The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1893-07-01
Patriotic People.

congress, tnen In session IN Fnlla-
delphia, adopted the Declaration of
independence, no one Of the many
patriots who signed it, nor even its
Immaculate framer-Thomas JEFF
ferson-dreamed of the magnitude
to which the nation, they there en-
dowed with the spirit of freedom,
would attain. The handful Of lib
erty-loving people - barely three
millions all told-never once sup
posed that III years later their lit
tie Republic, consisting then of but
thirteen impoverished states but
little larger than the present state
of Texas, would widen out from
the Atlantic to an unknown ocean
three thousand miles to the west,
and from the Great Lakes in the
north to the Gulf of Mexico in the
south, and from Florida to Alaska
5000 miles away, comprising sis
terhood Of Al states and 6 terrific
ries and containing 65,0O0,000 of
free and independent people. Those
Sc noble patriots, headed by John
Hancock, who signed that docu-
ment which declared: ave hold
these truths to be self-evident,
that all men are created equal !;
they are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable rights
that among these, are life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness" and
sin the name and by the authority
of the good people of these colo
MES, solemnly publish and declare,
That these United Colonies are,
and of right ought to be, FREE AND
INDEPENDENT STATES; And,
for the support of this Declaration,
with firm reliance on the pcotec.
ton of Divine Providence, we mu-
tually pledge to each other, our
LIVES, our FORTUNES, and our sA-
CRED HONOR" were the Fathers Of
the Republic.
Such sublime devotion to cause
that seemed almost hopeless-such
unselfsh patriotism and love tor
their country - such unfaltering
courage, even when defeated at ev-
cry step, finds no parallel in history.
It was no halfway victory they
sought, and no halfway concession
would satisfy them. They would
be untrammelled by foreign power,
they would be unrestrained by for
eign laws-unrestricted by foreign
intervention. Their rivers should
run free to the sea-their ships of
commerce should dot every ocean
their flag should be recognized by
every government. No usurper's
foot should press our green sward
no tyrant army garrison our
forts-no tyrant's navy guard our
harbors. Our blue skies should
bend over no foeman's minions-
fresh, wild winds, that swept noun
tain and lake and boundless prairie,
should kiss no foeman's cheek. !
With God for their leader, "Liber-
ty" for their'battle cry, they were
victorious, and to-day, with all they
gained for US still preserved, our
borders extended and our wealth
thousand fold, we rev.
erently remember to whom, under
God, we owe this, and treasure the
memory of the Fathers of the Re
public as a sacred thing. Our graf.
itude should be measurable by our
debt to them.
1t is hard to believe that man
lives upon American soil, protected
by our laws, and sheltered by our
dear old flag beneath whose folds
the revolutionary heroes marched
on to victory over the tyrant and
oppressor, whose heart does not
beat quicker with pride and affec-
ton as be chances back over these
heroes who planted the germ of
our national independence, and
watered it with tears, and hallowed
the soil only too often with their
life-blood. Gigantic was the task
which those brave men performed,
and glorious have been the results
of their efforts.
In the midst of the greatest
calamity that ever befell free peo-
ple-that of a confding people be-
ing robbed of over half their money
-silver-by trusted servants who
have since proved to be traitors
we are called upon to next Tuesday
celebrate the 117th anniversary of
our nations independence. In Ida
ho, especially here on Wood River,
where the value Of our chief
product has, through the manipu-
lations Of Wall Street traitors aided
by British gold and faithless public
servants, been forced in the past
few days to the lowest possible deg
radiation, the people will celebrate
with sore heart. But they still
honor those dead heroes who
made this Republic possible, and
though the fundamental principles
laid down in their Declaration of
Independence and Constitution has
been sadly abused, they believe it
their duty to commemorate that
day on which their patriotism took