CHAPTER XIV.Removal of The Capital.When the Stars and Stripes floated over the Entire Hemisphere in 1990 Washington, the National Capital, was removed to Mexico. The name of the new capital unchanged. Vera Cruz becomes the Seaport of Washington. The Canal completed in 1915. The new location proves eminently satisfactory to all. The future of China and the Philippines.When the good Lord created the earth He reserved the Western Hemisphere for the exclusive use and control of the Yankees. They were not slow to avail themselves of their opportunity. This comes from force of habit; opportunities they allow to pass by unimproved are as scarce as Swiss Admirals. Americans are warranted to take care of themselves under any circumstances.It will surprise no one to learn that in 1999 the Western Hemisphere had passed in its entirety under the dominion of the Stars and Stripes. Americans did not pounce upon and seize the continent, nor did they even fire one shot to secure its entire control. Canada, Central and South America simply gravitated towards the American Union and became absorbed into one great Republic.The smaller Republics of the Americas realized that the United States in 1899 werea peace-loving nation. Although its army was a mere corporal’s guard, America had a population in that year aggregating 75,000,000. Such a large nation with an insignificant army could mean them no harm. One by one they joined our American Union of their own free will and volition, until in 1999 the great American Union became an accomplished fact.To attempt to rule such a vast stretch of country under any other than the greatIt could Govern the World.Constitution of the United States, would result in a signal failure. The American Constitution, that masterpiece and perfect symbol of human liberty, is great enough and broad enough to govern the entire globe under one flag. Indeed as early as 1999 there were already strong indications that before the expiration of three more centuries such might be the eventual result. It already looked in that year as though the great American Republic would ultimately gather under its wings, Europe, Asia, Africa and the islands of Oceanica.However, there is a limit to human ambition; there is a boundary to all possibilities. Comparatively speaking, we are dealingAmerica does not want the Earth.only with a near future when we behold, in 1999, the proud flag of America, that emblem of liberty which never suffered defeat, floating overone vast Republic from Alaska to Patagonia. Other dreamers may hustle for notoriety by claiming in an aimless way that in 2999 the American flag will float over all the continents of the world. They may even wish to annex a few of the planets under the American flag, but heed them not.Daniel Webster’s eloquent words: “The Union, now and forever, one and inseparable,” reached a climax when the United States of the Americas consolidated in 1999. Nor was there a discordant note in the grand concert of eighty-five states. Mason and Dixon’s line became a memory of the past. The northern states from Alaska and Canada to Florida; the middle states from Mexico to Costa Rica and the southern states from Colombia to Patagonia, were all linked together in the bonds of friendship and brotherly love. At last Webster’s prophecy had been fulfilled; the great Union had become “one and inseparable.”To the inquiring mind the question naturally offers itself: In what manner was the great American Republic governed in 1999? Were the commands of the Federal government still issued from Washington, D. C., or had it been found more convenient to transfer the seat of government to a locality better adapted and more central to the new conditions of the greater Republic?UNION OF THE AMERICAS IN 1999.UNION OF THE AMERICAS IN 1999.By permission of the Pan-American Exposition Co. of Buffalo, N. Y.In 1990, by decree of Congress of theUnited Americas, and at the close of aCapital transferred to Mexico.special national election held for that purpose, both houses of Congress by a two-thirds vote, elected to transfer the seat of our National government from Washington, D. C., to the city of Mexico, which in 1999, commanded a position midway between the North and South sections of the great Republic. Although transferred by act of Congress to the city of Mexico, our National Capital in 1999 still retained the glorious name of Washington. The name of Washington, D. C., was changed to that of Columbia.Statesmen in 1990 wisely decided to retain the name of Washington for the National Capital of the great Republic. A few were in favor of retaining the ancient name of Mexico for the new capital but the vast majority of our American voters in 1990 treasured with patriotic love and tenderness the revered name of the Father of his Country. They believed that no matter where the capital of the Republic might be moved to, whether it were located in Brazil or in Alaska, the fame of Washington must go with it and bear the honored association of that name.Washington, D. C., took the new name of Columbia, having become a city of secondary political importance. The name of Washington belongs to the national capitalalone, the home of Congress, the residence of the National Executive and forum of the Supreme Court of the Americas. The hero of Valley Forge and champion of American Independence was still near and dear to every heart in 1990, and may centuries yet unborn honor his memory.The city of Mexico became the Capital of the Americas for manifold reasons,Mexico a Natural Centre.chiefly political, strategical and commercial. To those, who, in 1899 had been accustomed from birth to regard the United States as that narrow strip of country lying between Canada and the Gulf of Mexico, the announcement that the capital of the Americas had been transferred to the city of Mexico, must cause a shock of unpleasant sensation.It is a human weakness to worship our idols. Woe to those who would destroy them. Tradition must not be tampered with. Americans of 1899 had been taught that a small and beautiful city on the Potomac was the capital of our Federal Union. To them it must come in the nature of a shock to learn that in 1990 the name of that city had changed to Columbia, and Washington, the National Capital, had been transferred to the State of Mexico.There are, however, other instances on record in which it has been deemed advisable to change the capital of a great nation.If in the year 1810 an intelligent Russian had announced to his countrymen that the seat of government in Russia would be transferred in 1812 from golden, sacred Moscow to bleak, cold St. Petersburg on the barren swamps of the Neva, his prediction would have been laughed to scorn; such a statement would have encountered a tempest of derision. Your orthodox Russian would have raved at the mere mention of such an eventuality. In 1810 any intelligent Russian would have regarded the abandonment of ancient Moscow, the custodian of the Kremlin, for a barren spot on the shores of the Baltic, as a positive sacrilege. Yet it is historically true that in 1812 this very thing came to pass.Instead of uprooting our National Capital from a spot hallowed with sacred traditionsIn Perpetual Sunshine and Flowers.and transplanting it into a cold, sterile region, as in the case of the Russian capital, Washington, as a seat of government, was removed from the banks of the Potomac into the splendors of a tropical region,—into the domain of Montezuma and his brave Aztec warriors, where fruits and flowers chase one another in an unbroken circle through the year; a paradise where the gales are loaded with perfumes of the forests in which birds of radiant plumage and exquisite song fill the air with their delicious melodies.Washington in 1999 was fast developing into a magnificent city, worthy of its proudAn Earthly Paradise.name and eminence as the capital of the great American Republic with its population of 531,000,000 people. Built in the heart of the State of Mexico, it was surrounded by magical charms of scenery such as only a tropical paradise may develop. Its lofty domes and spires and stately public buildings, many of them constructed of huge blocks of multi-colored glass, were reared amidst a land luxuriant with the cochineal, cocoa, the orange and sugar-cane.The city of Washington in 1999 was hedged by nature’s most subtle art. Beyond the capital’s limits were visible a gay confusion of meadows, streams and perpetual flowering forests. From the centre of the new Washington could plainly be seen the majestic outlines of ancient Popocatapetl, rising as a sombre spectre whose rugged head seemed to cleave the skies.Stretching far away to the right, and clearly visible from the observatory of the Executive Mansion might be seen, towering in its solitary grandeur, the peak of the mighty Orizaba, with its eternal shroud of snow descending far down its sides. How many centuries this mighty giant of the Cordilleras has stood there, a sentinel in the Garden of the Gods, none may tell. Butages and cycles of time after the busy brains of 1899 shall have turned to dust, Orizaba, with the Stars and Stripes adorning its summit, will still rear its proud head and gaze down upon millions of American patriots yet unborn.The transferment of the capital of the Americas in 1990 to the city of Mexico,Met with General Approval.was generally regarded as a master-stroke of policy. From a hygienic point of view alone, the change proved eminently a desirable one. Its removal from the malodorous swamps of the Potomac to the elevated plateau upon which the Aztec race reared their ancient capital, with its balmy breezes and tropical luxuriance, proved a most welcome change. It was generally conceded in 1899 that the site