The Philipsburg mail. [volume] (Philipsburg, Mont.) 1887-current, 1891-07-09


their patriotism and courage in that hot
OF the nations emergency, when in th
courage Of their convictions they pledge
n themselves in conservation on the alta
OF patriotism, with every interest to th
cause ofa liberal government. which wa
to be government of the governed an
, for the governed.
} 'But not alone those of that illustriou
number who signed the declaration @
independence deserve our deepest regard
but all the line of soldiers and Statesmen
who bore the flag in the heat of battle o
in the halls of legislation, from the nobl
trainers of our constitution to tha
grandest, most unassumlng and creates
of all statesmen, Abraham Lincoln. TAD
plause.
"But while the past is ours it can nov
only be profitable for it's lessons, and any
undue national pride on account of those
achievements of our forefathers can ii
no wise aid us to-day. The present is
ours, and what they were may have little
to 90 with what we, their posterity, are
to-day. This is the great and important
question, whether we are maintaining
unsullied the heaitage they left for us.
The present has it's lessons as we'll as the
past, more important to us now than the
latter, because it will materially effect
our future in proportion as we measure
up to our responsibilities now.
"What is the truth and tendency of the
present throughout the world, and what
the great question of the hour? We see
the struggle now among the laboring
| classes to secure a livelihood, and the
conflict between labor and capital. We
see that the rich are setting wider and
wider distinctions between themselves
and the poorer classes, and becoming
more and more unwilling to help their
less fortunate neighbors. The landed
estates and wealth of all lands is rapidly
passlEg into the hands of the few, while
the Htruggles for mere sustainance among
the masses is growing harder every day:
while the case of the rich is becoming
easier and more favorable all the time.
Egypt. once the fowery kingdom of
the orient, is now a barren and sterile
waste, resulting from the concentration
OF wealth in the owners ofproperty, where
twenty per cent of the population owned
the real estate, leaving eighty per cent
tenants. Persia, that nation once gem
in the orient, fell from the same cause.
while Babylon once the queen of the east
by the concentration of all it's wealth in
the hands of twenty-five per cent of it's
population and all the rest tenants.
While that mother of empires, that king
dom and republic reared upon the ruins
of barbarlsm, whose laws have become
the foundations of civil government
throughout the civilized world, has long
since sunk into the depth of oblivion on
account OF the agrandisement of the
patrician and the oppression of the pie
beon by the concentration of property in
the hands of the few. In America to-day
slxty-nlne per cert of the wealth is in the
hands of 100000 out of 65,OOO,OOO, leav-
ng 45,0O0,OOO of the population in possess
sion OF but thirty-one percent of the pro-
oerty of the United States, which shows
hat we are drifting IN the same direction
is other nations. Fifty years from to-
lay what will be the condition of our
government should this state of things
continue?
II believe in the superiority of the (
of the people and that they {
will be heard and will put check upon I
he aggressions of individuals in which /
vent what will become of those 1ndivid-
als who possess the wealth? It will be I
lssipated and the laws Of equality vindi-
ated and enforced. I have confidence
final triumph of righ5 and justice and {
hat this nation that has set before the I
'orld the highest type of civilization
YER known will continue to shine as f
lamOnd IN the set of nations. t
"As in the eradication of the biott of
slavery in which the people spoke and
ad to be heard. So will 1t be in the 2
ljustment of all great national questions c
lvolving the rights of individuals of all
asses. believe in our future. Lincoln 2
mself, individually, was only the repre-
ntative of grand sentiment which had Al
isen by agitation among the masses
:a,nst the curse of slavery, and when he
'ollshed it by the emancipation procla-
alton on January lst, 1868, he but M
oke the sentiment of the people, thus NJ
eaking as their oracle. So shall it be OF
the future in the settlement of all great M
estions." If
after the drilling contest ~
e massive attendance assembled near ~
e diamond, where the Granite and -
baseball mines were in readi- IL
SIS to contest for the prize There oe