Brookings register. (Brookings, S.D.) 1890-1894, 1894-09-14
Mayor WilcOx's Address.

| Inc following is tne ADDRESS OF wei
come delivered before the republican
state convention at Yankton:
Mr.. CHAIRMAN, MEMBERS OF THE
REPUBLICAN STATE CONVENTION,
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:
As sponsor for the people of the
| city Of Yankton, on this occasion, L
assure you that most sensibly appre-
ciate the honor Of extending that
spontaneous, heartfelt and enthus-
iastic welcome which now throws
open wide the doors of our civic hos
pitality to you, the accredited and
hOnored representatives from every
county Of our state, Of that great
political party which, through
| thirty most eventful and crucial years
shaped the character and destiny of
our national life.
In most profound and grateful re-
cognition, l now bid you All hail. and
welcome to our midst as the represen-
tatives of that party, which in the
person of its first great leader and
fallen and sainted martyr, gave to
this land, to the world and humanity,
not only that prophetic mind Of most
colossal grasp, but also gave the
purity, the tenderness, the magnanim-
ity and moral grandeur Of the charac-
ter OF Abraham Lincoln.
We welcome you as the representa-
tiveS Of that great party which,
striking the shackles from off the fes-
tering limbs OF four millions of our
fellow beings, for The first time, made
this land in reality as in name, the
home of the free.
We welcome you as the representa-
tives of that great party that, through
| the victorious prosecution OF the
| fiercest civil war in the annals of all
time, forever established beyond the
question of a doubt, that ours is a
union one and inseparable.
We welcome you as the representa-
tives OF that great party which, on It's
| first assumption of the reins Of gov
eminent, found our public credit al
most hOpelesSly shattered, and yet
within the space of three short de-
cades left US, though the youngest,
yet the richest nation on the entire
face of the globe.
While, in my representative Charac-
ter, the proprieties OF the occasion
forbid me from speaking to you from
the standpoint of any personal, po-
litical preference of my own, yet, as
lovingly loyal children of this great
American Union, l know that, beat
ing in responsive accord, all our hearts
are one as the sea.
| In political character, however may
differ those for whom | now speak, L
know that, in common with your
selves, we are all indissolubly bound
together not only by the common and
glorious heritage of the most compre-
hensive and perfect liberty ever
vouchsafed to man, but also by moth
ing less than the sublime purpose OF
seeing to it that no harm shall come
to our republic, but that with a newer
glory and diviner power, it shall be
transmitted, unimpaired, to those who
shall come after us.
| Whatever else we may desire, l
know that we all want nothing that
shall not consist with the speedlest
and most complete realization OF this
highest and purest aim OF every pat
riot heart.
| Therefore it is that as nation we
must no forward and not backward.
| Therefore it is that we want virtue
and not vice; intelligence and not
| ignorance.
We want faith and not doubling;
hope and not despair. We want the
golden harvest, but not the shriveled
price.
We want the cattle on thousand
hills, but not the wool of Australian
flocks.
| We want commercial life and not
| industrial death, We want the ring
ing anvil and not the silent forge.
| W. ho n htr1i inu snindlps md
not the motionless looms.
We want the quickened pulse OF
trade, but not the heel OF grinding
trusts.
We want the stir of eager feet and
not the idleness of rowing tramps.
We wapt the bread of honest toll
but not grim and CHASTITY famine's
clutch.
We want the natural equality OF
right and not the arrogance of soul
less wealth.
We want employment for laborers
at home and not abroad. people,
in our state and national halls OF
legislation, we want performance and
not promise; loyalty and not perfidy.
We want vision and not blindness:
comprehension and not narrowness.
We want service and not servility;
candor and not pretense. We want
firmness and not faltering; indepen-
dence and not trucking.
We want character and not cum
ming; power and not pomp. We want
the devotion and enthusiasm of hon
est hearts and not the time service OF
mercenary selfshness and insatiate
lgreed.