The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1890-06-07

generation must supply this demand
and must constitute the good citizens
OF the future.
What is 1t to be good citizen? To
be good citizen one must possess
those qualities which make him APP
preciate the privileges, perform the
duties, and understand and meet the
questions to be solved. Self-sacrifice
and the disposition to renounce self
interest for the greatest good TO the
greatest number are among the essen
tial qualities of good citizenship.
The Romans understood well this
duty. Manlius and Brutus both con-
demned their sons to death. Manli.
us, because his son dsobeyed the or
ders of the consular power, and
treason against the state. 1t was one
ship to which men could be subjected.
On the one hand was their great love
for their sons: on the other, their duty
to the state. The temptation was
great, but sacrificing the warmest
feelings OF nature, they did that
which was for the benefit of the state.
The good citizen should be man of
such private morality that his preju-
dices will always be in favor of the
right side of the great questions that
come before him, and of such public
morality that every official trust
placed in him by the people shall be
kept inviolable. He should have that
charity which enables men to put
themselves in the place of Others, and
by appreciating their evils, relieve
them with Justice and understanding.
The good citizen should have a thor
ough education. A century ago a
higher education was not considered
an essential Of good citizenship.
There were at that time but seven
colleges in the United States, and the
common schools were few. Lincoln is
constantly referred to as man who
succeeded without an education, and
people point TO his example as an eX-
cuSe for non-education of their child
rem. But these are not the days of
Lincoln. To-day man has educated
people to compete with, and without
an education by no possibility can he
hope to take his position in the van of
progress.
1t is not only good citizenship that
is demanded. but a higher order of
citizenship. The questions of the day
are becoming more and more cOmpli-
Gated. The constitutional questions
which troubled the first century of
our republic have been settled. The
questions which are to be considered
are those of financial policy, involv-
ing the problems of political econo-
my, the most abStruSe OF all questions
and the least understood.
| The conflicting interests Of labor
and capital, the tariff and other prob
lens of taxation, the rocks upon
which great nations have split after
passing safely through the dangers of
constitutional conflicts, are the prob
lens to be solved by future citizens.
Shall we, after Oyerthrowing the evils
of slavery, be overthrow by the ig-
nOrant immigrant and enslaved by
the insolent demagogue? Shall we,
after building up nation of vast
wealth, be ruled by an ariStOcracy of
the rich. while the thousands who
cannot gain subsistence on the farm
learn the lessons of crime in the Turk
ing places of great cities? Shall we,
after faShOning the most perfect re-
|
republican institutions? The answer
to these questions lies in the power of
the future citizen. We trust they
will be answered right for we trust in
American citizenship. The evils sug-
geSted are not imaginary; they are i'm
pending, nay, even present. Every
good citizen is fighting not for tenn
porary policy, but for the perpetuity
of this government, and with it for
the welfare of mankind. Often the
wrong seems to prevail, and he mis-
trusts the very principles of demo
cratic government. But the stars in
their courses are fighting with him,
and he may take heart and be moved
to action by the propl etc truth:
Fright forever on the Scatfold,
Wrong forever on the throne:
But that scaffold rules the future,
And beyond the dim unknown
Stitch God within the shadow,
Keeping watch above his own"
The time has come for us as class.
mates to bid the past farewell and
welcome the future. The four years
we have passed together in the O. III. 5.
have been years Of profit and for the
most part years Of pleasure. In them
our eyes have been opened to the
treasure of knowledge and the whit
ening harvests that await our reaping.
Duty now calls us, together with a
multitude of Others, to broader fields
of labor. TO them let us go forth
with earnest purpose to make faith
full the lessons taught by our school
| life.
While we linger a moment on the
threshold of the past, recalling the
happy days of youth, let us thank the
| friends who have bestowed on US the
privileges of high school life, the
board of education, to whose wise
management the prosperity of our
high school is due, and the teachers,
under whose patient guidance our
progress thus far has been made.
And now, wishing our schOolmates
all things good for them. we bid the
future "Hail.' Our high school days,
"Farewellm
John +. Nash, cashier Of the First
National Bank, presented the diplO-
| mas, giving the class some good adj