Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-07-05
AT ANDALUsIA.

ouC mio Wcst Vi Town on the Dank OF the
Mississippi river. A large procession
assembled in the village in the morning
under the direction of j. G. Britton. pres
ident Of the day. and moved toward tn e
picnic grounds led by brass band. The
exercises were opened by prayer by Rev.
Mr.. Johnston. of Edgington. followed by
the reading of the declaration Of indie
pendence
MIR. M. M. Sturgeon, of this city. spoke
in the forenoon and he did not ignore the
opportunity to advance his claims to the
office of states attorney. candidate for
which he has been made by the republic
cans of Rock Island county. He dwelt
at some length upon his incumbency of
the office OF county superintendent of
schools, and drew the inference that be-
cause he had made an excellent county
superintendent he would make a number
one prosecutor, if elected. He also
made patriotic and eloquent allusion to
the day. its meaning and glory.
In the afternoon Mr.. VIM. McEniry, of
this city, delivered the address of the
day.
Mr. McEniry said in substance:
Mr. President and Ladies and Gentlemen:
Upon this beautiful sun lit day on the
banks of this great and historic river, the
home OF the Black Hawk chieftain. the
father OF waters, do we assemble, but for
what purpose? When the wild and un-
tutored savage met and vanquished the
foe, he was called about the tireside on
the choicest summit to rejoice over the
achieved victory. The Turk celebrates
the anniversary of great days; 1t is a
custom handed down by tradition from
the earliest history, not alone of the un-
tutored. but of the most civilized nation
to celebrate the anniversary of great VIC
tory. We find this practice prevailing to
a great extent with the Jewish and Roman
Catholic churches which are the most
ancient. Why, then upon this day do
we find around us so many gay and lively
heartsf The little girl with her fiashily
colored dress. the boy with his bunch OF
fire crackers and toy pistol. The mother
with her loved ones who has laid aside
the cares and toll of this world for one
day. The fathers and brothers have
come also. to pay honor to whom and for
what occasion? The band dlscourses
gay and patriotic music in unison
with all the surroundings, even the little
bird f1uttering from limb to limb on
Yonder tree, seem to have caught the
patriotic spirit. 1t is for a purpose most
noble and most pure have we here met
tor, namely to celebrate the anniversary
of the independence of the United States
from the power of the prince of tyrants,
to pay tribute TO the names of the Illus
trlous Jefferson, Adams, and all the
heros OF the great struggle of independ-
ence. What proper and fit act it is for
the American to assemble on each and
every fourth day o: July to celebrate
the independence of America. 1t renews
and kindles within ones heart the fire of
patriotism; 1t teaches the soft and pliable
mind of the child the value and the
priceless gift of liberty such as we enjoy
in this republic. We should not only
give thanks to these great heroes for lib
Grating us from the tyrant of Europe, out
also for the form of government-the
protection of our priceless liberty. We
have now broad expanse of territory,
much more than at first. but governed by
the same fundamental principles
that were laid down In the de-
clsration of independence from the
pen of the illustrious jefferson. Let us
tsrry moment and talk of the construc-
ton OF this government. We have a
government within government-two
perfect governments, one within the
other. The national" perfect in itself,
having all the essentials to make I'D
perfect government VS.. the legislative,
the house of congress, to enact the laws,
the Judiciary, the supreme bench to
construe the laws, the executive, the
president of the United States, to enforce
the laws.
The other, the state government-the
legislature of the state to enact the laws.
the supreme court to construe the laws,
the executive to enforce the laws-two
in all respects perfect-the functions of
one cannot interfere with that of the
other. The line of authority of each
defined by the constitution of the general
government. This wise provision is the
6nl ~ark OF our system h hot forced upon
him the laws of Maine, neither is the
anti-I rohibitionist of Pennsylvania
burdened with the prohibitory laws of
lowa-each state has its own police laws
independent of its sister state Upon
this principle Of our government the
speaker dwelt at some length. closing
amid great applause.
Rev. Jos. Kerr, of Milan also spoke.
There was a variety of enjoyable and
patriotic features aside from the speech
making.
AT PORT BYRON,
Port Byron INDUCED in rousing old
time jollification, which was largely at
tended, and was productive of good
time to all. The celebration was held
at BARRIERS Falls, below the town, and E.
T. Bittinger was president of the day.
In the morning there was a game of ball
between the Yuma nine, No. 2, and the
Port Byron club. which resulted in a
victory for the Port Byronites by score
of 16 to Is. In the afternoon the Yuma
Red Caps defeated the locals by score
of 10 to 2. There was great diversity
of amusements, including sack and po-
tato races and other sports. and Rev.
Bowers, of LeClsire, delivered an ora
ton. In the evening there were fire.
works and an excursion up the river on
| the Pilot.
AT OTHER PLACES.
Throughout the county people congre-
gated to celebrate the nations nata
day, and at all there was a happy, pa
triotic time. At Cable. just over the