[untitled]

     SINCE the previous issue of this paper a great tragedy has been enacted in our republic. Our chief magistrate has fallen by the hand of an assassin and his form has been hidden away, deeply covered with tributes of sincere appreciation, affectionate admiration, and sympathetic sorrow from all the countries of Christendom, and from rulers of many other lands as well as from every section of our own land, its dignitaries, leaders and citizens. The nation’s tears have bedewed the untimely grave of our third martyred president while his last words, his triumphant Christian testimonies, will long ring in the nation’s and the world’s heart.
     His latest address, at once accepted as the policy of his distinguished and trusted successor, breathes the noble sentiments of a great leader of the foremost republic of the world. Beyond all these,—fit valedictory of such a ruler,—is the clarion ring of the voice of a Christian cosmopolitan now calling all nations into one common brotherhood. Could a longer life do more?
     A few sentences only from that last address, uttering thoughts of “greatest good to the greatest number,” as did an immortal address of our first martyred president, can here be repeated.
     “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 made 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. Isolation is no longer possible or desirable. The same important news is read, though 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. Vast transactions are conducted and international exchanges are made by the tick of the cable. Every event of interest is immediately bulletined. 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 all 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 misunderstanding, 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.
     “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. Only a broad and enlightened policy will keep what we have. No other policy will get more. Reciprocity is the natural outgrowth of our wonderful industrial development. The period of exclusiveness is past. Commercial wars are unprofitable. Reciprocity treaties are in harmony with the spirit of the times; measures of retaliation are not. Our earnest prayer is that God will graciously vouchsafe prosperity, happiness and peace to all our neighbors and like blessings to all the peoples and powers of earth.”