The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1897-10-21
OUR PRIDE.
OUR PRIDE.
TERRITORY, POPULATION,
WEALTH, PRODUCTS AND
POLITICAL INSTITU-
TIONS.
MORAL POWER OUR STAR.
Some Rambling Thoughts.
BY "NEMO."
MORAL POWER OUR STAR.
Some Rambling Thoughts.
BY "NEMO."

Copyrighted by Dave & Tabor.)
To VOTERS I'VE believe In pride o1
country and write to a nation not
lacking in it.. We believe in the pos
sibil1ty of real devotion to an adopted
country by those who come from other
shores, and / write to nation largely
made up of emigrants. We believe
there are more healthy people than
sick, more sane than Insane, more
honest than criminal, and L write to a
nation whose unselfsh citizens out
number by five to one all who find
their pleasure and their profit in per-
vertlng the peoples will.
*x*
So you and I are flied with healthy
sort of hopefulness. Like those dear
lovable people who insist on seeing al
ways the bright side of trouble, or
those logical sufferers who insist on the
existence of the sun no matter how
black the cloud, we believe in our
country, we dare to imagine for 1t a
greater destiny than has yet been at
tained f; in short, are are proud of 1t.
But let us stop moment to anaIyze
our pride for ''pride goeth before a
fall' unless it be carefully selected
and well-grounded pride, that has no
stiff-neckedness about it.
sx<
What is there about the United
States to make us proud?
Territory Yes, that is something
extraordinarily vast and compact, but
the Roman Empire had S0At and yet
went to pieces. The character of a
people has something to do with the
retention of territory.
Population That indeed increases
by leaps and bounds. Each census
piles up further millions, but the
Chinese Empire has that fact to meet
in even greater measure, and as ma
ton 1t is tottering to disruption. In
population, quality is more important
than quantity.
Wealth The total wealth of the
nation climbs up into figures that are
beyond comprehension. But Spain
and India were, during their prime,
richer than your most golden dream );
the former is now narrowed down to
mere nothingness among the powers,
and the latter has for generations been
trodden by the foot of the conqueror
The true wealth of nation is man.
hood, and the lack of that ruined the
two mentioned.
Products! I grant the remarkable
range from tropical fruits to arctic
pines, and from pottery-clays to virgin
gold, but these things are here by the
gift of Nature. We may be wise and
take or eat, or we may dispense of our
plenty to others need but the sun
shines on other nations beside ours,
and if we may be proud, much more
such a nation as. England who makes
up for insular lack by getting quotas
from every habitable portion of the
globe.
Political Institutions Then the
pride must be largely ascribed to those
broad plans of our fathers, rather than
to any certainty in relation to the fu-
ture unless we come to realize that
institutions and rights are not perpetual
motion machines. They do not run
themselves. For example, if progress
slve plans and broad culture. could 60
on without great men to carry them
forward, we should have been spared
the sight of Greece, so decadent from
grand historical traditions as to be an
easy conquest by the polygamous Turk.
-
No country stretching far,
No pomp OF civic state.
Can make you truly great,
America
No gain from cruel war,
No cannon echoing loud,
Can make you really proud,
America
No golden stone or bar
F,lched from its darksome ditch,
Can make you truly rich,
America
Only the guiding star
OF honesty and truth
Can keep your glorious youth,
America
~
No! Territory, population, wealth
products, formal declarations, are no
tho things that fill us most with pride