The Saint Paul globe., 1897-09-26
BIGDAYF0R new ULN
Continued From First Page.

foundation of a body cf free citizens. To
him this dream Of unity and freedom for
his people was vastly more than place or
power-yea, more than home or wife or
kindred. Our hearts grow warm to him as
we read the story Of his unselfsh love for
his wife, the beautiful and unfortunate
with pity for him and for her when the
treachery of her father compelled him to
choose between love of wife and child ana
love for fatherland-for the. liberty and unity
of his German kindred and nation. Because
Hermann grasped the great idea of the unity
of the German race or the democratic idea
of a free body of citizens, he was able to to
our historian has expressed it. from ex-
ternal enemies. and preserved from destruc-
tion German speech, German customs, Ger
man laws. which, without him would have We
Rome. Without him, people and country
would have been Romanized. like so many
other countries and nations"
This fact thus recorded, doubtless means
much to every man in this land, whether he
calls Germany or England or other nation
his original fatherland. The preservation by
Hermann of the free institutions of Ger
many and the language of the people from
Roman influence, preserved the spark OF
liberty which the Angles anl Saxons snd
Jutes and the other Teutonic tribesmen later
took with them to light their altar fires in
Great Britain. Hence, it is that the free in
stitutions and the love of liberty which our
fathers bore hither from Great Britain. from
the embodiment Of a freedom for which Her
mann struggled in his conflict with Rome
and with the aristocratic elements OF his
own people. Here, then, Is one reason why
that old victo~5 of Hermann has It's lessons
to be fostered and preserved In the United
States.
Every man should learn how liberty and
freedom had to be fought for and won on
other battlefelds than those located in the
United States. Our free institutions are
plants of slow growth. We are free peo-
pie not merely nor mainly because our Ia
theirs were ready to dare and to die at Bun
ker Hill and Monmouth, in Valley Forge and
before Yorktown, but also because their Ia
theirs in their turn were ready to resist the
aggressions of Charles and John on MarSton
MooI and at Runymede; you, further, be-
cause those with Hermann could fight for
unity of race and language and free institu-
tions in the old forests where Varus and the
Roman legion were swept to destruction be-
fore a united and free people.
The story of one brave deed for liberty
does not suffice to feed the hunger of the
human race for freedom. We must tell our
children and our children's children the story
CT the heroes OF every land every time who
ternity and equality might survive among
men. No better story of liberty loving can be
found than that of old Hermann whose vic
tory over the arms Of tyranny is commem-
GRATED by this monument that stands be-
fore US.
Then there is another lesson that we of the
United States should learn as we stand be-
side this marble creation. Not only do our
free institutions have their roots way back
there among the followers of Hermann so
long ago. Our social and Industrial prob
lens also old and have their beginnings
before The German peoples ever set foot in
Europe. This monument should make US
mindful of this fact and aid in rebuking
the demagogues in our midst who tell us
that the conflict between labor and capital
is something modern and that the discOn-
in mir ic QEyi1
which threatens the very destruction of So
clety. What is the great central idea I'M
derlying our modern social discomfort? Why
it seems to me it is this. The toilers in
hard lines, with circumscribed lives, desire
to nave greater opportunities for themselves
and their children. This is the secret of
our so-cailed labor agitation What is there
wrong or evil in this desire? 1t is but the
wish that led to America all of our emil
grants. L appeal to every one before me-
Who among you left Fatherland to make a
nome in this new world that did not desire
TO better MS condition. and hope to do so
to better conditions, in life lie as the one i'm
pelling motive back of the migration of the
Angles and SaXons from Germany to Eng
land in the early centuries of our race? And
were not the great migrations of the German
race in the days of Hermann another phase
OF the same desire Of the heart of man? For
thousands OF years before Hermann the Ger
man race had been wandering MOVING Grad
uai.y westward and northward from Central
ASIA In search of better homes more food
Detter clothes and better shelter for them
selves and their loved ones. There was
constant warfare of races for the nosse~sion
of the best land. The contest of Hermann
with the Roman generals was of a tIyofoId
nature 1t was warfare for liberty nation
d. UNITY, and the power of the free citizen
OF free people against the TYRANNY of an
aristocrGcy. Ii was a.so the hattie of tSa
poor man for better chance 10 secure mood
ed food and clothes. 1t was an effort to do
What many a man before us has done move
from his old home TO better ona AZ Iong
as men continue manly and seIf-raIiant tbos
VIII seek thus to find better homes The
old Germans under Hermann sought tbis in
frnr one way. MY father moved to Minnesota
from an Eastern state MANY of Won bava
cGme here from Europe In the vears sinoe
iooV more people have thus come ne7caahIv
10 the United States from Europe than oil
tils Tue ncsts OF every name and tongue that fun
themselves in war against the Roman one
pre- IN all the centuries of history
rms is the greatest part of our nodern Ia
1 poI movement. 1t was social discomfort that
corn Ecu ana h;., Is leading men in Europe to
come come nlther to find or make for Themselves
better homes. Now, whenever see q man or oT
woman and l see tham every wear bv tho
Uni thousands, who has improved his or her lot
any e9aii1g . ad fer 70 t ms country from another,
am e-ao for that dfscontent among men which
ieaas 70 an honest effort to gain better things
30 II is with the laboring men eyerywbeTe
I IAN am iio noa mad when see and find laboring
nd pf
IL. am glad that we have our labor nrob-
lem; that our working people wish batJer
homes, better Clothes, better wages and bet
bnwer fer tb Ihe croaker, the calamity
noWler, tne denagogue zee only evils in thnsa
facts, while, as a matter of fact II is tbe
b9st thing in our life. 10 VIC
When Hermann rallied the German tribes
to act as unit to secure what they ali d.
sired, they won it. They lost on,y whom tbo
croakeTs OF the day, the ant hearted among
the arlstocrats, killed Hermann. So it is to-
The common peop.e are coming rnoro 49,,
more into the control of the desfinies of the
nations. The plain farmers the lumharnen
the city toilers, al alike are looking for
something better. and ask that the goyern
ment shall be administered in their interosts
and not that of a favored few. Is th;s 1o}
the same issue that was presented when tbs
peopte Ih gatnereo to the standard of Hermann
IN the forests or Germany? The battle fields
cnange' put the issues are the same the
rights and liberties of the common peopie
the equa- opportunities for ALL
AS L understand this monument is eraated
by an order called the Sons of Hermann
This order is, believe, beneficial and fra
ternal organization that takes the old story
OF hermann l. as the central thought of its
ritual and thus the inspiring theme of its
social life. You have at this one Of the first
if not he first German settlement in Mime,
sofa, erected this beautiful monument As
you gather here or gather monthly about
your fraternal altars it seems to me that
the. story CT Hermann and his victory over
the Romans, his grand dream of German
unity and freedom, can be made of untold
service to you as citizens of this free peo-
pie.
In the first pace. as adapting that old
piece Of human history TO present needs, YOU
should make men feel that the order of Her
mann's Sons stands for the rights of the
common peop-e. and not for those of any
privileged or exclusive class. The old story
of mans struggles and battles with foes and
tremendous obstacles should be repeated to
give men heart in their present efforts to
bring out of the adverse conditions of our
times more of good and more of blessing
for all. Then again, the Sons Of Hermann
are themselves the visible expression of that
desire of man 10 hattsr bis Condition hr r,no1:-