of Washington on the malaria-breeding banks of the Potomac, was not a happy selection.In spite of great precautions several epidemics had devastated the national capital during the decades from 1900 to 1940. Among other pestilential attractions of the Potomac swamps, great prominence was given to a fierce and aggressive tribe of mosquitoes, called “Swamp Angels,” which in 1920 increased and multiplied greatly, to the absolute terror of the Washingtonites. It is related of these aggressive and dangerous pests that in 1925 a swarm of them actually carried away a sheep while theanimal was grazing upon the White House downs.But aside from its favorable hygienic considerations the central position of the city of Washington in the State of Mexico commanding the main avenue between North and South America, gave it great political and commercial importance as the capital of the Americas in 1990, one that was enjoyed by no other rival.The capture and destruction of Washington, in the State of Mexico, could not haveIt Became Impregnable.been effected in 1999 or at any subsequent period. The city in that year became impregnable, so rendered by a vast system or chain of fortresses from the city proper to Vera Cruz, its seaport, a distance of about two hundred miles. The mountain passes and rugged defiles between Washington and Vera Cruz frowned with heavy ordnance. Dynamite guns were ready on every hand to scatter their deadlymissilesfor the edification of all invaders. From Washington to Vera Cruz, great sentinel forts stood in the path of the invader, an unassailable chain, many of them being hardly visible to the eye. Fortifications were constructed upon the high table lands of the Cordilleras, also upon the apex of precipices, and from these dizzy summits shrinking eyes might gaze down two and three thousand feet and admire the bewildering beauties of tropicalvegetation. It was estimated by leading engineers in 1999 that with its line of defences to the coast the capital of the United States of the Americas was impervious to the assaults of the world.The port of Vera Cruz, only two hundred miles east of Washington in a direct line, had been permitted to retain its original name when Mexico became a part and parcelWashington’s Outlet to the Sea.of the American Union. This concession was made in honor of Cortes, the conqueror of Mexico, the boldest and most intrepid of all warriors of the middle ages, who founded the city of Vera Cruz and destroyed his fleet of vessels so as to compel his followers to wrest from the sway of Montezuma, the city of Mexico. It was at Vera Cruz that Cortes founded the first Spanish colony on the American mainland. In honor and memory of the valiant Spanish commander and his daring exploits in 1520, it was deemed a point of courtesy to retain for that city the baptismal name Cortes had endowed upon it.In 1999 its spacious harbor was taxed to its utmost capacity to accommodate the world’s commerce while en route through the Nicaraguan Canal, which was opened to navigation in 1915, having cost its American investors $195,000,000. The proximity of Vera Cruz to the canal rendered that city an available port, bringing to it a wonderfulvolume of trade and commerce, and as Vera Cruz in 1999 was merely the ocean outlet of Washington, it will be readily appreciated that the opening of the Nicaraguan Canal and the volume of traffic it diverted in that direction, added materially to the importance of that region as the seat in 1999 of our national government. The completion of the Nicaragua Canal in 1915 was a triumph to the American science of engineering, yet so tardy in conception and execution that it reflected at best only an uncertain honor. It should have been constructed and opened to navigation as earlyImportance of the Canal.as 1885. It was a case of sheer neglect on the part of America. As soon as the Panama bubble exploded and Frenchmen discovered that they had been hoodwinked by speculators, America should have lost no time in constructing the Nicaragua Canal.The lesson of the Spanish War has taught America the value of an ocean canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. With the possession of the Philippines and an enormous Oriental trade the operation of this canal became a factor of the highest importance to America.An American fleet of warships in the spacious bay of Vera Cruz, only two hundred miles away from Washington, was enabled in 1999 to steam through the canal into the Pacific in only a few hours’ timeand proceed to Hawaii and the Orient in short order. This was a great improvement on the “good old days” of 1899 when war vessels and transports, leaving New York to go to Manila, had to crawl around the tempestuous Horn or travel via. Suez.The construction of the interoceanic canal added greatly to the importance of the new location for our National capital in the State of Mexico. Vera Cruz became the rendezvous of the world’s commerce. The central location of Washington in the State of Mexico, midway between the two great continents, proved an advantageous and commanding one and was eminently satisfactory to all sections of the great American Republic in 1999.In considering the vast importance of ocean canal navigation to the Americas, it is well to ascertain what became of the Philippine Islands and China in 1999.In that year of our Lord, the world was practically governed by three great powers.Three Great Powers in 1999.The first and greatest of the trio was the vast American Republic, which in that memorable year extended from Alaska to Patagonia. Next came Great Britain, whose sway was undisputed over the vast continents of India, Africa and Australia, along with valuable islands of the seas, like the articles of a traditional auction bill, “are too numerous to mention.” The third great Power in1999 was Russia. The ruler of all the Russias was not only Czar of the European and Siberian domains, but he was also crowned at the sacred Kremlin as the Emperor of China. A glance at the map of the world will show that in 1999 Russia was in possession of nearly one-fourth of the globe’s real estate. Not satisfied with this, Russian ambition had designs upon India, intending to employ China as her base of operations. England, however, was always alert and ready to frustrate her designs.When the nations of Europe in 1898 were carving up China, (even Spain and Italy joining in the scramble for pieces of China-ware,) Russia, her nearest neighbor on the north, was careful to secure the biggest share of the booty. In 1895 Russia saved China from the clutches of Japan, for the philanthropic purpose of doing the stealing act herself. After appropriating China’s best provinces on the north, and profiting by the completion of the Trans-Siberian railroad in the year 1905, Russian influence at the court of Pekin, overshadowed all others. The Chinese, like all other Orientals, believe only what they see. Russia had long been their only neighbor in Siberia but when the great Russian railroad was completed to Port Arthur, in a very short period an army of 450,000 well drilled Russian soldiers was bivouacked near the great wall of China, within rifle shot of Pekin.Once firmly seated on China’s neck, RussianThe Russian Emperor of China.diplomacy moulded the Middle Kingdom as clay in the potter’s hand. Its enormous population obeyed implicitly the Czar’s ukases, and in 1999 China became a Russian province as completely as the Crimea.Russia, however, had always entertained a warm friendship and cordial regard for the United States of America ever since the rebellion of 1860–65 and her good wishes were reciprocated on the part of all Americans. Russian respect for America became firmer and more binding as the young American Republic attained its enormous dimensions. Russia, great herself, realized that she had a right to be regarded in the same class as our noble country. As an evidence of Russian esteem for America, during the period from 1920 to 1999, Russia granted to Americans special trade privileges in China in which other nations were not permitted to share.As a result of these generous concessions to Americans our trade with China in 1999 attained gigantic proportions and nine-tenths of it passed through the Nicaragua canal. So important did our Oriental trade become in the twentieth century that the inter-oceanic canal would have been built even though it had been necessary to pave its channel with bricks of gold and silver. American wheat had largely supplanted riceas the staple food of China, and in 1999 the American export of wheat to China was estimated at a value of $95,000,000. America monopolized nearly the entire Chinese trade in farming implements, electrical machines, cotton goods, dyes and chemicals.As to the Philippines, the trade with thatPeace and Prosperity Restored.archipelago was entirely controlled by America. After the proud flag of America had floated one century over those islands, the transformation scene was wonderful. The Filipinos had long learned, after the fall of Aguinaldo, that the American Constitution was broad and big enough to amply protect and to give them that measure of liberty to which all nations are entitled. Long before 1920 they became a docile, patient and laborious people and prospered in an amazing degree. Their exports of hemp, rice and tobacco attained immense proportions and the culture of sugar-cane became so profitable that the Philippines were famed in 1999 as the “Sugar Bowl of the Pacific.” America proved a Godsend to those islands. The names of Dewey, Otis and Lawton were held in high esteem for many centuries after Dewey’s great victory, which awakened America, electrified the world and gave birth to the grandest Republic the world had ever seen.
