The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1897-06-24

~ neither my desire nor within ,bo -. "
ince OF THIS occasion to discuss such mn,
WITS but as result OK our conai.,or n "a
.ne application to them OF our best mil
,.sopuy, Widened and perfected by con.
,l'! OF reflection and study, l, may clearly
| tion VI 'ne Ma
THE SOUTH is THE REPRESENTATIVE
toaay III It's thought and sentiment. OF four
distinct ideas " tN"'
j.. The South stands for individual lib
ef'y and local self government, Human
, government has been but an exn,g,i,nan,
anu each age has risen on It's dead self io
hiEher things The history OF tho world
| Is Il history OF contendiug Interests Greed
mas cohtended against benovolence: intelli-
| sence has measured swords with Ignorance.
ana vice has waged lis relentless war on
virtue Chaos has surrounded the scene.
ana hope alone has been tho beacon to the
honorable of the race.
| oppression aud revolution arc tacts in
every national life, as the race has drifted
| from the shadow to the light. The ten
dency OF the race, through its governments.
despite It's ttaltors TO the cause OF truth,
Is upward. The melancholy spirit OF moul-
dorihg kingdons has been communicated to
succeeding nations, and the pathos OF their
wreck and ruin has renewed the spirit OF
conservation to human liberty.
| No Naton has arisen upon the fall of
another. sitting its philosophy for its grain
OF truth and its religion for its measure
of charity and its institutions for their
spark OF liberty. Often the shadows OF
night have gathered about, and the light
Of liberty has burned low.
But the race has held TO its ideals and
fought for its convictions with the cour
age of desperation and the strength of its
own preservation. The question above all
others which the centuries have asked
whether tho individual IL the fountain OF
| liberty and OF law, and the history of the
past is an affirmative answer. Gods hand
made the Western world as the theatre
of he contamination Of mans last achieve
moht. and GODS eye has watched its
progress and approved the triumphant
scene and put His loving benediCtion upon
the ultimate triumph OF the unalterablo
right Of the individual as the source OF
the powers OF government. That thought
Was the philosophy OF the repletion and
suffering, and the elimination Of the long
ing for liberty, df our iorefathers upon
this continent: it WAS the Inspiration of
the revolution; 1t was the foundation of
the Republic; IL is the last hope of man.
The beacon light of this Republic shines
over the earth. The Nations OF the old
world that for centuries have CROPPED in
the darkness will see The equity of our in
situations, founded upOn the principle of
individual liberty and local self govern
ment and shall be led through the val
ley of the shadow to this eternal truth.
From the founding of the United States
government only Two great forces have
commended for supremacy Capitalization
and i-Centraliaatou-wh in obe-
dirnCe to the traditions OF the past, all
power is inherent in the government. or.
in obedience to the inspiration of the race
Tor freedom through tho centuries, it is
Inherent tn the Individual. whether Il
strong and tyranuical government is pref
erabic TO free and enlightened govern
mont: whether Federal dictation is prefer
able to individual accountability whether
the government which man creates pos
scsses moro powers than are delegated To
IL. whether the government is superior 10
the objects OF it's own creation.
Unhappily the constitution Itself. as n
compromise between the feloralist and
the Fcderalist, left room for con-
struction which war alone could determine.
and billions OF property and thousands of
lives were sacrificed upon the altar of
that contention. But In the wars decroc
the Individual liberty and local self gov
eminent must be exercised within the
Union: IT did not deny their existence rs
the foundation OF the principle OF the Re
public.
These opposing forces have been the nu-
cleus to which has gathered the states
Of the past The maintenance OF
The equilibrium OF our government depends
upon the happy adjustment Of these con-
tending principles About them wealth and
poverty. Craftsmanship and demagoglsm,
ignorance and intelligence, vice and virtue,
array themselves for their final struggle;
and the earth and the heavens are spec
L. Nm 100
which shall determine whether republican
shall live or die. We believe
that
THE CITIZEN Is SOVEREIGN
That he should depend upon the state for
nothing he can do and the STATE upon the
Union for nothing the State can do. The
tendency of the times is TO consider That
all the powers Of government emanate from
the center and are distributed to the State
and TO the people. That view reverses the
true order. Ii is known by us all what
issues were settled by the sword in 1865.
and it is not sought to revive them. But
it is insisted that the States as the source
" hence emenate all powers TO the Federal
government, survive tho shock; and the
supreme court declared that the govern
ment was an "indissoluble union of indie
structiblc States"
But with the passing Of the years strange
IDEAS have come. Conditions have changed.
The pure aud simple faith OF the fathers
whose heroism bazed out the path for
achievement and set In motion
those forces that have thrilled every nation
on earth with their magnetic force. has
been laid aside in par, and new ideas have
Superseded it. And thus an alien note has
mingled It's dlschordant sound with the fun
rich harmony cf the American instinct.
The unaueslionablo tendency OF the times
is towards concentration and Capitalization.
This is essentially an aye OF natorialisin:
The impulses OF nations move in cycles, ana
we as a nation. have lived beyond the cycle
Of speculative political philosophy, OF chiV-
alric devotion to idea and feeling, OF wor-
shlpful adherence to section, faction, party.
Ne have come to the cycle Of materialism.
As people our energies are directed al
most solely toward acquisition whether
s, Q shall annex Hawaii. aid Cuba or execute
an arbitration treaty have ceased TO be