Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1897-01-01

idea. The more | have observed the
greater has been my estimate of the in
huenee of an idea. An idea takes pos
session of a person it revolutionizes a
person. 1t takes possession of society /;
IL revolutionizes society. 1t takes pos
session of a nation, and it can convulse a
nation. Ideas are the things which live !;
they are the realities. You take the va
rious departments of life; you take an
idea which relates to that department,
launch it forth and it spreads, and It
gains momentum as 1t goes and finally it
sweeps everything before it,"
AN IDEA AT WORK.
Then giving an Illustration of his
thought, Mr.. Bryan said
"Take the first idea of utilizing steam,
for instance, as a power. Simple
thought. The vast utility of steam did
not dawn upon the man who first
thought of the use of it. He saw some
little use of it; suggested 1t; it grew un-
til that one idea enables us to pillow the
oceans with great ships and to cross the
continent in a marvelOusly short time.
That one idea has changed the whole
face of civilization.
Take the thought of using electricity,
bringing down the lightning from the
clouds. You utilize it first in a little
way and then we find it lighting our
houses; we find it furnishing heat; we
find it used to transmit sound so we
can hear the voices of our friends. Aye,
ore than that. And we find 1t possible
to wind the voice up on a cylinder and
then unravel it. We have not reached
the extent of it. We take the Ideas
which have .revolutionized the material
world; but that is not the only place in
which the idea is important. The relig-
ious Iidea takes possession of one. 1t
changes a person in a day. The things
which he loved he hates; the things
which he hated he loves, and he goes
forth a changed person. A religious
idea takes control of a community, of a
nation, of a world, until men Twill die for
it as well as live for it. 1t changes So
ciety.n
HOW AN IDEA REVoLUTloNlzes GOVERN
MENT.
Turning from these illustrations to one
more pertinent, the speaker said
1.-THE idea in regard to government
will be spoken by some one. Strange it
will sound at first. Then some one I'M
der whose observation that idea comes
takes it up and then another and the
idea grows until a government is replac-
ed with 4 new governmer t, until the
whole organization of a government I'M
dergoes a change. These IDEAS. | say,
grow; they develop. You forget the
person who first gave utterance to the
thought, but the thought goes on and the
person who originates the idea becomes
as insignificant compared with the re-
suits as is the man who starts the con-
Migration which destroys the city.
Now, with the diversity of industries,
with the intense application of ones
mind to a particular line of business
comes a new thought. We have our
people divided out into lawyers, physic-
ians, merchants. Then the merchants
are divided, and we nave the grocer and
the man who handles shoes and the man
who handles dry goods and the butcher
and we nave the lawyers divided into the
various branches of the law; and the
physicians. And an idea goes out, and
if 1t concerns the grocer it will pass by
the others until it comes to him, each
man grasping that which fits bin IN his