CHAPTER XIV.Removal of The Capital.When the Stars and Stripes floated over the Entire Hemisphere in 1990 Washington, the National Capital, was removed to Mexico. The name of the new capital unchanged. Vera Cruz becomes the Seaport of Washington. The Canal completed in 1915. The new location proves eminently satisfactory to all. The future of China and the Philippines.When the good Lord created the earth He reserved the Western Hemisphere for the exclusive use and control of the Yankees. They were not slow to avail themselves of their opportunity. This comes from force of habit; opportunities they allow to pass by unimproved are as scarce as Swiss Admirals. Americans are warranted to take care of themselves under any circumstances.It will surprise no one to learn that in 1999 the Western Hemisphere had passed in its entirety under the dominion of the Stars and Stripes. Americans did not pounce upon and seize the continent, nor did they even fire one shot to secure its entire control. Canada, Central and South America simply gravitated towards the American Union and became absorbed into one great Republic.The smaller Republics of the Americas realized that the United States in 1899 werea peace-loving nation. Although its army was a mere corporal’s guard, America had a population in that year aggregating 75,000,000. Such a large nation with an insignificant army could mean them no harm. One by one they joined our American Union of their own free will and volition, until in 1999 the great American Union became an accomplished fact.To attempt to rule such a vast stretch of country under any other than the greatIt could Govern the World.Constitution of the United States, would result in a signal failure. The American Constitution, that masterpiece and perfect symbol of human liberty, is great enough and broad enough to govern the entire globe under one flag. Indeed as early as 1999 there were already strong indications that before the expiration of three more centuries such might be the eventual result. It already looked in that year as though the great American Republic would ultimately gather under its wings, Europe, Asia, Africa and the islands of Oceanica.However, there is a limit to human ambition; there is a boundary to all possibilities. Comparatively speaking, we are dealingAmerica does not want the Earth.only with a near future when we behold, in 1999, the proud flag of America, that emblem of liberty which never suffered defeat, floating overone vast Republic from Alaska to Patagonia. Other dreamers may hustle for notoriety by claiming in an aimless way that in 2999 the American flag will float over all the continents of the world. They may even wish to annex a few of the planets under the American flag, but heed them not.Daniel Webster’s eloquent words: “The Union, now and forever, one and inseparable,” reached a climax when the United States of the Americas consolidated in 1999. Nor was there a discordant note in the grand concert of eighty-five states. Mason and Dixon’s line became a memory of the past. The northern states from Alaska and Canada to Florida; the middle states from Mexico to Costa Rica and the southern states from Colombia to Patagonia, were all linked together in the bonds of friendship and brotherly love. At last Webster’s prophecy had been fulfilled; the great Union had become “one and inseparable.”To the inquiring mind the question naturally offers itself: In what manner was the great American Republic governed in 1999? Were the commands of the Federal government still issued from Washington, D. C., or had it been found more convenient to transfer the seat of government to a locality better adapted and more central to the new conditions of the greater Republic?UNION OF THE AMERICAS IN 1999.UNION OF THE AMERICAS IN 1999.By permission of the Pan-American Exposition Co. of Buffalo, N. Y.In 1990, by decree of Congress of theUnited Americas, and at the close of aCapital transferred to Mexico.special national election held for that purpose, both houses of Congress by a two-thirds vote, elected to transfer the seat of our National government from Washington, D. C., to the city of Mexico, which in 1999, commanded a position midway between the North and South sections of the great Republic. Although transferred by act of Congress to the city of Mexico, our National Capital in 1999 still retained the glorious name of Washington. The name of Washington, D. C., was changed to that of Columbia.Statesmen in 1990 wisely decided to retain the name of Washington for the National Capital of the great Republic. A few were in favor of retaining the ancient name of Mexico for the new capital but the vast majority of our American voters in 1990 treasured with patriotic love and tenderness the revered name of the Father of his Country. They believed that no matter where the capital of the Republic might be moved to, whether it were located in Brazil or in Alaska, the fame of Washington must go with it and bear the honored association of that name.Washington, D. C., took the new name of Columbia, having become a city of secondary political importance. The name of Washington belongs to the national capitalalone, the home of Congress, the residence of the National Executive and forum of the Supreme Court of the Americas. The hero of Valley Forge and champion of American Independence was still near and dear to every heart in 1990, and may centuries yet unborn honor his memory.The city of Mexico became the Capital of the Americas for manifold reasons,Mexico a Natural Centre.chiefly political, strategical and commercial. To those, who, in 1899 had been accustomed from birth to regard the United States as that narrow strip of country lying between Canada and the Gulf of Mexico, the announcement that the capital of the Americas had been transferred to the city of Mexico, must cause a shock of unpleasant sensation.It is a human weakness to worship our idols. Woe to those who would destroy them. Tradition must not be tampered with. Americans of 1899 had been taught that a small and beautiful city on the Potomac was the capital of our Federal Union. To them it must come in the nature of a shock to learn that in 1990 the name of that city had changed to Columbia, and Washington, the National Capital, had been transferred to the State of Mexico.There are, however, other instances on record in which it has been deemed advisable to change the capital of a great nation.If in the year 1810 an intelligent Russian had announced to his countrymen that the seat of government in Russia would be transferred in 1812 from golden, sacred Moscow to bleak, cold St. Petersburg on the barren swamps of the Neva, his prediction would have been laughed to scorn; such a statement would have encountered a tempest of derision. Your orthodox Russian would have raved at the mere mention of such an eventuality. In 1810 any intelligent Russian would have regarded the abandonment of ancient Moscow, the custodian of the Kremlin, for a barren spot on the shores of the Baltic, as a positive sacrilege. Yet it is historically true that in 1812 this very thing came to pass.Instead of uprooting our National Capital from a spot hallowed with sacred traditionsIn Perpetual Sunshine and Flowers.and transplanting it into a cold, sterile region, as in the case of the Russian capital, Washington, as a seat of government, was removed from the banks of the Potomac into the splendors of a tropical region,—into the domain of Montezuma and his brave Aztec warriors, where fruits and flowers chase one another in an unbroken circle through the year; a paradise where the gales are loaded with perfumes of the forests in which birds of radiant plumage and exquisite song fill the air with their delicious melodies.Washington in 1999 was fast developing into a magnificent city, worthy of its proudAn Earthly Paradise.name and eminence as the capital of the great American Republic with its population of 531,000,000 people. Built in the heart of the State of Mexico, it was surrounded by magical charms of scenery such as only a tropical paradise may develop. Its lofty domes and spires and stately public buildings, many of them constructed of huge blocks of multi-colored glass, were reared amidst a land luxuriant with the cochineal, cocoa, the orange and sugar-cane.The city of Washington in 1999 was hedged by nature’s most subtle art. Beyond the capital’s limits were visible a gay confusion of meadows, streams and perpetual flowering forests. From the centre of the new Washington could plainly be seen the majestic outlines of ancient Popocatapetl, rising as a sombre spectre whose rugged head seemed to cleave the skies.Stretching far away to the right, and clearly visible from the observatory of the Executive Mansion might be seen, towering in its solitary grandeur, the peak of the mighty Orizaba, with its eternal shroud of snow descending far down its sides. How many centuries this mighty giant of the Cordilleras has stood there, a sentinel in the Garden of the Gods, none may tell. Butages and cycles of time after the busy brains of 1899 shall have turned to dust, Orizaba, with the Stars and Stripes adorning its summit, will still rear its proud head and gaze down upon millions of American patriots yet unborn.The transferment of the capital of the Americas in 1990 to the city of Mexico,Met with General Approval.was generally regarded as a master-stroke of policy. From a hygienic point of view alone, the change proved eminently a desirable one. Its removal from the malodorous swamps of the Potomac to the elevated plateau upon which the Aztec race reared their ancient capital, with its balmy breezes and tropical luxuriance, proved a most welcome change. It was generally conceded in 1899 that the site of Washington on the malaria-breeding banks of the Potomac, was not a happy selection.In spite of great precautions several epidemics had devastated the national capital during the decades