The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1889-06-14
BIRTHDAY.
CONFINED FROM FIRST rAeE.l

compared with what il might, and, as we be-
lieve, at some time will, accomplish. With
this power the town sits practically i'll the
centre Of the railway system Of the State,
ready to receive and To distribute. Ii has also
It's centre of literary life; so that let its enter
prises expand as they will, it can never be-,
come that most intolerable of places, town
given over to mills and factories. 1t win unite
and refinement. The homes made
by business skill, will catch some
beauty of taste and culture. What is this but
to describe an ideal town.
We have thus. with rapid glance beheld
the mighty transformations. We have seen
the chaos of physical forces supplanted by
life; and barbarism supplanted by civilization.
In this age Of questioning can we avoid look
ing beneath the surface of things, and asking
what has peeu the ganf" The first CON-
trast suggests the question: Is life worth liy-
ings and If SO, wherein lies lis worths The
second contrast suggests the question: In
what respect is civilization better than bar
barisms
The first of these questions | will merely
name and leave il as foreign TO this occasion.
Upon the second which is more directly forced
upon us by the events that We commemorate,
we will in conclusion dwell for few moments.
We have supplanted the rude life of the saw
age; what that is better have we put into It's
placer This may seem at first sight an idle
question. The gain, has il not been uttered in
the story that has been tolds Do not all the
comforts, the elegancies of our lives force upon
us the reality of the geins Contrast with this
the bare life of the savage and what need we
seek further TO illustrate the mighty gain which
history has mades But let us look more
closely, let us condeseend to question the facts
more narrowly. We have, comforts and
elegancies; the savage neither had them,
nor wanted them; how are we better
Off went once into the house of an
Indian woman. 1t was furnished with hair
cloth chairs, sofa and a rocking. chair. My
hostess offered me seat upon the sofa then
seated herself upon the floor. She had the
furniture of civilization; but. having it, she
could afford so far as her own case was con-
cerned, TO despise it. We have warm houses,
but what il the savage could keep himself
warm without these appliances. We can go to
England in week and TO the Pacific coast in
less than week. But what if he did not
We have our telegraph, But, what if, as
Emerson said: ~
"The light out speeding telegraph
Bears nothing ON Its BEAM"
Further. in comparing civilization with what
we call the barbarism of the savage. il does
not do to take merely the bright side of eivili-
cation and the dark side of barbarism. Civil
izstion has also its dark side. 1t has hard
ships, sufferings and crimes Of which the
barbarian knows nothing. 1t stands like some
magnificent tree, fair in the sunlight, while its
roots stretch deep and wide in the dark and
noisome earth. "a .aa
But at least, you may say, We have our
religion. Yes. we have our religion. This
suggests what is the real answer TO the question
as TO the gain which the Anglo Saxon has
brought into the land where the Indian roamed
There is the possibility Of larger lite. There
is an ideal which may manifest itself in all the
varied ramifcations of our, society, so far as
the relationships of our life are concerned, a
fellowship which is hound by no limit of high
OF low. or of near or far. 1t assumes as its
form democracy, or something that is prac-
tically equivalent to this, and within this
human interest, the interests of the whole and of
each individual, so far as the lesser do not
conflict with the greater, are supreme. This is
that for which civilization should stand. Ac-
cording as il does or does not stand for this, so
far it has or il does not have worth Civiliza-
tion, by itself onsidered is like magnificent
body. 1t is possible for this TO be animated by
soul and when this soul is present there is
fulness, richness and holiness of living that
may justify the cost at which the triumph has
been reached. The gain, it will thus be seen. is
possibility, not necessity. One may be SO
entsngled in the Details may have SO narrow
an outlook, and such narrow aims, even if his
position be fair one, that he shall not. reach
the good which lies at the heart of this nine
tenth century. At best the ideal is but
vaguely and partially distinguished, and at best
what is beheld is but partially made real.
Consider that form of the ideal which we
might suppose TO be most perfectly fulfilled in
this America. tie ideal of democracy. How
far Is this from its fulilments The fear was
once of.ihe tyranny Of the majority. That
peril may exist ut some time to come; we have
not reached yet. The tyranny from which
we suffer is the tyranny of the minority. Look
at one or two examples. The strike is the
working mans one weapon of defence, as it is
his inalienable right. When the oppression Of
capital can be no longer borne. then a strike,
honestly and earnestly entered upon and
carried out. may restore the social equilibrium,
rs a thunderbolt restores the equilibrium of
the atmosphere. How few strikes are of this
nature! How many simply obey the demand
OF blatant and defiant minority, while the
man who under other circumstances would
have died 10 preserve his liberty, stands as if
bound hand and foot, and sees the fruits of a
life time vanish, and those whom we love
better than himself suffer because he does not
dare come to their relief! Consider the spoils
system in our politics. The country does not
need it. l never heard it urged that railroad
would be better managed if its employees were
changed every four years. or oftener, if a
change in the management has taken place. Is
the business of our country of less importance
than that Of a railway
Won and I do pnt want thia svesano W.
want our business done in the simplest and
most straightforward way possible The two
great parties of our country do not want it.
They vie with one another in the strength of
their condemnation. The Presidents selected
by one or the other of the two great parties do
not want II. They too denounce it, and when
they yield TO It's demands, as who of them
does notf they claim that it is against their
will j cannot believe that our heads of de-
partments and our Congressman in general
want this system. II overburdens them with
work which TO most Of them must be distaste-
full. and. demands strength and time which
could better be spent in the legitimate duties of
their office; though there may be some who
are pleased TO win in this manner an influence
which they fear whatever talent they possess
might no. otherwise obtain Who then does
wsntits II is minority to whom politics is
a game, which without this system of spoils,
is as insipid as to an old gambler is a game of
cards without stakes. think il was Charles
James Fox who said that the greatest pleasure
in life next TO winning at cards is losing at
cards. So these men would rather see the
spoils distributed by successful opponent
according TO the rules of the game, than en-
Joy victory which would be to them barren
without this fruitage More powerful even
than these is the smaller minority to whom
politics in its lowest form is not a
gamess but a business, who grow rich
by " the buying and selling of
votes, who make bargains and ideals" and
who, whatever happens, find their gain. 1t is
these who bend parties and Presidents and
Congresses 10 their will. II is this minority
that so far rules over us.
do NOT say this in any spirit of discourage
ment. We are gathered TO thank God and
take courage. l refer to this great burden
which rests upon us because the occasion itself
suggests hopeful outlook. In its early days
Of weakness and struggle our patriotic little
town took the name of Brunswick, and il
named its fort fort George" 1t honored
thus in its simple loyalty what was
in fact,-alss that must say it here
to. day. The meanest dynasty that ever held
the faith Of England in its hands. Because the
occasion brings US face to face with the reign
Of the Georges, may speak Of our own civil
service, with encouragement. Think of the
state of the civil service of England then, a
condition Of things which makes our civil
service Of To- day seem clean. Think of Sir
Robert Walpole, at the time when our little
town was beginning its corporate existence,