Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-10-21


tion was limited to classes or conditions. tn.
masses cared little for them nor remembered
| them long. Jeferson's superb Capitalization
of the popular opinion, that ''all men are Gre
ated equal, that they endowed by theil
Creator with certain inalienable rights. tina
among these are life, liberty and the pursuit Of
happiness, had its force and effect in being
the deliberate utterance Of the people. II
swept away In single sentence kings and
mobiles, peers and prelates. 1t was Magna
Sharta and the Petition Of Rights planted il
the flrg1n sell OF the American wilderness, anG
bearing richer and ripper fruit Under its vital
izing influence upon the individual the farmer
left his pillow In the furrow, the lawyer hi
books and briefs, the merchant his shop anf
| the workman his bench to enlist in the patr1o
army. They were fighting for themselves ant
their children. They embodied the idea in
their constitution in the immortal words with
which that great instrument of liberty and or
der began, I'VE, the people of the United
States do ordain."
| The scope and limitations of this idea of free
dom nave neither been misinterpreted nor mis-
understood. The laws of nature in their ap-
piication to the rise and recognition Of men ac-
| cord1ng to their mental, moral, spiritual and
physical endowments are left undisturbed.
But the accident of birth gives no rank and
| confers no privilege. Equal rights and com.
mon opportunity for all have been the spurs Of
ambition and the motors of progress. They
have established the common schools and
built the public libraries. sovereign people
| have learned and enforced the lesson Of free
education. The practice Of government ID
itself liberal education. People who make
their own laws need no lsw-givers. After a cen
fury OF successful trial the system has passed
the period Of experiment and its demonstrated
permanency and power are revolutionizing the
| governments of the world. 1t has raised the
largest armies of modern times for self-preser.
| walton, and at the successful termination OF
the war returned the soldiers to the pursuits OF
peace. 1t has so adjusted itself to the pride
and patriotism Of the defeated that they vie
with the vlctors in their support and enthusiasm
for the old flag and our common country. I'm
ported anarchists have preached their baleful
doctrines, but have made no converts They have
tried to inaugurate a reign of terror under the
banner Of the violent seizure and distribution
OF property only to be defeated, imprisoned
and executed by the law made by the people
and enforced by juries selected from the people
and judges and prosecuting officers elected by
the people. Socialism finds disciples only
| among those who were its votaries before they
were forced to fly from their native land. but It
does not take root upon American soil. The
state neither supports nor permits taxation to
maintain the church. The citizen can worship
God according to his belief and conscience, OF
he may neither reverence nor recognize the Al
mighty. And yet religion has fourished,
churches abound, the ministry is sustained and
millions Of dollars are contributed annually for
the evangelization of the world. The United
States is a Christian country and a living and
practical Christianity is the Characteristic Of its
people.
COLUMBUS DREAM SURPASSED.
Benjamin Franklin philosopher and patriot,
amused the jaded courtiers Of Louis XVI by
his talks about liberty and entertained the
scientists of France by bringing lightning from
the clouds. In the reckoning Of time the
period from Franklin to Morse and from Morse
to Edison Is but span, and yet it marks a
material development as marvellous as it has
been benefcent The world has been brought
into contact and sympathy. The electric cur
rent thrills and unifies the people of the globe.
Power and production, highways and trans
ports have been SO multiplied and improved
by inventive genius that within the century Of
our independence 64,000,0OO of people have
happy homes and improved conditions within
our borders. We have accumulated wealth far
beyond the visions of the Cathay of Columbus
or the FL Dorado of De Soto. But the farmers
and freeholders, the savings banks and shops
illustrate its universal distribution. The ma
iority are its possessors and administrators. In
housing and living, in the elements which make
the toiler self-respecting and respected cit
izen. in avenues of hope and ambition for
children, in all that gives broader scope
and keener pleasure TO existence, the
people of this republic enjoy advantages
far beyond those Of other lands. The On
try has opened wonderful opportunities for
making fortunes, and stimulated to madness
the desire and rush for the accumulation of
money. Material prosperity has not debased
literature nor debauched the press; it has
neither paralyzed nor depressed intellectual ac-
tivity. American science and letters have
received rank and recognition in the older
centers of learning. The demand for higher
education has taxed the resources of the
ancientuniversities as to compel the founda-
ton and liberal endowment of colleges all over
the Union. Journals, remarkable for their
ability, independence and power. find their
strength, not in the patronage Of government
or the subsidies of wealth, but in the support
OF nation OF newspaper readers. The hum
blest and poorest person has in periodicals
whose price is counted in pennies a library
larger. fuller and more varied than was within
the reach of the rich in the time of Columbus.
THE HAPPINESS OF THE WORLD INCREASED.
The sum of human happiness has been in
fnitely increased by the millions from the old
world who have improved their conditions in
the new, and the returning tide of lesson and
experience has incidentally enriched the father
lands. The divine right of kings has taken its
place with the instruments of medieval torture
among the curiosities of the antiquary Only
the shadow of kingly authority stands between
the government of themselves, by themselves
and the people of Norway and Sweden The
union in one empire of states of Germany is the
symbol OF Teutonic power and the hope of
German liberalism. The petty despotisms of
Italy have been merged into a nationality which
has centralized its authority in its ancient cap
itol on the hills OF Rome. France was rudely
reused from the sullen submission of centuries
to intolerable tyranny by her soldiers return
ing from service in the American revolution.
The wild orgies of the reign Of terror were the
revenges and excesse of people who had dis
covered their power, but were not prepared for
q Sha Aa1 ha~o sx,xo
the arms of Napoleon. He, too. was a product
OF the American experiment. He played with
kings as with . toys and educated
France for liberty. In the processes of her
evolution from darkness to light she tried Bour-
bon and Orleanist and the third Napoleon and
cast them aside. Now in the fullness OF time,
and through the training in the school OF
hardest experience, the French people have
reared and enjoy permanent republic.
England of the Mayflower and of James II,
England of George III and of Lord North has
enlarged suffrage and is today animated and
governed by the democratic spirit. She has her
throne, admirably occupied by one Of the wisest
of sovereigns and best of women but it would
not survive one dissolute and unworthy sue
eessor. She has her hereditary peers, but the
house of lords will be brushed aside the moment
it resists the will Of the people.
THE OLD WORLD AND THE NEW.
The time has arrived for both a closer
union and greater distance between the old
world and the new. The former indiscriminate
welcome to our prairieS and the present invi-
tatOn to these palaces of art and industry ma RI