The Dominion FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1908. UNITED STATES PRESIDENCY.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 130, 25 February 1908, Page 6

The Dominion FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1908. UNITED STATES PRESIDENCY.

The issues upon which, ths/American Presidential campaign | will;.'; be fought this_ year are now, 'resolving themselves into exact and intelligible form.. They.:,.'will present a' Jcurious amalgam of social, moral, and politico:!, questions unique in the history of i great , electoral struggles. , Conscious of the enormous possibilities of the United : States, . with 'an unbounded trust .in their future, and confident that financial panics can work no permanent injury to the stability, of the country,' the American people are inclined to direct their attention to problems of moral and social reform. , The gross evils that till recently ilourished in the powerful fiduciary institutions and .industrial concerns of America appear to have owed their' origin to the corrupt'and predatory practices of a mere handful of Wall Street plutocrats and by no means permeated the, business', system as. a whole. The people of the. United States 'have'entered upon ft, period of heart-search-ing and introspection. It does not appear to be a spa I sm of virtue or a sudden public mood, the reaction of a series of unprecedented financial upheavals,. but the earnest' of a ; rigorous and organic change in'national character. The V Spanish-American war sounded the death-knell of' spreadeagleism—a peculiarly offensive interlarding of Chauvinism and patriotism in which the spirit of wild and irresponsible brag predominated—and the United States became something more than a.great experiment for the fusion of the vast hordes that swarmed into the country from every 1 corner of Europe. The rise to world-power broke down many of the barriers of political insularity, and created a. foreign policy which, in the brief' tenor of:its existence, has made ah impress in Asia, Europe, and Africa, and that, too, not in the . sense of political or commercial aggrandisement, but of a spirited humanitarianism evidenced in indignant protests against Buiisian and Congo horrors, and in the negotiation and successful issue of the Portsmouth conference.;

President Roosevelt gives the place of . chief importance in his last and farewell message to Congressto a large and practicable scheme of social 'reform, ranging from the establishment of a standard of integrity and morality in,the conduct of Wall Street;,, and of the great corporations throughout the country, to an improvement in the conditions of labour for women and children and in the average hours of labour all over the United States, The very gist _ of the . present situ ation in America is one of morals. The prospective candidates for the Presidency show a.true instinct in stimulating, as the most direct and effective means of conciliating the goodwill of the people, a strong sentiment in favour of uncompromising fidelity and honesty in the management of the various great enterprises which make up'the huge and prosperous industrial structure of America. The, gravity of the recent crisis has been exaggerated. Although it was proved that many leading businesses were managed with fraud and corruption, and have, in consequence, been vigorously prosecuted and punthere has been no actual destruction of wealth, as in a catastrophe like the. San Francisco fire and earth-

quake, and therefore.no diminution of the volume of property and individual concerns, which appear for.the moment ruined; will shortly show themselves again rehabilitated. The foundations of prosperity are not shaken; the United Stales is adjusting itself, and the recent confusion and perturbation is corollary to the establishment of a new standard of morals and the change to a sounder basis of conduct.