Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-04-24

was Gen. John c. Black, commissioner of
pensions, who had for his theme "Friumphant
| Democracy In responding to the toast
| Gen Black said:
| About to be summoned to the bar of public
| opinion, Il triumphant Democracy presented
| the record of its brief term of renewed office,
and challenged a calm review of its ac-
complishments The triumphant Democracy
| has shown that it was competent to admin
| ister the affairs of the people in their in
terests From the general sum of public tax
| alton it had met every lawful demand made
| by the war, and held secure every substantial
| fruit of victory 1t had driven from place
| and power the extravagant, and was placing
| in power men drawn fresh from the people,
and who were animated by the desires and
wishes of the generation. 1t had faithfully
collected the revenue of the nation, destroyed
the scandals of the customs service broken
up the differentiation systems, and made the
| custom houses of the United States the clean
outposts on all our shores. 1t was restoring
| the navy to the seas
Concluding, the speaker said: "Fellow
citizens, what is the ground of complaint
with this majestic procession of the triumph
ant Democracy What is lacking in its ac-
complshments that would secure our glory
| increase our prosperity or establish our pros
perityi Its public officials have not formed
rings, They have not sold our franchises
| They have not swelled the list of your obi
| cations They have not bought and sold
offices They do not dishonor your power
They have not neglected your interests.
Why then should any American citizen de-
mand its removale In the campaign which
is to come, and which is now beginning, you
will be summoned by hate, revenge, and
avarice to undo the fair progress of three
L g II 80
restore old organizations to power Ito forgetre-
kindling fraternities, to divide the land upon
sectional lines, to dominate one section by
the numerical supremacy of the other, to
continue system of excessive taxation, and,
in the name of national glory, to forget and
destroy true liberty, prosperity and equality.
The instinct of the better American will per-
init of no backward movement on the path of
our restoration.
"The Democracy will continue dominant in
tho mdst Of people ofgrowing fraternal re-
Iations. whose rule is law, whose inheritance
is the whole American earth. 1ntrenChed in
TIE hearts of the American people, it awaits
the onset of its ancient foes secure, serene
and triumphant
The evils lurking TO in phrase BE it en-
acted" were those that Hon. j. Sterling
Morton proceeded to enumerate and COM
mont upon in probably the longest speech
thu was lister 81 to during the evening. He
begai. eayi &!
The mt speaks to suggest thoughts in
others is 0. ore value 10 his country and his
race that LIZ, individual who endeavors to eabor-
ate and exhaust his own thoughts. In barbarlc
state mau is intensely gregarious animal. Saw
agery has developed. in all IS history, very few
marked indvidualitie5. Education ought TO pro
duce, logically, marked individuality. But the
schools teach man to copy rather than to origin
ate. Each pupil or student is urged to assimilate
some other mind. some individual who has be
come distinguished, either in letters in the forum,
or in the field, The present is too busy copying
from the past The schools attempt mental
photography that is, to picture or impress one
mind upon another This is a great defect in our
educational practice.
Coming to the direct subject of his consid-
Grafton he proceeded:
The education to-day, in some respects, tends
backward, or rather to throw the race backward
IoWard the unindiyiduAlity of the barbarc period.
mus every attempt at organization, every at
Tempt at statutory euactments which seeks to de
petsohalze labor, to pool individual efforts and
responsibilities In multitude or to diffuse the
direction of each hand upon the great mass or
the trend of each head among many men. when
every man should be free to control his labor as
his own property, is a retrograde STEP aatagon-
istic 10 truly useful intellectual training to man
ly skill and also to social and political develop
ment The trade union, whether of locomotive