Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1886-06-05

pinnacle of the temple of fame, of mill.
tary greatness, and of sublimity of states.
manship. One enemy is worth dozen
friends for this purpose.
AS with the individual, so with the
government. Our enemies made us
strong. So strong that the emperor OF
France fastened to abandon poor Max
imillian in Mexico; Great Britain was
not slow in paying over her millions of
money for the part she had taken against
us and with our enemies in the great
war; other nations made haste to do us
honor and to congratulate us on our sue
cess and the success of our armies; our
flag was honored and respected on every
sea and in every land, and we stand to-
day the strongest nation on the face of
the globe.
Why, my friends, we are so strong that
we can sit here to-day and look with the
sublimest of apathy on the fact that the
very leaders of that great rebellion not
only control in a great part our national
legislation, but sit in our cabinet, the
advisers of our president. We look with
composure on the fact that foreign
countries are shipping to our shores their
nihilists, anarchists and atheistic social
lists almost by the shipload, because we
lift her hand they will disappear like
darkness before the morning sun. So
much Cor our strength.
Every government has a character
peculiar to itself, and that character may
be discovered, it is said, with unerring
certainty by careful study of the
way and manner in which it spends its
money.
One country levies burdensome taxes
on its inhabitants for the purpose of sus-
tanning a large army; another spends
large sums on a navy; third may be
noted for its iberality to public schools,
while yet another devotes large amounts
to building railways to develop the
country. Russia may be noted as an
example of the first, Great Britain of the
second, Belgium of the third, and Canada
of the fourth.
Judging by this standard, what may be
considered the character of our own
country? It spends very small part of
its revenues on an army and navy: very
little on public schools; neither does it at
present give any aid whatever toward the
building of railways. Yet the amount
expended outside of the necessary gov
ernmental expenses is simply enormous.
For example: Not only is its pension
list larger than that OF any other country,
but not three nations of the world pay so
much annually for the support of disabled
veterans as does this. It dredges out the
harbors, clears and straightens out the
channels of our rivers and lines our coast
with lighthouses, and dots the land with
small and useful buildings, and thus
stamps our nation as a peace-loving
nation; government with such char
acter that we may be proud to stand up
before the world and say, "We helped to
save this government; we barred oHy
breasts to the hail of lead and iron that
government with such character might
live"
But it is not only strong government,
and q government whose character will
stand the highest test, but it is also a
magnanimous government; In proof of
which it would only be necessary to call
attention to the manner In which the re-
bellious South was treated at the close of
the war.
In the Sepoy rebellion, the rebels were
fred from the mouths of cannon. Our
rebels we're allowed to lay down their
arms and peacefully dispense to their
homes all except one, the arch traitor of
them all, who was imprisoned for little
while, a carpet being spread upon the
stone walk in order that the tread of the
sentinel to and fro in front of his prison
door might not affect his sensitive nerves.
Was not this superlative magnaminity?
But again. The hundreds of millions
of dollars it spends annually, not only in
soldiers pensions, but In building and
Identifying homes for its veterans, that
when they are no longer able to pursue
their daily toll they need not, II untortu-
nate, be sent to q common poor house. but
Concluded II SskfAemesf.