisdom and energy of all the nations are none too great for the world work. The success of art, science,
industry and invention is an international asset and a common glory.
After all, how near one to the other is every part of the world. Modern inventions have brought into close
relation widely separated peoples and make them better acquainted. Geographic and political divisions will
continue to exist, but distances have been effaced. Swift ships and fast trains are becoming cosmopolitan.
They invade fields which a few years ago were impenetrable. The world's products are exchanged as never
before and with increasing transportation facilities come increasing knowledge and larger trade. Prices are
fixed with mathematical precision by supply and demand. The world's selling prices are regulated by market
and crop reports. We travel greater distances in a shorter space of time and with more ease than was ever
dreamed of by the fathers. Isolation is no longer possible or desirable. The same important news is read, tho in
different languages, the same day in all Christendom.
The telegraph keeps us advised of what is occurring everywhere, and the Press foreshadows, with more or less
accuracy, the plans and purposes of the nations. Market prices of products and of securities are hourly known
in every commercial mart, and the investments of the people extend beyond their own national boundaries
into the remotest parts of the earth. Vast transactions are conducted and international exchanges are made by
the tick of the cable. Every event of interest is immediately bulletined. The quick gathering and transmission
"1_2_4">APPENDIX D. SPEECHES FOR STUDY AND PRACTISE 243
The Art of Public Speaking
of news, like rapid transit, are of recent origin, and are only made possible by the genius of the inventor and
the courage of the investor. It took a special messenger of the government, with every facility known at the
time for rapid travel, nineteen days to go from the City of Washington to New Orleans with a message to
General Jackson that the war with England had ceased and a treaty of peace had been signed. How different
now! We reached General Miles, in Porto Rico, and he was able through the military telegraph to stop his
army on the firing line with the message that the United States and Spain had signed a protocol suspending
hostilities. We knew almost instanter of the first shots fired at Santiago, and the subsequent surrender of the
Spanish forces was known at Washington within less than an hour of its consummation. The first ship of
Cervera's fleet had hardly emerged from that historic harbor when the fact was flashed to our Capitol, and the
swift destruction that followed was announced immediately through the wonderful medium of telegraphy.
So accustomed are we to safe and easy communication with distant lands that its temporary interruption, even
in ordinary times, results in loss and inconvenience. We shall never forget the days of anxious waiting and
suspense when no information was permitted to be sent from Pekin, and the diplomatic representatives of the
nations in China, cut off from all communication, inside and outside of the walled capital, were surrounded by
an angry and misguided mob that threatened their lives; nor the joy that thrilled the world when a single
message from the government of the United States brought through our minister the first news of the safety of
the besieged diplomats.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century there was not a mile of steam railroad on the globe; now there are
enough miles to make its circuit many times. Then there was not a line of electric telegraph; now we have a
vast mileage traversing all lands and seas. God and man have linked the nations together. No nation can
longer be indifferent to any other. And as we are brought more and more in touch with each other, the less
occasion is there for misunderstandings, and the stronger the disposition, when we have differences, to adjust
them in the court of arbitration, which is the noblest forum for the settlement of international disputes.
My fellow citizens, trade statistics indicate that this country is in a state of unexampled prosperity. The figures
are almost appalling. They show that we are utilizing our fields and forests and mines, and that we are
furnishing profitable employment to the millions of workingmen throughout the United States, bringing
comfort and happiness to their homes, and making it possible to lay by savings for old age and disability. That
all the people are participating in this great prosperity is seen in every American community and shown by the
enormous and unprecedented deposits in our savings banks. Our duty in the care and security of these deposits
and their safe investment demands the highest integrity and the best business capacity of those in charge of
these depositories of the people's earnings.
We have a vast and intricate business, built up through years of toil and struggle in which every part of the
country has its stake, which will not permit of either neglect or of undue selfishness. No narrow, sordid policy
will subserve it. The greatest skill and wisdom on the part of manufacturers and producers will be required to
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