Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1894-07-12
THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR.
Grafton Delivered by z. K. cheadle, Esq.
on July 4th, 1894.

The following is as much as our
space will permit OF the able address
delivered by E. X. Cheadle. on July
4th:
Ladies and gentlemen: 1 esteem it both
an honor and a privilege to address you
today. 1t is no light thing to have assigned
to ones self the office and duty of leading
and guiding the thought of an audience of
his countrymen on this the anniversary of
our nations birth. II I shall be able thus to
guide and direct your thought in the right
cha pEels aud to the right endr, In no mat
ter how small a degree, shall feel that
have not wholly wasted my opportunity:
For this occasion should not be altogether
one OF rejoicing and self-congratulation.
day, as well as a feast day. 1T Is an sppro-
pirate time to review the past and seriously
to consider the present. 1t is a time to go
back to the beginnings of our society and
government, and thence to trace their grad
ual growth and development, and by the
light of the knowledge thus gained to think
well and deeply upon the evils OF the pres
ent, and to consider whether an appropri-
ate cure for them may be found IN the ex-
perience of the past and in the reasons for
the existence OF this our American Repub-
lie. which, with all it's many and patent de-
iects, we fondly believe, and with good rea-
son, tn be the best kind OF government, and
the best of it's kind, WHICH mankind has
ever developed in it's arduous and world.oid
struggle for liberty. And, lest despair over
whelm us in the hecnntempIation nf the many
problems yet te be solved, and the many
wrongs yet tn be riehted. let us remember
that we come Of "A race that for more than
IA Thousand years Of fire and sword, Of
storm and strife, and through all adversity
and prosperity, through every defeat and
every victory, has, humanity speaking,
proved itself able to work out it's own sal
walton. Let MS, from the experience Of our
race, derive confidence in it's destiny and
above ALL let us trust that our generation
will have the manliness and the wisdom to
transmit unharmed to it's Successors the
heritage which it received in trust from it's
fathers for the use of posterity as well as
for it's own. But in order that we may
rightly enjoy this heritage of self-govern-
ment and pass it on unimpaired to the next
succeeding generation, it is needful that we
should know it's weakness as well as its
strength. We should know it's superfluities
in order that we may judiciously remove
them. We should know what it lacks in
order to supply the deficiency. II there are
grave defects, they should be intelligently
remedied. II there are wrongs, they should
be conscientiously righted. We shall be
grievously at fault il today we shut our
eyes to every thing but our nations glory,
and refnse to see what il igpohie, what is
weak, what ia mistaken, and what is wrong
We shall do ourselves, our country men,
our children, and all mankind fearful in.
jury IL we fall to remember that righteous
ness exalteth a nation, and that In the life
OF u people as well in that OF an individual
only what is right is or can be Of permanent
advantage. 1t is right and safe for us to
remember these things Mt all times, but es
pecially at the present, when there is wide
spread distress and unrest. 1t is perhaps
safe to say that never before in the remem
brance OF any OF us here assembled today
has the condition OF our body polite need
ed, nay, demanded, more sympathetic
wiser, and speedier treatment than it re
quires now. We stand today in the pres
ence of national condition which Include,
| in it's sum total more of material loss. o.
personal distress, and Of social disiDtegra
ton than any one of us has ever befor,
seen. Through the operation of many
ca uses, some of them worldwide, some o
them national, and some of them local, WI
are confronted with n stagpation Of indus
try, a paralysis of commerce, and an aggre
gate of human misery which it is impossibl
for the mind to imagine. Seldom has tn
horizon been SO eagerly scanned for the lift
ing of the clouds of ma ional distress, and sci
dom ha We those clouds lowered more threat
eniugly. Turn where we may, the scene i
the same. The once busy haunis of indus
try are Stint and deserted. In the grea
eenters of population myriads af hungr.
men elamor unavailingly for work. Tn
tillers Of the soil and the raisers of flock
and herds seek in vain Tor "a market whic
will recompense them for their labor
Whole industrial communities, deprived G
the legitimate means of subsistence, seen
tn be sinking into the mire OF anarchy. TIL
despair OF men, the moans of sufferin
women, and the cries Of starving childrel