from 1900 to 1940. Among other pestilential attractions of the Potomac swamps, great prominence was given to a fierce and aggressive tribe of mosquitoes, called “Swamp Angels,” which in 1920 increased and multiplied greatly, to the absolute terror of the Washingtonites. It is related of these aggressive and dangerous pests that in 1925 a swarm of them actually carried away a sheep while theanimal was grazing upon the White House downs.But aside from its favorable hygienic considerations the central position of the city of Washington in the State of Mexico commanding the main avenue between North and South America, gave it great political and commercial importance as the capital of the Americas in 1990, one that was enjoyed by no other rival.The capture and destruction of Washington, in the State of Mexico, could not haveIt Became Impregnable.been effected in 1999 or at any subsequent period. The city in that year became impregnable, so rendered by a vast system or chain of fortresses from the city proper to Vera Cruz, its seaport, a distance of about two hundred miles. The mountain passes and rugged defiles between Washington and Vera Cruz frowned with heavy ordnance. Dynamite guns were ready on every hand to scatter their deadlymissilesfor the edification of all invaders. From Washington to Vera Cruz, great sentinel forts stood in the path of the invader, an unassailable chain, many of them being hardly visible to the eye. Fortifications were constructed upon the high table lands of the Cordilleras, also upon the apex of precipices, and from these dizzy summits shrinking eyes might gaze down two and three thousand feet and admire the bewildering beauties of tropicalvegetation. It was estimated by leading engineers in 1999 that with its line of defences to the coast the capital of the United States of the Americas was impervious to the assaults of the world.The port of Vera Cruz, only two hundred miles east of Washington in a direct line, had been permitted to retain its original name when Mexico became a part and parcelWashington’s Outlet to the Sea.of the American Union. This concession was made in honor of Cortes, the conqueror of Mexico, the boldest and most intrepid of all warriors of the middle ages, who founded the city of Vera Cruz and destroyed his fleet of vessels so as to compel his followers to wrest from the sway of Montezuma, the city of Mexico. It was at Vera Cruz that Cortes founded the first Spanish colony on the American mainland. In honor and memory of the valiant Spanish commander and his daring exploits in 1520, it was deemed a point of courtesy to retain for that city the baptismal name Cortes had endowed upon it.In 1999 its spacious harbor was taxed to its utmost capacity to accommodate the world’s commerce while en route through the Nicaraguan Canal, which was opened to navigation in 1915, having cost its American investors $195,000,000. The proximity of Vera Cruz to the canal rendered that city an available port, bringing to it a wonderfulvolume of trade and commerce, and as Vera Cruz in 1999 was merely the ocean outlet of Washington, it will be readily appreciated that the opening of the Nicaraguan Canal and the volume of traffic it diverted in that direction, added materially to the importance of that region as the seat in 1999 of our national government. The completion of the Nicaragua Canal in 1915 was a triumph to the American science of engineering, yet so tardy in conception and execution that it reflected at best only an uncertain honor. It should have been constructed and opened to navigation as earlyImportance of the Canal.as 1885. It was a case of sheer neglect on the part of America. As soon as the Panama bubble exploded and Frenchmen discovered that they had been hoodwinked by speculators, America should have lost no time in constructing the Nicaragua Canal.The lesson of the Spanish War has taught America the value of an ocean canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. With the possession of the Philippines and an enormous Oriental trade the operation of this canal became a factor of the highest importance to America.An American fleet of warships in the spacious bay of Vera Cruz, only two hundred miles away from Washington, was enabled in 1999 to steam through the canal into the Pacific in only a few hours’ timeand proceed to Hawaii and the Orient in short order. This was a great improvement on the “good old days” of 1899 when war vessels and transports, leaving New York to go to Manila, had to crawl around the tempestuous Horn or travel via. Suez.The construction of the interoceanic canal added greatly to the importance of the new location for our National capital in the State of Mexico. Vera Cruz became the rendezvous of the world’s commerce. The central location of Washington in the State of Mexico, midway between the two great continents, proved an advantageous and commanding one and was eminently satisfactory to all sections of the great American Republic in 1999.In considering the vast importance of ocean canal navigation to the Americas, it is well to ascertain what became of the Philippine Islands and China in 1999.In that year of our Lord, the world was practically governed by three great powers.Three Great Powers in 1999.The first and greatest of the trio was the vast American Republic, which in that memorable year extended from Alaska to Patagonia. Next came Great Britain, whose sway was undisputed over the vast continents of India, Africa and Australia, along with valuable islands of the seas, like the articles of a traditional auction bill, “are too numerous to mention.” The third great Power in1999 was Russia. The ruler of all the Russias was not only Czar of the European and Siberian domains, but he was also crowned at the sacred Kremlin as the Emperor of China. A glance at the map of the world will show that in 1999 Russia was in possession of nearly one-fourth of the globe’s real estate. Not satisfied with this, Russian ambition had designs upon India, intending to employ China as her base of operations. England, however, was always alert and ready to frustrate her designs.When the nations of Europe in 1898 were carving up China, (even Spain and Italy joining in the scramble for pieces of China-ware,) Russia, her nearest neighbor on the north, was careful to secure the biggest share of the booty. In 1895 Russia saved China from the clutches of Japan, for the philanthropic purpose of doing the stealing act herself. After appropriating China’s best provinces on the north, and profiting by the completion of the Trans-Siberian railroad in the year 1905, Russian influence at the court of Pekin, overshadowed all others. The Chinese, like all other Orientals, believe only what they see. Russia had long been their only neighbor in Siberia but when the great Russian railroad was completed to Port Arthur, in a very short period an army of 450,000 well drilled Russian soldiers was bivouacked near the great wall of China, within rifle shot of Pekin.Once firmly seated on China’s neck, RussianThe Russian Emperor of China.diplomacy moulded the Middle Kingdom as clay in the potter’s hand. Its enormous population obeyed implicitly the Czar’s ukases, and in 1999 China became a Russian province as completely as the Crimea.Russia, however, had always entertained a warm friendship and cordial regard for the United States of America ever since the rebellion of 1860–65 and her good wishes were reciprocated on the part of all Americans. Russian respect for America became firmer and more binding as the young American Republic attained its enormous dimensions. Russia, great herself, realized that she had a right to be regarded in the same class as our noble country. As an evidence of Russian esteem for America, during the period from 1920 to 1999, Russia granted to Americans special trade privileges in China in which other nations were not permitted to share.As a result of these generous concessions to Americans our trade with China in 1999 attained gigantic proportions and nine-tenths of it passed through the Nicaragua canal. So important did our Oriental trade become in the twentieth century that the inter-oceanic canal would have been built even though it had been necessary to pave its channel with bricks of gold and silver. American wheat had largely supplanted riceas the staple food of China, and in 1999 the American export of wheat to China was estimated at a value of $95,000,000. America monopolized nearly the entire Chinese trade in farming implements, electrical machines, cotton goods, dyes and chemicals.As to the Philippines, the trade with thatPeace and Prosperity Restored.archipelago was entirely controlled by America. After the proud flag of America had floated one century over those islands, the transformation scene was wonderful. The Filipinos had long learned, after the fall of Aguinaldo, that the American Constitution was broad and big enough to amply protect and to give them that measure of liberty to which all nations are entitled. Long before 1920 they became a docile, patient and laborious people and prospered in an amazing degree. Their exports of hemp, rice and tobacco attained immense proportions and the culture of sugar-cane became so profitable that the Philippines were famed in 1999 as the “Sugar Bowl of the Pacific.” America proved a Godsend to those islands. The names of Dewey, Otis and Lawton were held in high esteem for many centuries after Dewey’s great victory, which awakened America, electrified the world and gave birth to the grandest Republic the world had ever seen.
CHAPTER XIV.Removal of The Capital.When the Stars and Stripes floated over the Entire Hemisphere in 1990 Washington, the National Capital, was removed to Mexico. The name of the new capital unchanged. Vera Cruz becomes the Seaport of Washington. The Canal completed in 1915. The new location proves eminently satisfactory to all. The future of China and the Philippines.
