The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-11-26
Ex-President Harrison's Paper.


Almost at the beginning of the series
of papers on '"This Country of Ours"
which ex-President Harrison is o
tributing to the Ladies' Home Journal,
appears this sentence. which is the
epitome Of whole sermons: God has
never endowed any statesman or phil
osopher, nor any body Of them, with
wisdom enough to frame Il system of
government that everybody could go
off and leave" 1.-The real enemies of
our Countrywide dangerous ones are
not" says he, further on, the armed
men nor the armored ships of the great
powers. If there Is too much exuber-
ance in the thought that We can whip
the world it is a safe saying that we
can defend our land and coasts against
any part OF the world that will ever
be in arms against us. We are alert
as to foreign foes-the drum tap rouses
the heaviest ~sleepers. But we are a
dull people as t" internal assaults upon
the integrity and purity of public ad-
ministration." For this reason the eX-
president appeals to the mothers of the
land to redouble their training of the
children in patriotism, in obedience to
regularly constituted authority and in
respect for law and order. Very peril
nent, too, is this excerpt from his first
paper:
Many avs are made necessary because
we have neighbors-because there are SO
many people. If there We're not so many
people using the park we might repeal
the law that forbids the plucking of the
iiowers and substitute the miider rule,
Don't pull sp the roots" The flowers
are planted in public grounds and at, the
public expense, and in a sense they belong
10 the people; but since there are not
enough for all to pull, and as there cannot
be an equal and the largest enjoyment OF
them that way, the pulling of them Is
forbidden. All can have frequent and
equal enjoyment of the flowers If the APP
preparation of them Is by the Eye. and the
hands are kept off. a very little child can
understand this object lesson, and when 1t
has been received 1t will restrain the fleet
from crossing many a forbidden border.
If all laws, great and small, are not to be
observed by every citizen, but each Is to
make an elective code for himself, 1t is
the end of civil order. We are having a
renaissance of patriotism and we
need a renaissance of conscience
toward the law. The a or wo-
man who hides property from the
a fee into his ham to obtain a preference
he ought not to give, cannot take the lead
in a tiger hunt" No executive officer
should be criticised for enforcing the law.
We cannot allow him any choice; II we
do, he becomes a law-maker. The legis-
lators, under our system, make the laws;
and If they are unwise In the opinion OF a
majority of the people they can be
changed. But till then obey them, as you
love your country and her peace.
Very forceful and timely, likewise,
are the ex-president's comments on
lynching, which he denominates "a
dethronement of u constitutional
king, the law" "a lynching," he adds,
''%brutalizes those who take part in it,
and demoralizes those who consent to
or xcuse the act. Crime is not re-
pressed, but stimulated. The evidence
has not been taken and to his friends
the mar is a victim whose blood calls
for revenge. The frequency of this
immunity that attends it's commission
In our country, have suggested an or
ganized movement for its repression.
There should be a medal of honor for
the sheriff or jailor who, at the risk
of his life and in the face Of an in
famed community, defends his pris-
n e against the mob. The man who
loathes the guilty and covering wretch
in his custody, and yet dies to defend
him from a mob because the law makes
1t his duty to keep and to present him
before the lawful tribunal, is worthy
of a monument. ! can think of no
higher test Of the loyalty Of a soul to
duty"
The whole paper is a most able, cred
table and dignified one, the publica-
ton of which is bound to do good.