Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1890-11-27
"ouR COUNTRY.



Ex-PresIdent Cleveland Responds to the
Sentiment at I. Banquet in New York.
NEW YORK, Nov. 2L-The jewelers.
co.'s last night, and e1-President Cleve-
lsnd was one of the guests He re-
sponded to "Our Country" and in part
he said:
81 know of no better way to deal
with the sentiment than to divide it
and consider one branch or part of my
text as is sometimes done with a long
text in the pulpit I therefore propose
to say something about the word Our
as related to the sentiment Our Coun-
try
This is 'oRx' country, because the
people have established it, because
they rule 1t, because they have de-
veloped it, because they have fought
for it and because they have loved it
And still each generation of Americans
hold it only in trust for those who shall
come after them, and they are charged
with the obligation to transmit 1t as
strong as it came to their hands
1T is not ours to destroy; it is not
ours to sell, and it is not ours to
neglect or iniure. It is ours as our
families are ours and as our churches
and schools are ours-to protect and de-
fend, to foster and improve. As it's
strength and fitness to reach its prom
ised destiny depends upon its unity,
one Of our highest duties is to Guilt
vate and encourage kindliness among
our people, to the end that all may
heartily cooperate in performing the
terms of our trust. AS it exists for us
all, so ali should be accorded an equal
share in its benefits. 1t is so constructed
that its work is nobly done and its
operations perverted when special and
exclusive advantages are awarded to any
particular class of our people
IF we permit grasptng selfishness to
influence US in care of our trust we are
untrue to our obligations and our coven-
ants as Americans. Our country is
ours for the purpose of securing
through its means of justice. happiness
and prosperity to all-not for the pur-
pose of permitting the selfish and de-
signing to be enriched at the expense
of their confiding fellow countrymen.
1t is our duty then to defend and pro-
tect our country while it remains in our
hands from that selfishness which if
permitted, will surely undermine it, as
clearly as it is our duty to defend it
against armed enemies
Nor are we discharged from our
obligations as trustees of our country if
we merely preserve it in the same con-
dition as when we received it.
1.-THE march of progress and civiliza-
ton throughout the world imposes on
US the duty of improving the subject of
our trust SO that it may be transmitted
to others in such an advanced condi ton
of prosperity and growth as shall bear
witness to our faithfulness and our de-
votion to it's interests. He who hid his
talent in napkin and added nothing
to it was condemned as unfaithfu when
called upon to give an account of his
stewardship.
LET us rejoice, then, in the greatness
of our country but let US rememb Der
that it will be our blame if it is not
made greater; let us boast of the coun-
try which is ours, but let our Boosting
be tempered with the reflection that its
possession is charged with sacred
trust; let us constantly bear in mind
that while it is ours to use pa riOtically
and transmit to coming generations, our
relation to it is made more serious by
the fact that in it's broadcast and most
solemn meaning our country is some
thing which. as an example and inter
prefer of freedom. belongs to the world
and which, in it's blessed mission, be-
LONGS tn hmm anifv -