Weekly Trinity journal., 1879-07-19
ULTIMATE AMERICA.

h6V. JoSepn SoOk, OF boston, recently
delivered lecture in the future of Amer
lea, which contains some ideas which are
well worthy of the attention ofevery pa
trot. The main burden of the Grafton
was to point out the effects that underlie
our society and threaten our final disrup-
ton. Bigness, said the speaker, is not
greatness, though largeness of size is OPP
portunty and opportunity occupied is
greatness. Nowhere else on the worlds
surface can so large a tract of cultivable,
properly watered land be found as in
America ; and while Europe, Asia and
Africa have 100000 square miles of
ground fit for cultivation, America alone
has ll.O00 600 square miles. Hence here
is Mt least the opportunity and promise
for grea. nation, but how is it being de-
veioped ? With population of only IL
to the square mile, what will we be with
200 to each square mile. What will we
be when San Francisco is as large as New
York, and. New York becomes Lon
don +? Will Macaulay's prophecy then
be fulfilled, that the ciashing of interests
and the power of the rabble will tear us
to fragments. Can America stand the
results of universal suffrage when the
Communists, and Socialists and proper
tyless becomes tho majority and take the
government into their own hands? Can
the United States stand the strain of oft
repeated elections when hundreds of
thousands of Office holders change places,
and the patronage OF an executive is
greater than the army that even Caesar,
Anthony or Lepidus commanded And
what is to put down the ruthless invaders
Of private right in II country where one
man is as good as another, and tho rowdy
class hold the balance of power? Under
kingly rule this is done by shot and
swcrd, but no such authority exists here.
If Tweed could almost swallow New
York City and de6antly ask What are
you going to do about it ?" what will
defeat another Tweed when ho has the
slums and votes and millions Of a London
st his back ? And let it be remembered,
said the speaker, that the dsconten.ed
who grumbles at his lot, or the agraran
or Communists who argues fort d different
distribution Of property is not the man
who, when the outbreak has come, does
tho damage to life and property. Then
it is that the criminal classes come from
their haunts, and under cover OF political
discomfort, ply their nefarious practices.
When the labor riots in Pennsylvania
had stopped the trains, and struck against
Il reduction Of wages, they were the
thieves, robbers and murderers who came
from their clammy caves and applied the
torch Of arson to the property of the state.
And while the iurid glare Of burning
trains and arsenals and hospitals was
painting hell on the sky, the devils Of
society were plying their saturnalia of
crime. What are we doing to prevent n
recurrence of these demonac performan-
ces ! Are we not raising hoodlums in
San francisco. and Seven Dials ruflins IN
chance to improve upon the lessons Of the
past. And then comes the question, Can
America stand tho strain 2 The speaker
feared for the result He argued strong
ly in favor of an educational qualification
for voter in the future, and suggested
number OF improvements in our system
of government. social and POLITICAL
These he styles as efficient means ofavert-
ing the evil but, in perotation of ex-
cseding beauty and strength, he portrayed
the Spirit of the Holy One standing alott
over all in the atmosphere Of n true reli-
gon, as the only influence that IN our
perilous hours could be relied upon as
All Sufficient.