The Van Buren press., 1878-07-16

IT'S this J, To look BACK over those uaYs
that so tried mems souls and count MS
well rs we may, ut such Il distance from
the scene, the fearful cost at which our
present glorious privileges were bought,
Il cost not to be estimated in dollars and
cents, but that can be counted only by
heartfelt gratitude, and amazement at
its magnitude and unselishness.
We can scarcely realize that, perhaps,
not one in hundred Of those who lived
in those days, lived long enough to have
seen or heard Of q railroad, steamboat,
photograph, reaper, mower, threshing
machine, sowing machine, or a steam
printing pross-those wonderful inven-
tions which have done SO much to Chris
tanize the world. Those men little
thought that it could ever be truthfully
said
- We hear the wide Atlantic roar.
Or walk the far Pacific shore;
Stand awed, amid the northern SHOWS,
Or langud where the orange G grows
Alaska's icy valleys thread.
The arid plains Of Utah tread.
Or seek the Western wiIds so STILL
And drink of Nature cup our fill.
Kind, friendly hands our own will grasp,
Our country holds us in her clasp.
Extending far, from zone to zone,
From to sea is all our own.''
Yet all this has happened, and still the
work goes on. Where, then, none but
the savage had ever trod, now the busy
hum Of machinery is heard, and the pant
ing Of the monster steam-printing press,
so potent in diffusing knowledge over the
country, while the rumblng railroad
train drives back into the Wilderness the
buffalo from his wonted range. So rap
id have been these transitions, within the
past hall-eentury, that we seem to think
of them as if they had always existed,
and accept them as a matter of course,
and it is only when we cease, for mo-
ment, in the midst of this world of won
ders, and compare the present with the
past, that we realize how glorious is the
privilege of having lived in the 10Th cen
tury, and how great our country has
grown, and what Il widespread influence
it is exerting over the world at largo.
In the midst of our wonder-amaze.
ment and rejoicing, we should not, how
ever forget, that the greater and grand
er our country is, the greater is our re-
sponsibility, and that all this has its dark
spots as well as bright sides, and that in
the midst of the greatest prosperity, ad-
vorsity turks /; that danger is ottener
found upon the high pinnacle than in the
low places that, with great prosperity,
comes sudden wealth, that leads to self
indulgence and vain-glorious pride in
the rich, and corresponding discomfort
in tho poor. The riots of last summer,
which were only suppressed by appeal
to military power, and the mutterings of
discomfort, which, in many sections of
the country, are now restrained from
hnratines forth int. ---;e,lenen h,r faar of
that power, are sufficient to warn us that
political, as wellas physical life, has with
in it the seeds Of death, ready to gcrmi-
nate, and destroy the body in which they
are found.
The development of the tramp, in the
country, ready to fall in with the labor
strikes, is u feature in our history which
challenges the highest class of states,
manship to find remedy, which, while
it is curing one evil, viii! not entail upon
the country another. While we may have
no sympathy with the TRADES against the
army, by men seeking cheap popularity,
still it is - sad state Of society, when the
people fall into the way of thinking that
the army is the main dependence for the
support of the civil laws of the country
Those laws which are backed by moral
force in the community, need no bayo-
nets to enforce them. There is power
in the will Of the people which thunders
louder than artillery, and perces deeper
than the flashing bayonct.
The greatest danger to our country at
the present hour, is the lack of personal
interest, on the part Of the people in the
public affairs of the State, and want of
moral courage to contend with growing
evils. We hear much of fraud and cor
ruption in high places, and, perhaps, we
of things should be found to exist in this
Gas we are proud to call iD Great Re
public. There is no great reason to be
surprised at this condition of affairs. A
republic is just the kind of govern
ment which is best adapted to the eleva-
ton of bad men to place and power, pro
vided the checks and balances are not
properly adjusted. That a stream will
not rise higher than its fountain, is say
ing as trne as trite. When we have ar
rived at such condition in every day
| life at home, that men, guilty of gross
immortality, fraud, and robbery, are
frowned upon by the mass of the com
munity, such conduct will be less COM
mon. When raseally practices are call
ed by their proper English names, in
stead of being termed sharp practice !;
when honest worth is at a premium with
the masses over ill-gotten wealth, there
will be more honest worth, and less Ill
gotten gains. Whenever it can be said
that the law, in all its departments, will
reach as far up to bring the rich down to
its level, as it will reach down to bring
the poorup to its plane, then we will
fiLd a community in which gentility will
be measured by integrity Of character
If we would have purity in high places,
we must seek it through the sole chan
mel OF purifying the mass by purifying
the individuals composing it we must
educate ourselves up to such a standard
OF manly independence and patriotism,
that if the party caucus force upon us a
man who is not above roproach, we can
say to those who run such political ma
chimes, that they will have them to run
without our assistance. We must teach