When the Stars and Stripes floated over the Entire Hemisphere in 1990 Washington, the National Capital, was removed to Mexico. The name of the new capital unchanged. Vera Cruz becomes the Seaport of Washington. The Canal completed in 1915. The new location proves eminently satisfactory to all. The future of China and the Philippines.
When the Stars and Stripes floated over the Entire Hemisphere in 1990 Washington, the National Capital, was removed to Mexico. The name of the new capital unchanged. Vera Cruz becomes the Seaport of Washington. The Canal completed in 1915. The new location proves eminently satisfactory to all. The future of China and the Philippines.
When the good Lord created the earth He reserved the Western Hemisphere for the exclusive use and control of the Yankees. They were not slow to avail themselves of their opportunity. This comes from force of habit; opportunities they allow to pass by unimproved are as scarce as Swiss Admirals. Americans are warranted to take care of themselves under any circumstances.It will surprise no one to learn that in 1999 the Western Hemisphere had passed in its entirety under the dominion of the Stars and Stripes. Americans did not pounce upon and seize the continent, nor did they even fire one shot to secure its entire control. Canada, Central and South America simply gravitated towards the American Union and became absorbed into one great Republic.The smaller Republics of the Americas realized that the United States in 1899 werea peace-loving nation. Although its army was a mere corporal’s guard, America had a population in that year aggregating 75,000,000. Such a large nation with an insignificant army could mean them no harm. One by one they joined our American Union of their own free will and volition, until in 1999 the great American Union became an accomplished fact.To attempt to rule such a vast stretch of country under any other than the greatIt could Govern the World.Constitution of the United States, would result in a signal failure. The American Constitution, that masterpiece and perfect symbol of human liberty, is great enough and broad enough to govern the entire globe under one flag. Indeed as early as 1999 there were already strong indications that before the expiration of three more centuries such might be the eventual result. It already looked in that year as though the great American Republic would ultimately gather under its wings, Europe, Asia, Africa and the islands of Oceanica.However, there is a limit to human ambition; there is a boundary to all possibilities. Comparatively speaking, we are dealingAmerica does not want the Earth.only with a near future when we behold, in 1999, the proud flag of America, that emblem of liberty which never suffered defeat, floating overone vast Republic from Alaska to Patagonia. Other dreamers may hustle for notoriety by claiming in an aimless way that in 2999 the American flag will float over all the continents of the world. They may even wish to annex a few of the planets under the American flag, but heed them not.Daniel Webster’s eloquent words: “The Union, now and forever, one and inseparable,” reached a climax when the United States of the Americas consolidated in 1999. Nor was there a discordant note in the grand concert of eighty-five states. Mason and Dixon’s line became a memory of the past. The northern states from Alaska and Canada to Florida; the middle states from Mexico to Costa Rica and the southern states from Colombia to Patagonia, were all linked together in the bonds of friendship and brotherly love. At last Webster’s prophecy had been fulfilled; the great Union had become “one and inseparable.”To the inquiring mind the question naturally offers itself: In what manner was the great American Republic governed in 1999? Were the commands of the Federal government still issued from Washington, D. C., or had it been found more convenient to transfer the seat of government to a locality better adapted and more central to the new conditions of the greater Republic?UNION OF THE AMERICAS IN 1999.UNION OF THE AMERICAS IN 1999.By permission of the Pan-American Exposition Co. of Buffalo, N. Y.In 1990, by decree of Congress of theUnited Americas, and at the close of aCapital transferred to Mexico.special national election held for that purpose, both houses of Congress by a two-thirds vote, elected to transfer the seat of our National government from Washington, D. C., to the city of Mexico, which in 1999, commanded a position midway between the North and South sections of the great Republic. Although transferred by act of Congress to the city of Mexico, our National Capital in 1999 still retained the glorious name of Washington. The name of Washington, D. C., was changed to that of Columbia.Statesmen in 1990 wisely decided to retain the name of Washington for the National Capital of the great Republic. A few were in favor of retaining the ancient name of Mexico for the new capital but the vast majority of our American voters in 1990 treasured with patriotic love and tenderness the revered name of the Father of his Country. They believed that no matter where the capital of the Republic might be moved to, whether it were located in Brazil or in Alaska, the fame of Washington must go with it and bear the honored association of that name.Washington, D. C., took the new name of Columbia, having become a city of secondary political importance. The name of Washington belongs to the national capitalalone, the home of Congress, the residence of the National Executive and forum of the Supreme Court of the Americas. The hero of Valley Forge and champion of American Independence was still near and dear to every heart in 1990, and may centuries yet unborn honor his memory.The city of Mexico became the Capital of the Americas for manifold reasons,Mexico a Natural Centre.chiefly political, strategical and commercial. To those, who, in 1899 had been accustomed from birth to regard the United States as that narrow strip of country lying between Canada and the Gulf of Mexico, the announcement that the capital of the Americas had been transferred to the city of Mexico, must cause a shock of unpleasant sensation.It is a human weakness to worship our idols. Woe to those who would destroy them. Tradition must not be tampered with. Americans of 1899 had been taught that a small and beautiful city on the Potomac was the capital of our Federal Union. To them it must come in the nature of a shock to learn that in 1990 the name of that city had changed to Columbia, and Washington, the National Capital, had been transferred to the State of Mexico.There are, however, other instances on record in which it has been deemed advisable to change the capital of a great nation.If in the year 1810 an intelligent Russian had announced to his countrymen that the seat of government in Russia would be transferred in 1812 from golden, sacred Moscow to bleak, cold St. Petersburg on the barren swamps of the Neva, his prediction would have been laughed to scorn; such a statement would have encountered a tempest of derision. Your orthodox Russian would have raved at the mere mention of such an eventuality. In 1810 any intelligent Russian would have regarded the abandonment of ancient Moscow, the custodian of the Kremlin, for a barren spot on the shores of the Baltic, as a positive sacrilege. Yet it is historically true that in 1812 this very thing came to pass.Instead of uprooting our National Capital from a spot hallowed with sacred traditionsIn Perpetual Sunshine and Flowers.and transplanting it into a cold, sterile region, as in the case of the Russian capital, Washington, as a seat of government, was removed from the banks of the Potomac into the splendors of a tropical region,—into the domain of Montezuma and his brave Aztec warriors, where fruits and flowers chase one another in an unbroken circle through the year; a paradise where the gales are loaded with perfumes of the forests in which birds of radiant plumage and exquisite song fill the air with their delicious melodies.Washington in 1999 was fast developing into a magnificent city, worthy of its proudAn Earthly Paradise.name and eminence as the capital of the great American Republic with its population of 531,000,000 people. Built in the heart of the State of Mexico, it was surrounded by magical charms of scenery such as only a tropical paradise may develop. Its lofty domes and spires and stately public buildings, many of them constructed of huge blocks of multi-colored glass, were reared amidst a land luxuriant with the cochineal, cocoa, the orange and sugar-cane.The city of Washington in 1999 was hedged by nature’s most subtle art. Beyond the capital’s limits were visible a gay confusion of meadows, streams and perpetual flowering forests. From the centre of the new Washington could plainly be seen the majestic outlines of ancient Popocatapetl, rising as a sombre spectre whose rugged head seemed to cleave the skies.Stretching far away to the right, and clearly visible from the observatory of the Executive Mansion might be seen, towering in its solitary grandeur, the peak of the mighty Orizaba, with its eternal shroud of snow descending far down its sides. How many centuries this mighty giant of the Cordilleras has stood there, a sentinel in the Garden of the Gods, none may tell. Butages and cycles of time after the busy brains of 1899 shall have turned to dust, Orizaba, with the Stars and Stripes adorning its summit, will still rear its proud head and gaze down upon millions of American patriots yet unborn.The transferment of the capital of the Americas in 1990 to the city of Mexico,Met with General Approval.was generally regarded as a master-stroke of policy. From a hygienic point of view alone, the change proved eminently a desirable one. Its removal from the malodorous swamps of the Potomac to the elevated plateau upon which the Aztec race reared