Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-06-19
THE MEANING OF OUR FLAG.

The flag for which the heroes fought, for
which they died, is the symbol of all we
are, of all we hope to be. 1t is the EN-.
blem of equal rights. It means free hands,
free lips, self government, and the sover
eignity of the individual 1t means that
this continent has been dedicated to free
dom. 1t means universal education-lght
for every mind, knowledge for every child.
1t means that the school-house is the for
tress of liberty. 1t means that 'igovern.
ments derive their just powers from the
consent of the governed !" that each man
is accountable to and for the Government ::
that responsibility goes hand in hand with
liberty. 1t means that it is the duty of
every citizen to bear his share of the public
burden-to take part in the affairs of his
town, his county, his State, and his coun.
try. 1t means that the ballot.box is the
ark of the covenant that the source of au-
thority must not be poisoned. 1t means
the perpetual right of peaceful revolu-
tion. 1t means that every citizen of
the Republic, native or naturalized, must
be protected at home in every State,
abroad in every land, on every sea. 1t
means that all distinctions based on birth
or blood have perished from our laws that
our Government shall stand between labor
and capital, between the weak and strong,
between the individual end the corpora.
ton, between want and wealth, and give
and guarantee simple justice to each and
all. 1t means that there shall be legal
remedy for every wrong. 1t means ma
tional hospitality-that we must welcome
TO our shores the exiles of the world, and
that we may not drive them back. Some
may be deformed by labor, dwarfed by
hunger, broken in spirit, victims OF tyranny
and csste-in whose sad faces may be read
the touching record of weary life-and
yet their children, born of liberty and love,
will be symmetrical and fair, intelligent and
free.
That flag is the emblem OF supreme
wlll-of nations power. Beneath its
folds the weakest must be protected and
the strongest must obey. 1t shields and
canopies alike the loftiest mansion and the
rudest hut. That flag was given to the air
in the Revolutions darkest days. 1t rep.
resents the sufferipgs of the past, the
glories yet to be, and, like the bow of
heaven, it is the child of storm and sun.
This day is sacred to the great heroic host
who kept this flag above our heads, sacred
to the living and the dead, sacred to the
SCARED and MANNED, sacred to the wives
who gave their husbands, to the mothers
who gave their sons.
Here in this peaceful land of ours-here
where the sun shines, where flowers grow,
where children play-millions of armed
men battled for the right and breasted on a
thousand fields the iron storms of war.
Bhese brave, these incompatible men,
founded the Republic. They fulfilled the
prophecies, they brought to pass the
dreams, they realized the hopes that all the
great, the good, and wise, and just have
made and had since man was man.
But what of those who fell?
There is no language to express the debt
we over, the love we bear to all the dead
who died for us. Words are but barren
sounds. We can but stand beside their
graves and in the hush and silence feel what
speech has never told.
They fought, they died, and for the first
time since man has kept record of events
the heavens bent above and domed land
without serf, servant. or slave
From Colonel Ingersoll's Declaration Day
Address.