The Newtown bee., 1896-10-30
MIGHTY TOWER OF CHOICE,

l has been bestowed the
 | MIGHTY TOWER OF CHOICE,
 vuu must continually be having an elcc tion day. What profession in life will ] you choose? To what city will you go: Momm0u or God, which will you serve: 1 Life or death, whi1h will you have
 ''t h00se ye this day whom ye will serve, l suid Joshua to his people. "If God be Gud. choose Him; if Baul be God choose 1 hin." said Elijah to assembled Israel, 1 Choices everywhere. know 0fnO grand ! cr sight than that of muIIitudes of free upn, all standing upon common ground, | IaI exercising a HeaVen-made right, ! choosing at the polls on what principles ! they shall stand, hat rulers shall gov crn, each man believing lis ballot is an IeugiuCrY mightier than the cannon of war to shoot down the wrong and uplitt the right, to usher in the peaceable fruits
 of righteousness in a land upon which he ends of the world have cOme." On every election day that comes to human heart and soul we are bdden be brave and courageous ard strong; on the spec ial election day of our nation we are bid den be patriots and men.
 Now, to be patriot, 1 believe that 8 man must be an educated man. By this
 l do not mean that he must be a college bred man, that he must have passed through certain branches of knowledge ; but l mean that he must be able to under
 stand what he is doing when he deposits his vote. An ignorant vote Is danger
 uus vote. IC is a poison that works it's
 way into the body pOlioiC; it is 8 disease
 whose ravages are hard to stop. 1 con,
 fess that it does not fill me with the hap
 piest thoughts when 1 read the fact that
 fully D per cent of our population Is ig-
 noTant, or when l know that l3 per cent
 of our voters cannot read the votes they
 east. 1 do not think it any assump-
 CiOn Of pride in myself when as
 an American citizen, l protest that
 my vote, which has been decided upon through study of.tbe questions at stake
 aud through reflection upon the principles
 involved, shall not be offset by the vote
 of a man who cannot, for the life of him,
 spell out the name that heads his ticket.
 The ignorant vote is always dangerous
 vote because it is under th3 control of
 the party whip, because the owner of it
 can easily be deceived and hoodwinked
 and cheated. The man who cannot read
 his ballot is apt to be made dupe and a
 tool by some one more intelligent than
 he. He Is looked upon as 8 block of mar
 DlE GAldb Ghu DG lhSllOuGLl JU GulL bL4G
 whim of a stronger mind, or as molten
 metal that can be run into the mould of
 some one's higher thinking. Unscrup- ulOus men are always after the votes Of the ignorant that they may use them for
 wrong purposes and ends. Who ever heard of trying to browbeat men who held a college diploma in their hands Who ever heard of trying to force those who were able to take well their part in the debating club? Nobody expects the same results from the Black Belt of Ala bama that he does from the suburbs of Boston or the immediate neighborh0Od of Plymouth Rock.
 1 insist that a man, in order to be ! true patriot, must be an educated man. ! Never was this more true than it is to-day. 1 This has we'll been called a campaign of | education. It has been recognized from l he start that votes would be won, mot by | )yrOteehnics either with the use of gun powder or of words, but by plain, sober argument and earnest appeals to mans lest judgment and calm thinking. And | ct 1t be said in praise of these days that n no campaign of recent years has there ,een se little mud-rhr0wing, so few as- )erities of speech, so little defamation 0f
 and slanderous reproach as in his campaign. This is the age of inde- ,endent thinking and acting. Leaders
 re coming to learn that they can no onger command the services of all their oiiowers simrIy by the ringing of the ,arty tocsin or the cracking of the party h whip. The laboring- IS no longer ne who can always be trusted to vote at he dictates of his party. He thinks to- ay, he reads, he makes up his mind, and hen he votes. ! do not know of any It etter advice that can be given to men of , II parties to-day than that which Paul { ave to the Thessalonians some 19 cen f aries ago: s'Pr0ve all things; hold fast 1 hat which Is good" Prove all things ( sst, siRt, weigh, examine, try. Balance M pinions on this side and on that. Clear f way the rubbish and whatever is not < ermane. Come down to the bottom ' rinciples, to bedrock facts, and then t scide. Do you know what "deciden ' serally means? It literally means to A 1t otf, cut away, knock down. Knock 2