their ancient capital, with its balmy breezes and tropical luxuriance, proved a most welcome change. It was generally conceded in 1899 that the site of Washington on the malaria-breeding banks of the Potomac, was not a happy selection.In spite of great precautions several epidemics had devastated the national capital during the decades from 1900 to 1940. Among other pestilential attractions of the Potomac swamps, great prominence was given to a fierce and aggressive tribe of mosquitoes, called “Swamp Angels,” which in 1920 increased and multiplied greatly, to the absolute terror of the Washingtonites. It is related of these aggressive and dangerous pests that in 1925 a swarm of them actually carried away a sheep while theanimal was grazing upon the White House downs.But aside from its favorable hygienic considerations the central position of the city of Washington in the State of Mexico commanding the main avenue between North and South America, gave it great political and commercial importance as the capital of the Americas in 1990, one that was enjoyed by no other rival.The capture and destruction of Washington, in the State of Mexico, could not haveIt Became Impregnable.been effected in 1999 or at any subsequent period. The city in that year became impregnable, so rendered by a vast system or chain of fortresses from the city proper to Vera Cruz, its seaport, a distance of about two hundred miles. The mountain passes and rugged defiles between Washington and Vera Cruz frowned with heavy ordnance. Dynamite guns were ready on every hand to scatter their deadlymissilesfor the edification of all invaders. From Washington to Vera Cruz, great sentinel forts stood in the path of the invader, an unassailable chain, many of them being hardly visible to the eye. Fortifications were constructed upon the high table lands of the Cordilleras, also upon the apex of precipices, and from these dizzy summits shrinking eyes might gaze down two and three thousand feet and admire the bewildering beauties of tropicalvegetation. It was estimated by leading engineers in 1999 that with its line of defences to the coast the capital of the United States of the Americas was impervious to the assaults of the world.The port of Vera Cruz, only two hundred miles east of Washington in a direct line, had been permitted to retain its original name when Mexico became a part and parcelWashington’s Outlet to the Sea.of the American Union. This concession was made in honor of Cortes, the conqueror of Mexico, the boldest and most intrepid of all warriors of the middle ages, who founded the city of Vera Cruz and destroyed his fleet of vessels so as to compel his followers to wrest from the sway of Montezuma, the city of Mexico. It was at Vera Cruz that Cortes founded the first Spanish colony on the American mainland. In honor and memory of the valiant Spanish commander and his daring exploits in 1520, it was deemed a point of courtesy to retain for that city the baptismal name Cortes had endowed upon it.In 1999 its spacious harbor was taxed to its utmost capacity to accommodate the world’s commerce while en route through the Nicaraguan Canal, which was opened to navigation in 1915, having cost its American investors $195,000,000. The proximity of Vera Cruz to the canal rendered that city an available port, bringing to it a wonderfulvolume of trade and commerce, and as Vera Cruz in 1999 was merely the ocean outlet of Washington, it will be readily appreciated that the opening of the Nicaraguan Canal and the volume of traffic it diverted in that direction, added materially to the importance of that region as the seat in 1999 of our national government. The completion of the Nicaragua Canal in 1915 was a triumph to the American science of engineering, yet so tardy in conception and execution that it reflected at best only an uncertain honor. It should have been constructed and opened to navigation as earlyImportance of the Canal.as 1885. It was a case of sheer neglect on the part of America. As soon as the Panama bubble exploded and Frenchmen discovered that they had been hoodwinked by speculators, America should have lost no time in constructing the Nicaragua Canal.The lesson of the Spanish War has taught America the value of an ocean canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. With the possession of the Philippines and an enormous Oriental trade the operation of this canal became a factor of the highest importance to America.An American fleet of warships in the spacious bay of Vera Cruz, only two hundred miles away from Washington, was enabled in 1999 to steam through the canal into the Pacific in only a few hours’ timeand proceed to Hawaii and the Orient in short order. This was a great improvement on the “good old days” of 1899 when war vessels and transports, leaving New York to go to Manila, had to crawl around the tempestuous Horn or travel via. Suez.The construction of the interoceanic canal added greatly to the importance of the new location for our National capital in the State of Mexico. Vera Cruz became the rendezvous of the world’s commerce. The central location of Washington in the State of Mexico, midway between the two great continents, proved an advantageous and commanding one and was eminently satisfactory to all sections of the great American Republic in 1999.In considering the vast importance of ocean canal navigation to the Americas, it is well to ascertain what became of the Philippine Islands and China in 1999.In that year of our Lord, the world was practically governed by three great powers.Three Great Powers in 1999.The first and greatest of the trio was the vast American Republic, which in that memorable year extended from Alaska to Patagonia. Next came Great Britain, whose sway was undisputed over the vast continents of India, Africa and Australia, along with valuable islands of the seas, like the articles of a traditional auction bill, “are too numerous to mention.” The third great Power in1999 was Russia. The ruler of all the Russias was not only Czar of the European and Siberian domains, but he was also crowned at the sacred Kremlin as the Emperor of China. A glance at the map of the world will show that in 1999 Russia was in possession of nearly one-fourth of the globe’s real estate. Not satisfied with this, Russian ambition had designs upon India, intending to employ China as her base of operations. England, however, was always alert and ready to frustrate her designs.When the nations of Europe in 1898 were carving up China, (even Spain and Italy joining in the scramble for pieces of China-ware,) Russia, her nearest neighbor on the north, was careful to secure the biggest share of the booty. In 1895 Russia saved China from the clutches of Japan, for the philanthropic purpose of doing the stealing act herself. After appropriating China’s best provinces on the north, and profiting by the completion of the Trans-Siberian railroad in the year 1905, Russian influence at the court of Pekin, overshadowed all others. The Chinese, like all other Orientals, believe only what they see. Russia had long been their only neighbor in Siberia but when the great Russian railroad was completed to Port Arthur, in a very short period an army of 450,000 well drilled Russian soldiers was bivouacked near the great wall of China, within rifle shot of Pekin.Once firmly seated on China’s neck, RussianThe Russian Emperor of China.diplomacy moulded the Middle Kingdom as clay in the potter’s hand. Its enormous population obeyed implicitly the Czar’s ukases, and in 1999 China became a Russian province as completely as the Crimea.Russia, however, had always entertained a warm friendship and cordial regard for the United States of America ever since the rebellion of 1860–65 and her good wishes were reciprocated on the part of all Americans. Russian respect for America became firmer and more binding as the young American Republic attained its enormous dimensions. Russia, great herself, realized that she had a right to be regarded in the same class as our noble country. As an evidence of Russian esteem for America, during the period from 1920 to 1999, Russia granted to Americans special trade privileges in China in which other nations were not permitted to share.As a result of these generous concessions to Americans our trade with China in 1999 attained gigantic proportions and nine-tenths of it passed through the Nicaragua canal. So important did our Oriental trade become in the twentieth century that the inter-oceanic canal would have been built even though it had been necessary to pave its channel with bricks of gold and silver. American wheat had largely supplanted riceas the staple food of China, and in 1999 the American export of wheat to China was estimated at a value of $95,000,000. America monopolized nearly the entire Chinese trade in farming implements, electrical machines, cotton goods, dyes and chemicals.As to the Philippines, the trade with thatPeace and Prosperity Restored.archipelago was entirely controlled by America. After the proud flag of America had floated one century over those islands, the transformation scene was wonderful. The Filipinos had long learned, after the fall of Aguinaldo, that the American Constitution was broad and big enough to amply protect and to give them that measure of liberty to which all nations are entitled. Long before 1920 they became a docile, patient and laborious people and prospered in an amazing degree. Their exports of hemp, rice and tobacco attained immense proportions and the culture of sugar-cane became so profitable that the Philippines were famed in 1999 as the “Sugar Bowl of the Pacific.” America proved a Godsend to those islands. The names of Dewey, Otis and Lawton were held in high esteem for many centuries after Dewey’s great victory, which awakened America, electrified the world and gave birth to the grandest Republic the world had ever seen.
