Chapter 52

THE UNITY OF THE NORTHERN HALF OF THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE UNDER THE NEW REPUBLIC

Seven years had passed since Philip Dru had assumed the administra- tion of the Republic. Seven years of serious work and heavy responsibil- ity. His tenure of power was about to close, to close amidst the plaudits of a triumphant democracy. A Congress and a President had just been elected, and they were soon to assume the functions of government. For four years the States had been running along smoothly and happily un- der their new constitutions and laws. The courts as modified and adjus- ted were meeting every expectation, and had justified the change. The revenues, under the new system of taxation, were ample, the taxes were not oppressive, and the people had quickly learned the value of knowing how much and for what they were paying. This, perhaps, more than any other thing, had awakened their interest in public affairs.

The governments, both state and national, were being administered by able, well-paid men who were spurred by the sense of responsibility, and by the knowledge that their constituents were alert and keenly inter- ested in the result of their endeavors.

Some of the recommendations of the many commissions had been modified and others adjusted to suit local conditions, but as a whole there was a general uniformity of statutes throughout the Union, and there was no conflict of laws between the states and the general government.

By negotiations, by purchase and by allowing other powers ample coaling stations along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, the Bahamas, Ber- muda and the British, French and Danish West Indies were under Amer- ican protection, and "Old Glory" was the undisputed emblem of author- ity in the northern half of the Western Hemisphere.

Foreign and domestic affairs were in so satisfactory a condition that the army had been reduced to two hundred thousand men, and these were broadly scattered from the Arctic Sea to the Canal at Panama. Since the flag was so widely flung, that number was fixed as the minimum to be maintained. In reducing the army, Dru had shown his confidence in the loyalty of the people to him and their satisfaction with the govern- ment given them.

Quickened by non-restrictive laws, the Merchant Marine of the United States had increased by leaps and bounds, until its tonnage was suffi- cient for its own carrying trade and a part of that of other countries.

The American Navy at the close of Philip Dru's wise administration was second only to that of England, and together the two great English speaking nations held in their keeping the peace and commercial free- dom of the Seven Seas.