Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1896-05-14
GOd's Country.

Lincoln's prayer In the White House, and
Stonewall Jaokson's prayer In the saddle,
and answered all the prayers of all tho
cathodrals on both sides of Mason and
Dixon's line. Gods country all the way
past; Gods country now. Put his namo
In your pronunciamentos; put his name on
your ensigns; put his namo on your city
and state and national enterprises; put his
name In your hearts. We cannot sleep
we'll tho last sleep until we are assured
that tho God OF our American institutions
in the past will be the God of our Ameri-
can institutions in the days that ore to
come. Oh, when all the rivers that empty
into Atlantic and Pacific seas shall pull on
factory bands when all the great mines of
gold and silver and iron and coal shall DO
laid bare for the nation; when tho last
swamp shall be reclaimed, and the last
jungle cleared, and the last American des-
ert Edenized, and from sea to sea tho con-
tinont shall be occupied by moro than
1900, 600, 900 souls, may it be found that
moral and religious influences were multi
piled in moro rapid ratio than the popula
ton. And then there shall be four dox-
ologies coming from north and south and
east and west, four doxologcs rolling to-
ward each other and meeting midcohtinent
mount to the throne.
And heavens high arch rcsound again
With peace on earth, good will to men.
take step farther and say that before
the gavols of our senate and house of rep
resentatives and our political conventions
pound adjournment there ought to be
passed law or adopted plank of intolli-
gent holpfulness for tho great foreign pop
tab u
Is too late now to discuss whether We had
better let them come. They are here
They are coming this moment through the
Narrows. They arc this moment taking tn
first full inhalation of the free dir of Amero
lea. And they will continue to come as
long as this country is tho best place to
live in.
You might rs well pass n law prohibit
ing summer bees from alighting on field
of blossoming buckwheat, you might as
well prohibit tho stays of tho mountain
from coming down to tho derrick, as to
prohibit the hunger bitten nations of Eu-
rope from coming to this land of bread ns
to prohibit the people Of England, Ireland
Scotland, Italy, Norway, Sweden and Cor.
many, working themselves to death on
small wages on the other side the sen, from
coming to this land, whore there are the
largest compensations under the sun. Why
did God spread out the prairies of the Da.
kotas and roll the precious ore into Colo
RADIO? 1t was that all the earth might
come and pillow and come and dig. Just
as long as the centrifugal forco of foreign
despotisms throw them off Just so long
will the centripetal force of American in
situations draw them here. And that Is
what is going to make this tho mghticst
nation on the earth. Intormarriage of ma
tionalities! Not circle intcrmarrying cir
Gle, and nation intermarrying nation.
But it is going to DO Italian and Norwe.
giun, Russian and Cclt, Scotch and
French, English and American. The
American of 100 years from now Ii to be
different from the American of today.
German brain, Irish wit, French civility,
Scotch 1lrmness, English loyalty, italian
aesthetics, packed into one man, and he an
American! 1t is this intermarringo of ma
tionalities that Is going to make the Amer
lean nation the greatest nation of the ages.
But what are we doing for the moral and
intellectual culture OF the 5C0, 900 foreign
ors who came in ono year. and the COO, 900
who camo in another year, and the 500, 900
who came in another year, and the /, 000,-
900 who are coming into our various
them? Well, we are doing a great deal for
them. We steal their baggage as soon as
they get here. We send them up to IL
boarding house where the least they lose is
their money. We swindle them within
ten minutes after they get ashore. We are
doing great deal for them. But what
are we doing to introduce them into tho
duties of good citizenship? Many of them
never saw ballot box; many Of them
never heard of the constitution Of the
United States; many of them have no ac-
quaintanco with our laws.
Now, say, let the government of the
United States so commanded by one polit-
ical party or both political parties give to
| every Immigrant who lands here volume,
in good type and well bound for long usage
a volume containing the Declaration of
| Independence the constitution of the
| United States and chapter on the spirit
Of our government. Let there DO such
book on the shelf Of every free library IN
America. While the American Bible soci-
ETY. puts into the right hand of every i'm
migrant copy Of the Holy Scriptures, let
the government of the United States, com
manded by some political party, put into
the left hand Of every immigrant a volume
instructing him in the duties of good citi-
zenship. There are thousands of foreigners
in this land who need to learn that the bal
lot box is not footstool, but a throne-not
something to put your foot on, but some
thing to bow before.
Words of Hope.
But whether members of tho national
legislature or delegates to one of the ma
tional conventions or private citizens, let
us cultivate Christian patriotism Oh, how
good God has been to us rs nation! just
open the map of the continent and soc how
it is shaped for Unreasonable prosperities.
Navigable rivers, more in number and
greater than of any other land, rolling
down all sides into the sea, prophesying
large manufaotories and easy commerce.
Look at tho great ranges Of mountains,
timbered with wealth on the top and sides
and motaled with wealth underneath Ono
hundred and eighty thousand square
miles of COAL Ono hundred and eighty
thousand square miles of ironl The iron
to pry out the coal. Tho coal to forgo and
smelt the iron. The land so contoured that
extreme weather hardly ever lasts moro
than three days-extreme heat or extreme
cold. Climate for - most part bracing
and favorable for Drawn and brain. All
fruits. All minerals. All harvests. Seen
cry displaying autumnal pngeantry that
no land on earth pretends to rival Nc
South American earthquakes. No Scotch
Mists. No English fogs. No Egyptian
plaques. The people of the United States
are happier than any people on earth. II
Is the testimony of every man that has