When the good Lord created the earth He reserved the Western Hemisphere for the exclusive use and control of the Yankees. They were not slow to avail themselves of their opportunity. This comes from force of habit; opportunities they allow to pass by unimproved are as scarce as Swiss Admirals. Americans are warranted to take care of themselves under any circumstances.
It will surprise no one to learn that in 1999 the Western Hemisphere had passed in its entirety under the dominion of the Stars and Stripes. Americans did not pounce upon and seize the continent, nor did they even fire one shot to secure its entire control. Canada, Central and South America simply gravitated towards the American Union and became absorbed into one great Republic.
The smaller Republics of the Americas realized that the United States in 1899 werea peace-loving nation. Although its army was a mere corporal’s guard, America had a population in that year aggregating 75,000,000. Such a large nation with an insignificant army could mean them no harm. One by one they joined our American Union of their own free will and volition, until in 1999 the great American Union became an accomplished fact.
To attempt to rule such a vast stretch of country under any other than the greatIt could Govern the World.Constitution of the United States, would result in a signal failure. The American Constitution, that masterpiece and perfect symbol of human liberty, is great enough and broad enough to govern the entire globe under one flag. Indeed as early as 1999 there were already strong indications that before the expiration of three more centuries such might be the eventual result. It already looked in that year as though the great American Republic would ultimately gather under its wings, Europe, Asia, Africa and the islands of Oceanica.
However, there is a limit to human ambition; there is a boundary to all possibilities. Comparatively speaking, we are dealingAmerica does not want the Earth.only with a near future when we behold, in 1999, the proud flag of America, that emblem of liberty which never suffered defeat, floating overone vast Republic from Alaska to Patagonia. Other dreamers may hustle for notoriety by claiming in an aimless way that in 2999 the American flag will float over all the continents of the world. They may even wish to annex a few of the planets under the American flag, but heed them not.
Daniel Webster’s eloquent words: “The Union, now and forever, one and inseparable,” reached a climax when the United States of the Americas consolidated in 1999. Nor was there a discordant note in the grand concert of eighty-five states. Mason and Dixon’s line became a memory of the past. The northern states from Alaska and Canada to Florida; the middle states from Mexico to Costa Rica and the southern states from Colombia to Patagonia, were all linked together in the bonds of friendship and brotherly love. At last Webster’s prophecy had been fulfilled; the great Union had become “one and inseparable.”
To the inquiring mind the question naturally offers itself: In what manner was the great American Republic governed in 1999? Were the commands of the Federal government still issued from Washington, D. C., or had it been found more convenient to transfer the seat of government to a locality better adapted and more central to the new conditions of the greater Republic?
UNION OF THE AMERICAS IN 1999.UNION OF THE AMERICAS IN 1999.By permission of the Pan-American Exposition Co. of Buffalo, N. Y.
UNION OF THE AMERICAS IN 1999.
By permission of the Pan-American Exposition Co. of Buffalo, N. Y.
In 1990, by decree of Congress of theUnited Americas, and at the close of aCapital transferred to Mexico.special national election held for that purpose, both houses of Congress by a two-thirds vote, elected to transfer the seat of our National government from Washington, D. C., to the city of Mexico, which in 1999, commanded a position midway between the North and South sections of the great Republic. Although transferred by act of Congress to the city of Mexico, our National Capital in 1999 still retained the glorious name of Washington. The name of Washington, D. C., was changed to that of Columbia.
Statesmen in 1990 wisely decided to retain the name of Washington for the National Capital of the great Republic. A few were in favor of retaining the ancient name of Mexico for the new capital but the vast majority of our American voters in 1990 treasured with patriotic love and tenderness the revered name of the Father of his Country. They believed that no matter where the capital of the Republic might be moved to, whether it were located in Brazil or in Alaska, the fame of Washington must go with it and bear the honored association of that name.
Washington, D. C., took the new name of Columbia, having become a city of secondary political importance. The name of Washington belongs to the national capitalalone, the home of Congress, the residence of the National Executive and forum of the Supreme Court of the Americas. The hero of Valley Forge and champion of American Independence was still near and dear to every heart in 1990, and may centuries yet unborn honor his memory.
The city of Mexico became the Capital of the Americas for manifold reasons,Mexico a Natural Centre.chiefly political, strategical and commercial. To those, who, in 1899 had been accustomed from birth to regard the United States as that narrow strip of country lying between Canada and the Gulf of Mexico, the announcement that the capital of the Americas had been transferred to the city of Mexico, must cause a shock of unpleasant sensation.
It is a human weakness to worship our idols. Woe to those who would destroy them. Tradition must not be tampered with. Americans of 1899 had been taught that a small and beautiful city on the Potomac was the capital of our Federal Union. To them it must come in the nature of a shock to learn that in 1990 the name of that city had changed to Columbia, and Washington, the National Capital, had been transferred to the State of Mexico.
There are, however, other instances on record in which it has been deemed advisable to change the capital of a great nation.If in the year 1810 an intelligent Russian had announced to his countrymen that the seat of government in Russia would be transferred in 1812 from golden, sacred Moscow to bleak, cold St. Petersburg on the barren swamps of the Neva, his prediction would have been laughed to scorn; such a statement would have encountered a tempest of derision. Your orthodox Russian would have raved at the mere mention of such an eventuality. In 1810 any intelligent Russian would have regarded the abandonment of ancient Moscow, the custodian of the Kremlin, for a barren spot on the shores of the Baltic, as a positive sacrilege. Yet it is historically true that in 1812 this very thing came to pass.
Instead of uprooting our National Capital from a spot hallowed with sacred traditionsIn Perpetual Sunshine and Flowers.and transplanting it into a cold, sterile region, as in the case of the Russian capital, Washington, as a seat of government, was removed from the banks of the Potomac into the splendors of a tropical region,—into the domain of Montezuma and his brave Aztec warriors, where fruits and flowers chase one another in an unbroken circle through the year; a paradise where the gales are loaded with perfumes of the forests in which birds of radiant plumage and exquisite song fill the air with their delicious melodies.
Washington in 1999 was fast developing into a magnificent city, worthy of its proudAn Earthly Paradise.name and eminence as the capital of the great American Republic with its population of 531,000,000 people. Built in the heart of the State of Mexico, it was surrounded by magical charms of scenery such as only a tropical paradise may develop. Its lofty domes and spires and stately public buildings, many of them constructed of huge blocks of multi-colored glass, were reared amidst a land luxuriant with the cochineal, cocoa, the orange and sugar-cane.
The city of Washington in 1999 was hedged by nature’s most subtle art. Beyond the capital’s limits were visible a gay confusion of meadows, streams and perpetual flowering forests. From the centre of the new Washington could plainly be seen the majestic outlines of ancient Popocatapetl, rising as a sombre spectre whose rugged head seemed to cleave the skies.
Stretching far away to the right, and clearly visible from the observatory of the Executive Mansion might be seen, towering in its solitary grandeur, the peak of the mighty Orizaba, with its eternal shroud of snow descending far down its sides. How many centuries this mighty giant of the Cordilleras has stood there, a sentinel in the Garden of the Gods, none may tell. Butages and cycles of time after the busy brains of 1899 shall have turned to dust, Orizaba, with the Stars and Stripes adorning its summit, will still rear its proud head and gaze down upon millions of American patriots yet unborn.
The transferment of the capital of the Americas in 1990 to the city of Mexico,Met with General Approval.was generally regarded as a master-stroke of policy. From a hygienic point of view alone, the change proved eminently a desirable one. Its removal from the malodorous swamps of the Potomac to the elevated plateau upon which the Aztec race reared their ancient capital, with its balmy breezes and tropical luxuriance, proved a most welcome change. It was generally conceded in 1899 that the site of Washington on the malaria-breeding banks of the Potomac, was not a happy selection.
