The herald., 1897-05-30

another basis Of support for many Of us
It Is Of the utmost Importance that . flrn
basis should be founded on something. 8,
that the public morals will stand per
pendicularly and % that the forward
movement of our progress in civiliza'
tion may be in devious coureee
To this end public education should b
moral basis 50 broad and firm az patri.
otism, on which public morals shoult
be made to rest. With the moral laws
brought down from Sinai. and with the
Sermon on the Mount, we have dared tc
couple the Declaration of Independence
promulgated from Philadelphia. From
the days when millione OF slaves built
the walls Of Nineveh the gardens of
Babylon, and the pyramids of Egypt,
down through the long struggle of the
many against the few at Athens. of the
plebs against the patricians at Rome,
Of the feudal barons against the crown
against the mobiles of France, the strug-
gle has been all in one line. The contest
has been for a government of the people,
by the people, for the people. The Decla-
ton that this contest Of the ages had
been won. 1t was won by the fathers of
this republic and by them transmitted
to US,
20 to- 81 fof
achieved on earth. That is the crown
ing victory of humanity. It's fruits are
the most substantial and valuable of all
the efforts of the human mind and heart
1t is the fruition of all the noblest aepira-
tions of our race. The victory was COM
plete. The conquest on behalf of the
people has been complete. Its benefits
were all seized upon and secured, and
the fathers Of this government of the
people transmitted them to US unim-
paired in any material respect.
Public education ought to grasp these
facts firmly in its systems and they
ought to be taught, line upon line, to
all born under this flag. The Declara-
ton of independence, the constitution
of the United States, the facts of the
struggle against the British crown, the
heroism that won the fight. the story
of the suffering at Valley Forge, of the
bravery of the patriotic band, ought
to be known to every citizen Of the ma
ton. The meaning of all that was won,
ifc,c cyiey f7oov = H. @Hl
ought to be made plain. The dangers.
that beset the friends of human liberty
and the cause of human rights, the foes.
that continually spring up in the midst
OF the republic, who would roll back the
centuries. bring back the old order,
rebind the shackles of slavery on the.
hands of the people, re-establish the
throne of despotiem on the ruins of pop
ular government, ought to be pointed
out. The duty of transmitting to the
next generation the noble heritage that
has come down to US ought to be incul-
Gated.
And it is quite time to begin this work.
With the growth of great wealth and
with the increasing greed for more,
patriotism is not the clear, bright flame
in our hearts that it was in the days of
those who knew what government
of the few over the many meant, and
who knew all it cost to free a people
from thralldom to a tyrant and his tools
All this needs no labored demonstra-
tot
in the last legislatures; the terrible and
disgraceful struggle now witnessed in
a congress controlled by trusts and cor
porations. which safeguards every in
te'rest of corporate wealth to the utter
neglect of all popular rights; the miser-
able surrender of cabinet officer to the
dictates of an aged millionaire, whose
appetite for spoils increases with his
years: the setting of a law of congress
at defiance by this plant tool of a rail-
road, and the sacrificing of the rights, of
millions in the powerful interest of this
one man-all are too fresh in the mind
TO call for argument under the head Of
decaying patriotism.
And this dry rot in our bones is gen.
eral if not universal Speak of Duck
worth to the average citizen and he
shrugs his shoulders and murmurs, "Oh,
you or I would do the same thing in his
place" Ask the best citizens, if they
think cabinet officer is open to bribery
and they say complacently, mo, not
directly. You could not offer him sum
of money as the price of his treachery,
but he owns millions of acres of timber
land, and a suggestion of favora Bile. rates
on lumber probably would influence his
decision
Now. when such things overcome us
like summer cloud and do not cause the
blood in our veins to boil with indigna-
ton, we must know that while wealth
increases patriotism decays. and that
great revival of this national virtue,
patriotism, is needed or the republic
fails.
DOES IT PAN OUTP