In spite of great precautions several epidemics had devastated the national capital during the decades from 1900 to 1940. Among other pestilential attractions of the Potomac swamps, great prominence was given to a fierce and aggressive tribe of mosquitoes, called “Swamp Angels,” which in 1920 increased and multiplied greatly, to the absolute terror of the Washingtonites. It is related of these aggressive and dangerous pests that in 1925 a swarm of them actually carried away a sheep while theanimal was grazing upon the White House downs.
But aside from its favorable hygienic considerations the central position of the city of Washington in the State of Mexico commanding the main avenue between North and South America, gave it great political and commercial importance as the capital of the Americas in 1990, one that was enjoyed by no other rival.
The capture and destruction of Washington, in the State of Mexico, could not haveIt Became Impregnable.been effected in 1999 or at any subsequent period. The city in that year became impregnable, so rendered by a vast system or chain of fortresses from the city proper to Vera Cruz, its seaport, a distance of about two hundred miles. The mountain passes and rugged defiles between Washington and Vera Cruz frowned with heavy ordnance. Dynamite guns were ready on every hand to scatter their deadlymissilesfor the edification of all invaders. From Washington to Vera Cruz, great sentinel forts stood in the path of the invader, an unassailable chain, many of them being hardly visible to the eye. Fortifications were constructed upon the high table lands of the Cordilleras, also upon the apex of precipices, and from these dizzy summits shrinking eyes might gaze down two and three thousand feet and admire the bewildering beauties of tropicalvegetation. It was estimated by leading engineers in 1999 that with its line of defences to the coast the capital of the United States of the Americas was impervious to the assaults of the world.
The port of Vera Cruz, only two hundred miles east of Washington in a direct line, had been permitted to retain its original name when Mexico became a part and parcelWashington’s Outlet to the Sea.of the American Union. This concession was made in honor of Cortes, the conqueror of Mexico, the boldest and most intrepid of all warriors of the middle ages, who founded the city of Vera Cruz and destroyed his fleet of vessels so as to compel his followers to wrest from the sway of Montezuma, the city of Mexico. It was at Vera Cruz that Cortes founded the first Spanish colony on the American mainland. In honor and memory of the valiant Spanish commander and his daring exploits in 1520, it was deemed a point of courtesy to retain for that city the baptismal name Cortes had endowed upon it.
In 1999 its spacious harbor was taxed to its utmost capacity to accommodate the world’s commerce while en route through the Nicaraguan Canal, which was opened to navigation in 1915, having cost its American investors $195,000,000. The proximity of Vera Cruz to the canal rendered that city an available port, bringing to it a wonderfulvolume of trade and commerce, and as Vera Cruz in 1999 was merely the ocean outlet of Washington, it will be readily appreciated that the opening of the Nicaraguan Canal and the volume of traffic it diverted in that direction, added materially to the importance of that region as the seat in 1999 of our national government. The completion of the Nicaragua Canal in 1915 was a triumph to the American science of engineering, yet so tardy in conception and execution that it reflected at best only an uncertain honor. It should have been constructed and opened to navigation as earlyImportance of the Canal.as 1885. It was a case of sheer neglect on the part of America. As soon as the Panama bubble exploded and Frenchmen discovered that they had been hoodwinked by speculators, America should have lost no time in constructing the Nicaragua Canal.
The lesson of the Spanish War has taught America the value of an ocean canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. With the possession of the Philippines and an enormous Oriental trade the operation of this canal became a factor of the highest importance to America.
An American fleet of warships in the spacious bay of Vera Cruz, only two hundred miles away from Washington, was enabled in 1999 to steam through the canal into the Pacific in only a few hours’ timeand proceed to Hawaii and the Orient in short order. This was a great improvement on the “good old days” of 1899 when war vessels and transports, leaving New York to go to Manila, had to crawl around the tempestuous Horn or travel via. Suez.
The construction of the interoceanic canal added greatly to the importance of the new location for our National capital in the State of Mexico. Vera Cruz became the rendezvous of the world’s commerce. The central location of Washington in the State of Mexico, midway between the two great continents, proved an advantageous and commanding one and was eminently satisfactory to all sections of the great American Republic in 1999.
In considering the vast importance of ocean canal navigation to the Americas, it is well to ascertain what became of the Philippine Islands and China in 1999.
In that year of our Lord, the world was practically governed by three great powers.Three Great Powers in 1999.The first and greatest of the trio was the vast American Republic, which in that memorable year extended from Alaska to Patagonia. Next came Great Britain, whose sway was undisputed over the vast continents of India, Africa and Australia, along with valuable islands of the seas, like the articles of a traditional auction bill, “are too numerous to mention.” The third great Power in1999 was Russia. The ruler of all the Russias was not only Czar of the European and Siberian domains, but he was also crowned at the sacred Kremlin as the Emperor of China. A glance at the map of the world will show that in 1999 Russia was in possession of nearly one-fourth of the globe’s real estate. Not satisfied with this, Russian ambition had designs upon India, intending to employ China as her base of operations. England, however, was always alert and ready to frustrate her designs.
When the nations of Europe in 1898 were carving up China, (even Spain and Italy joining in the scramble for pieces of China-ware,) Russia, her nearest neighbor on the north, was careful to secure the biggest share of the booty. In 1895 Russia saved China from the clutches of Japan, for the philanthropic purpose of doing the stealing act herself. After appropriating China’s best provinces on the north, and profiting by the completion of the Trans-Siberian railroad in the year 1905, Russian influence at the court of Pekin, overshadowed all others. The Chinese, like all other Orientals, believe only what they see. Russia had long been their only neighbor in Siberia but when the great Russian railroad was completed to Port Arthur, in a very short period an army of 450,000 well drilled Russian soldiers was bivouacked near the great wall of China, within rifle shot of Pekin.
Once firmly seated on China’s neck, RussianThe Russian Emperor of China.diplomacy moulded the Middle Kingdom as clay in the potter’s hand. Its enormous population obeyed implicitly the Czar’s ukases, and in 1999 China became a Russian province as completely as the Crimea.
Russia, however, had always entertained a warm friendship and cordial regard for the United States of America ever since the rebellion of 1860–65 and her good wishes were reciprocated on the part of all Americans. Russian respect for America became firmer and more binding as the young American Republic attained its enormous dimensions. Russia, great herself, realized that she had a right to be regarded in the same class as our noble country. As an evidence of Russian esteem for America, during the period from 1920 to 1999, Russia granted to Americans special trade privileges in China in which other nations were not permitted to share.
As a result of these generous concessions to Americans our trade with China in 1999 attained gigantic proportions and nine-tenths of it passed through the Nicaragua canal. So important did our Oriental trade become in the twentieth century that the inter-oceanic canal would have been built even though it had been necessary to pave its channel with bricks of gold and silver. American wheat had largely supplanted riceas the staple food of China, and in 1999 the American export of wheat to China was estimated at a value of $95,000,000. America monopolized nearly the entire Chinese trade in farming implements, electrical machines, cotton goods, dyes and chemicals.
As to the Philippines, the trade with thatPeace and Prosperity Restored.archipelago was entirely controlled by America. After the proud flag of America had floated one century over those islands, the transformation scene was wonderful. The Filipinos had long learned, after the fall of Aguinaldo, that the American Constitution was broad and big enough to amply protect and to give them that measure of liberty to which all nations are entitled. Long before 1920 they became a docile, patient and laborious people and prospered in an amazing degree. Their exports of hemp, rice and tobacco attained immense proportions and the culture of sugar-cane became so profitable that the Philippines were famed in 1999 as the “Sugar Bowl of the Pacific.” America proved a Godsend to those islands. The names of Dewey, Otis and Lawton were held in high esteem for many centuries after Dewey’s great victory, which awakened America, electrified the world and gave birth to the grandest Republic the world had ever seen.